Seriously, who the hell cares if Ben starts? Why should we care? After all, it is a preseason game...meaning I don't care if the Steelers win or lose. If I don't care if the Steelers win, I certainly don't care who starts the game. Now, don't get me wrong, I am looking forward to seeing Roethlisberger on the field using his athletic ability to do something other than getting "laid" in Georgia. I'm going to sit in the bar and thoroughly enjoy the twelve plays he is involved in. But I'm not going to take that production and try to predict what his regular season stats will be. You watch, that will be the next media oppressive step.
Continuing the quarterback talk, there are plenty of articles and questions flying around whether or not Dixon should be given a chance to truly compete for the starting job based on his performance in last Saturday's game. I think Dixon is not really getting a true look thus far. Baby Face Leftwich was brought in the moment the Steelers found out that Roethlisberger was going to be suspended, and since then he has received the majority of the snaps with the starters in OTA's and training camps. Two things strike me when thinking about Baby Face starting the first four games of the season.
One, as Tony the Tool so impressively pointed out, Baby Face is not mobile. In fact, he is so slow I'm pretty sure he would lose in a footrace to Casey Hampton. That is definitely a detriment considering that the "offensive" line will be even more porous than usual as they get used to playing together. (No, this doesn't happen during training camp.) Dixon certainly has the advantage here as he ran the spread offense in Oregon...and quite well. Remember, he was a Heismen Trophy candidate before he was injured his senior year.
Two, Baby Face just has not looked sharp in training camp or in last week's game, or so I've heard. Leftwich has not been hitting receivers on time, and is taking too long to make decisions. He was brought back as part of the 2011 reunion tour because he knew Arians' offense and it was thought that the offense would suffer less under him than someone new to the system. However, even with all this Arians' offense knowledge, Baby Face still is not looking impressive. Is it possible that he has become complacent because he knows the starting job is his, and his only for four weeks? Possibly. I'm not saying Dixon is making quicker decisions in the pocket, the opposite in fact, but he does have the added dimension of running the ball. Naturally Arians is NOT a fan of this. After all, a quarterback running around can only mean the breakdown of his perfectly tuned offense. Just ask Ben.
Also, what the hell happened to Charlie Batch. I had to check his Wikipedia page just to be sure that he was still alive. Batch has been included in the starting job discussion with the same frequency as Bubby Brister...who I am still waiting to hear back from regarding the playing card. You only hear about Batch now in relation to the imminent owner lockout next year. That would lead me to ask, why are they keeping him on the roster? Why not just officially make him an assistant quarterback coach, as that's all he's been for the past three years. Give his roster spot to a quarterback who could actually compete for the job...maybe...Bubby Brister. Just saying.
"Heinz" Ward is pushing for Dixon.
"If Dennis is out there, you'd like to get him some more playing time. Consider the game he had in Baltimore. He practiced a little bit. But there were some things we couldn't run because he didn't know all the plays. So I would like to get some more reps with Dennis. Plus, I love Stillers Blog."
While I cannot disagree with how Heinz ends all of his media comments, I certainly cannot disagree with the point he brought up. Dixon was incredible during the game against Baltimore last season. He was stellar, and just tripped up at the end with the interception in overtime. It was a tough loss, but I certainly gained confidence in Dixon that day. So did, apparently, Heinz.
ATTENTION TOMLIN...GIVE DIXON A FAIR SHOT. HE IS BETTER THAN BABY FACE.
One final thought...I dare you to tell me that this isn't a Baby Face:
This is a baby face...and Cleveland Sucks.
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