First call: what? ESPN writer says Ben Roethlisberger ‘hasn’t been hugely important to the Steelers’

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About an hour ago

The “first call” on Tuesday got me a little excited. I’m having trouble with ESPN’s mid-season NFL rewards because some Steelers have been snubbed.

We take a look at the numbers that raise eyebrows for the quarterback the Steelers face this weekend. And equally impressive playing scores for the next game.

Also, some accessories for the Duquesne women’s basketball team.

I do not agree

Bill Barnwell, of ESPN.com, presented mid-season NFL awards.

I won’t give too many spoilers, but I will comment on a few mentions of the Steelers that I thought were irrelevant.

He brought TJ Watt out of the top three Defensive Player of the Year behind Marlon Humphrey (CB / Balt), Aaron Donald (DT / LAR) and winner Myles Garrett (DE / Clev).

Donald? OKAY. Humphrey and Garrett are both in the top five. Without a doubt.

But if you look at Garrett’s numbers a little closer, seven of his nine sacks are against rotten teams in Cincinnati, Washington and Dallas.

No sack against the Las Vegas Raiders or the Baltimore Ravens. One sack against the Steelers and one against the Indianapolis Colts. Playoff-worthy teams and quarterbacks.

And I don’t know how we could look at Watt and Garrett in the head-to-head game this season and come away thinking Garrett had more of an impact.

Barnwell’s explanation was: “TJ Watt narrowly escaped when he allowed a touchdown pass as the main cover defender against Garrett Gilbert (Dallas) on Sunday, although it is also likely telling that the Steelers trust him in the flat against CeeDee. Lamb on the third try. He could easily win this award with a hot second half.“

Really? A linebacker over a first-round pick wide receiver is your determining factor? Yeah. Follow your gut in the second half of this paragraph, Bill.

The other thing that got my dander up was ranking Ben Roethlisberger as third NFL Returning Player of the Year behind Jason Verrett and winner Alex Smith.

If you want to go with Smith for sentimental reasons because of his inspiring return of a badly broken leg, I get it. But it’s not a question of impact on football. This is a scenario.

On the football side, there is no other correct answer for this category than Roethlisberger. Why have the Steelers gone from 8-8 to 8-0 so far this year?

The defense is more shattered. The offensive line is reconfigured. Chase Claypool and Eric Ebron were good additions. But we honestly don’t think these are the reasons for the swing, do we?

Still, Barnwell cites Verrett’s passer rating as the reason he should be considered ahead of “Big Ben”. Then he threw a bunch of numbers to lessen the statistical impact of Roethlisberger’s comeback.

No, Roethlisberger’s stats are not blinking. As Barnwell says, his measurements on the deep throws are not at all good. However, he went so far as to write, “Roethlisberger just wasn’t hugely important to the Steelers.”

Uh, I’m sorry. What?! A number that matters most is plus-8 in the payout column. The last undefeated team in football.

What has changed other than the return of the quarterback?

What about Verrett? Save me! A valiant return to be sure. Well done to him. But you point to his passer score versus what the Steelers’ offense looks like now versus what it might look like with Devlin Hodges or Mason Rudolph under center.

What matters most?

Roethlisberger gained more pre-snap yards with his eyes in eight games than those two quarterbacks with their arms – combined – in 16 games last year.

Consider this before you write “not extremely important”. I really like what Barnwell posts, but it’s two skips and failures.

Winning big against the Bengals?

The Steelers open the week once again as big favorites.

But not as big as last week. And not as big as they would have been if they had treated the Dallas Cowboys more decisively.

Via Odds Shark, the 8-0 Steelers are 9.5-point favorites over the 2-5-1 Bengals. They were 13.5-point road favorites in Dallas last week when the Cowboys entered the game at 2-6.

The Cowboys covered, losing by five. The only other game the Steelers lost ATS was the Denver Broncos game where they were favored by 6.5 and won by just five.

Odds Shark has the Steelers 6-2 ATS at home in their last eight games. And the team is 14-5-2 against the line against Cincinnati in their last 21 games in the rivalry.

The plus / minus for the game is 49.

Joltin ‘Joe

Bengals rookie quarterback Joe Burrow has been impressive in his first year.

He’s eighth in the NFL in passing yards at 2,272 and third in completions at 221.

Granted, some of those numbers are a result of Burrow’s need to pitch a lot because the Bengals have been late in games so often.

Not only that, but in the short to intermediate passing game, Burrow was excellent. Not just among passers-by this year. But of all time.

Also, you have to credit the LSU product for throwing 330 times (third in the league), behind an offensive line that got him sacked 28 times (the second most NFL behind Carson Wentz).

Lovin ‘Libby

Duquesne Dukes guard Libby Bazelak was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference first team in the pre-trial vote.

Bazelak was also named to the preseason All-Defensive squad.

The Kettering, Ohio native was the second-team winner of all 2019-20 Atlantic 10 conferences. She led Duquesne in points (13.2), rebounds (6.5) and assists (3.9) per game a season ago, becoming the first Duke since Korie Hlede to lead the Dukes. in all three categories.

Laia Solé was named to the second team. Solé was Duquesne’s second-leading scorer with 11.8 points per game a season ago. She led the Dukes in field goal percentage (.471), who placed seventh-best in the Atlantic 10 a season ago. The forward posted four 20-point performances during his junior season in a red shirt.

Tim Benz is a writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Tim at [email protected] or via Twitter. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication, unless otherwise specified.

Categories:
Sports | Steelers / NFL | Breakfast with Benz



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