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When I read Kevin Colbert’s quote on the future of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger on Wednesday, my antenna went up.
“As we sit here today, Ben is a member of the Pittsburgh Steelers.”
Good. It turned out to be, uh, non-binding, to say the least.
But when I saw the video and heard the voice of the Pittsburgh Steelers general manager, it sounded more like a reminder that Roethlisberger hadn’t been cut. Again.
Or maybe it was a warning to Roethlisberger and his representatives that the notion of passing from No.7 isn’t an entirely distant concept for the Steelers brass.
Either way, the quarterback situation is all we wanted to talk about on Thursday. And I understand why. But now that we’ve had a day to digest this topic, let’s move on to a few other big issues that Colbert touched on in a little post we’ll call “Everything But Ben”.
11-and-Oh, no!
Upon closer examination, I wasn’t the only one to see storm clouds on the horizon as things started to slide despite the Steelers’ 11-0 start. Colbert felt it too.
“Coming out of the gates as well as us and reaching that 11-0 mark to fall in the first round of the playoffs was very disappointing. We have to be judged on how we end the season and not how we have done during the season. Even when we were at 11-0 I never really had a comfort level because I knew we would judge ourselves – and be judged accordingly from the outside – on how we did in the playoffs. playoffs.
I think I’ll just turn on the time machine and bring that quote back with me in early December after the Steelers barely won the “Covid Bowl” to the Baltimore Ravens and lost at home to Washington.
I got a lot of emails and tweets saying, “Don’t you think you’re too hard on them? It’s just a lull!
Looks like Colbert was pretty sure the “lull” was going to last for a while too.
Perform the rant game
Colbert was unhappy with his team’s 32nd running game on offense at just 84.4 yards per game. And rightly so.
“It’s a collective effort. You can’t say the runners weren’t good enough. Or the quarters weren’t good enough. Or the line was not good enough. To start the kind of racing game we made, no one was good enough. And again, it’s a collective effort. We have to be better honestly… we have to finish. And I think having a good racing game helps teams finish this time of year.
I understand what Colbert was saying. And I agree 100%. I just wish he had worded it differently.
Because you can say the runners weren’t good enough. You can say the quarters weren’t good enough. You can say the line was not good enough. And that is why in the end it was, indeed, a “collective” failure.
And I would have preferred to hear Colbert say it exactly that way.
In the end, he and I are saying the same thing. But in my opinion, the constant effort of the coaching staff and the front office to hold no one individually accountable and simply reduce the team’s shortcomings to “collective” disappointment is a big part of the problem.
Yeah I get it. The Steelers, as a whole, have failed. The racing game, as a whole, failed. But if no one feels personally responsible at the individual level – even for a specific group of positions – there is less motivation to improve. Or less fear of failing again.
Are you sure about this one, Kev?
Colbert insists the Steelers will continue their policy of refusing to renegotiate player contracts during the season.
“I think we will continue to do this. Once we start playing a season, our only focus should be the upcoming game with the ultimate goal of winning a season. When one-on-one negotiations are going on for a season we see it as a distraction and we will never let that be a part of it as we try to put together a team and a philosophy to get the best team.
This policy has never bothered me so much. And I’m not put off by the quote. I just think it’s funny that Colbert – among all the people – worries about this as a “distraction”.
This is the same guy who made fun of the club’s “Team Turmoil” tag a few years ago. It made it seem like the suspensions of Martavis Bryant, the absence of Le’Veon Bell, the sideline explosions and late arrivals of Antonio Brown, the national anthem fiasco and the friction between Roethlisberger and Todd Haley were all media creations.
But if Mike Hilton or Cameron Sutton had gotten a mid-season extension instead of hitting free agency, would that have been chaos? Is that so?
By the way, if Roethlisberger isn’t playing this year and Rudolph starts and succeeds, come back with me on that. There is no way it strikes free will. They’re going to lock him up mid-season for sure.
There is also a precedent for this. Do you remember Tommy Maddox? They broke a policy of extending his contract before the 2004 season before he was due to be reconfigured. They will start over in a different way for Rudolph if necessary.
Label! You are not that
Colbert was asked if there was any chance of using a “tag” on one of the club’s free agents. Presumably, this means either a franchise label or a transition label. Either way, says Colbert, don’t hold your breath.
“We are unlikely to be able to use a beacon. Again, when we say we don’t know what the cap is, we are trying to prepare for the worst situation. “
This “worst case” is now around $ 180 million per team. And, probably, the number will not be much more than that. So this news from Colbert is not a big surprise. But given Bud Dupree’s knee injury and a recent rant over JuJu
But it doesn’t appear to be happening. It shouldn’t either. Dupree is said to make $ 18.9 million on a tag. Smith-Schuster could get between $ 15.8 million and $ 16.4 million.
Feel a draft
Here is one last nugget from Colbert about the project. More specifically, about the offensive line.
“The draft itself, it’s stronger in the tackle position than inside. The center and the guard, traditionally, are not a very strong group. The tackles are exceptionally deep this year. I think we can add players through the draft. Hopefully we will be able to do some type of free agency activity. “
Translation? Look for a center to sign in free agency to replace Maurkice Pouncey. And look for a tackle to write in the first round.
Or, if the tackle depth is really that deep, maybe the Steelers will be tempted to wait until the second round to pick a player in that position (as they have often done with wide receivers) and draft a running back. -back, a corner half or – dare I say it – a quarter….
No. I’ll save this thought for one column on the row. After all, “as we sit here today” the Steelers still have a clear starter in the position.
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.
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Sports | Steelers / NFL | Breakfast with Benz
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