In our ongoing series, State of the Steelers, we’ll profile each position on the team. And today, I present a topic that certainly no one is tired of hearing about, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback situation.
I’m sure this will be news to you, but Ben Roethlisberger has been suspended for what we’ll consider to be 6 games next season, on the grounds of being a giant frat boy. So with Ben ruled out for six games, there are 3 QBs left on the roster that will jockey for starting time. Tomlin insists he won’t have a traditional quarterback competetion, and I for one am totally okay with that. It’s not often that an open competition works out. Teams using that strategy (Cleveland, anyone?) insist that it’s a good problem to have, as though three mediocre quarterbacks are all going to magically turn one another into Pro Bowlers after one training camp. The fact is, an open competition is just a way to decide which of your three mediocre quarterbacks is the least bad. It’s going to be interesting to see what the Broncos end up doing with their cluster of QBs this summer.
As for the Steelers, we’ve got Charlie Batch, Dennis Dixon, and Byron Leftwich to compete for the season-opening job. Tomlin is giving Leftwich the weighted reps with the first team offense, and after the jump, we’ll look at where each player will likely stand come game time.
Byron Leftwich: Rejoined the Steelers in a trade with Tampa Bay for a 7th round pick, and currently the front-runner in the competition to start opening weekend. Leftwich is getting the lion’s share of the snaps in minicamp, and while minicamp doesn’t mean much come September, the fact that the organization traded for him and the fact that he’s immediately top dog says a lot. It either says a lot about Leftwich or a lot about Dixon and Batch, but it says a lot.
As a quarterback, Leftwich is kind of funky. He’s got that two-hour windup, but he can fire the ball at supersonic speeds, and fire it accurately. He played well enough for Ben in 2008 when called upon and I think he can do it again. Whether or not he can be a full time starter for at least a quarter-season is the biggest question in my mind, but as a former starter with mild success, he’s the team’s best option right now. I would feel comfortable with Leftwich under center and I think you would, too.
Dennis Dixon: I am a huge Dennis Dixon fan. I want so badly for the kid to succeed and be a solid backup QB for years to come for this organization. I believe that this season will decide that for us. With Ben notably absent for a few games, the door was thrown open for Dixon to step through, only to be cut in line by big bad Byron Leftwich. That tells me that either Leftwich is too good of an option or that the staff doesn’t think Dixon can handle the full load. I’d rather the former, but assuming the latter I’m disappointed at this stage. Double D is going to need a monster preseason and training camp to supplant Leftwich as the starter. But if he’s not ready to take over yet, then this golden opportunity will have been lost for the kid. He also changed his jersey number from 2 to 10 with Holmes’ departure and I didn’t much care for that move.
Charlie Batch: Who doesn’t love Chuck Batch? I certainly like him. He’s been on the team forever now, he knows the offense, and it used to be so that you could trust him to jump it at any given time and the team wouldn’t miss a beat. Unfortunately for the last two years, any game action he’s seen has resulted in a season-ending injury.
As much as I hate to say it, I believe that Batch is only preseason insurance at this point. He hasn’t shown much in the way of physical capability over the past two years and I can’t imagine his skill as a passer has improved with his arm in a sling. Let’s not forget that it was a Batch injury that brought Byron Leftwich to us in the first place two years ago. I really didn’t think I’d see Charlie again after his contract expired, but here we are.
Batch is easily the biggest question mark on the depth chart, and I see him getting cut during the final preseason cuts. Especially if he breaks himself again.
But even given Batch’s questionable future with the Steelers, he isn’t the dark horse in the race to play quarterback for the Steelers. As far as football goes, the least talked about competitor is undoubtedly:
(Bring back that beard, man.)
Everyone seems to have forgotten that between allegedly assaulting some crazy chick on a golf course or whatever (aside: My roommate, a non-football fan, is from Andrea McNulty’s hometown. Apparently all the locals who knew her always considered her a whack job to begin with) and allegedly assaulting some girl who was out looking for casual sex anyway, Ben Roethlisberger is actually a pretty solid quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He dazzles fans with his scrambling ability, late game heroics, and his knack for making at least a few Baltimore defenders fly harmlessly off his waste in a fairly comical fashion. The franchise QB rode the 2005 squad to a Superbowl title and returned the favor with the offense on his back in 2008. When he steps on the field, the Steelers live and die by his actions. And they’ve been doing a lot of living since he tok over.
Now do you remember who Ben Roethlisberger is? We’ll be missing him for 6 games or so, and that’s all anyone wants to talk about. However, once his suspension his up, he’s going to come back to the team and take control again. Some fans will undoubtedly boo him because they don’t understand what wins football games from all the way up there on their high horses. I’m looking forward to associating with the fans that cheer for him when he hits Hines Ward at the goal line for an 8-yard touchdown pass. I’m going to look forward to seeing him out to block for Antwaan Randle El as he comes around on that reverse pass play when the team is up 21-17 in the fourth quarter. I’ll be excited to watch him fake the handoff to Rashard Mendenhall, pump fake and draw the safety off target, then hit Mike Wallace who will take it all the way to the house on a 74-yard touchdown on 2nd and 9 in the first quarter of a game that could clinch the AFC North.
Sure makes you miss football, doesn’t it?
