September 3rd, 2010
J.J. Cooper
Filed under: Steelers, NFL Injuries, NFL Coaching, NFL Quarterbacks, NFL Analysis
If there has ever been a head coach faced with a can't win situation,
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin may have faced it this August.
Even before
Byron Leftwich suffered a knee injury, Pittsburgh columnists
were ripping Tomlin for mishandling the Steelers' quarterback situation. Leftwich wasn't getting enough reps,
Ben Roethlisberger was getting too many.
Dennis Dixon wasn't ready.
But here's the thing: considering everything that has happened, Tomlin's plan is looking about as good as it could. Now obviously, losing Leftwich to a knee injury is bad. Losing Ben Roethlisberger to a four-game suspension is even worse. But if you consider those the unavoidable obstacles of the preseason, then what Tomlin did has given Pittsburgh about as good a chance to win the next four games as it could.
Coming into the preseason, Tomlin was faced with the unprecedented and impossible task of readying a healthy franchise quarterback who wouldn't play for the first quarter of the season, a veteran backup who was returning to the team after a year away, a promising young quarterback who needed plenty of practice time and the cagey veteran who's been around forever.
There aren't enough receivers, footballs and preseason games to pull all of that off. Usually a team works on getting two quarterbacks some reps, the third gets enough playing time to show the team what they've got and the fourth just collects garbage time snaps. Pittsburgh had four quarterbacks with legitimate roles.
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September 3rd, 2010
Bruce Ciskie
Filed under: Giants, Vikings, NFC East, NFC North, NFL Rumors
The
Minnesota Vikings were facing a logjam at quarterback as they made their final roster cuts by Saturday afternoon. The return of
Brett Favre and the strong camp by rookie
Joe Webb rendered one of the
Vikings other quarterbacks expendable.
If Webb hasn't played like he did, he could have been sent to the practice squad. Once he ripped off long runs against San Francisco and Denver, however, there was no turning back. He wasn't going to clear waivers so the Vikings could put him on the practice squad, and they had to look at either keeping him on the 53-man roster or running the serious risk they would lose him.
Instead, the Vikings had three distinct choices. They could either keep four quarterbacks, cut/trade
Tarvaris Jackson, or cut/trade
Sage Rosenfels.
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September 3rd, 2010
David Whitley
Filed under: Steelers, AFC East, NFL Police Blotter, NFL Quarterbacks, NFL Analysis
Well, it's official.
Ben Roethlisberger is the luckiest man alive.
Until Friday I thought it was Thomas Magill. He's the guy that jumped off a 40-story building this week. The poor guy's suicide attempt was foiled when he landed on a two-year-old sports car.
Roethlisberger has been trying to commit career suicide all his adult life. In the latest attempt, he was fortunate to hit on a scared 20-year-old coed.
She didn't want to testify about what happened on the night of March 5th. That pretty much paved the way for what happened Friday, when the
NFL reduced Roethlisberger's suspension from six to four games.
The immediate argument was whether Roger Goodell did the right thing. The NFL commissioner didn't leave himself much choice. When Goodell initially suspended Roethlisberger, he said the penalty would be reduced if the
Steelers quarterback was a good boy.
Big Ben just had to eat his vegetables, make up his bed every morning and stop being accused of sexual assault on a regular basis. Caligula could do that for five months.
Friday's parole announcement is just the latest lucky twist in Roethlisberger's charmed life. He could easily be dead or in jail; instead a guardian angel always intervenes.
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