Roethlisberger getting unwarranted criticism due to close ties with Bruce Arians; Steelers speak to Al Everest

11:24pm - Thursday, January 14th, 2010 by DePaoli

All Ben Roethlisberger did this season was throw for a career high 4,328 yards, that included 26 touchdowns and a 100.5 quarterback rating. However, the two time Super Bowl winning quarterback has seen his reputation take a hit.

First it was a teammate questioning his toughness and courage and then Roethlisberger was brought into the Bruce Arians fallout by some of the media.

After a false report came out that Bruce Arians was going to be relieved of his duties, some of the media who are not fans of Arians or were looking to do some damage control, claimed that Ben Roethlisberger threw a "hail mary" and saved Bruce Arians job at the 11th hour.

Soon after we found out Mike Tomlin was never close to firing Bruce Arians and had all intentions of retaining Arians but that hasn't stopped some of the criticism towards Roethlisberger regarding his close ties to Arians.

There is talk that Roethlisberger has too much authority in the organization. While it's clear that the Steelers need to establish a running mentality in 2010, they didn't give Ben Roethlisberger a $102 million dollar contract to play Trent Dilfer football.

Roethlisberger's close ties to Arians have nothing to do with the Steelers being a passing team first. They would be regardless of who the offensive coordinator was.

Latest Coaching Buzz

Pittsburgh's top choice to replace the departed Ken Anderson as their new QB coach is Carolina Panthers quarterback coach Rip Scherer.

Scherer worked as a scout for the Steelers in the 1970's and has close ties to Pittsburgh.

Scherer is very interested in coming to Pittsburgh but has yet to move on the Steelers offer. Scherer this week turned down an offer to become Virginia's offensive coordinator and he has been granted permission to speak to the Steelers.

Scherer has one year left on his deal with the Panthers.

The Steelers backup plan is to name wide receivers coach Randy Fichtner their new QB's coach, if Scherer declines their offer.

Butler not the front runner in Miami

Linebackers coach Keith Butler has been granted permission to interview with the Miami Dolphins for their defensive coordinator position but Butler has yet to interview for the job.

The reason for that is the Dolphins are waiting for word from former New York Jets coach Al Groh who was offered the position.

Groh is expected to accept the position.

Pete Carroll wants Omar Khan

Pittsburgh Steelers salary cap expert Omar Khan has emerged as a front runner for the Seattle Seahawks GM position.

Kahn, 32, has played a role in the Steelers front office since he was 23 years old. However, he doesn't have a strong background on personnel.

Khan is believed to be Pete Carroll’s top choice. Former Tennessee Titans GM Floyd Reese is believed to be the other finalist and it's being speculated that Reese is the top choice of Seahawks ownership.

Special Teams coach Al Everest on the Steelers radar?

Special Teams coach Bobby April has landed with the Philadelphia Eagles. The Steelers had an offer on the table to April but they weren't considered the favorites.

Meanwhile, the Steelers have spoken to former San Francisco special teams coach Al Everest. No official interview has yet to be conducted.

Recent Steelers Posts

Comments

joker10277

Stat's don't mean anything if you don't make the playoffs! Yards without points mean nothing, yeah they had a great offense between the 20's but they stunk in the redzone and on third down. Also, I haven't heard anyone else say MT was never close to firing BA, if he was close to doing it and he changed his mind, he sure as hell wouldn't tell anybody about it.

01/14/2010 11:56pm

Monrovian12

This is just dumb, We as fans may not like BA at times, but the Steelers are now a pass first team, I can live with that...and like the article points out you don't pay a QB 102 mil to hand it off more often than not.

01/15/2010 12:21am

rkrichter

I think you should only be allowed to criticize the offense if you finish every critique with, "but if the defense could hold a 4th quarter lead the Steelers would have finished 14-2." Although I do agree, it was painful to watch the redzone offense.

01/15/2010 12:33am

jeffed

D you are just wasting your time on this one. I'm not sure why but some Steeler fans do nothing but bitch and moan about Ben no matter what he does, it's a shame, but it's how it is.

01/15/2010 8:30am

jeffed

All - would you be bitching and moaning about BA's play calling, a top 3 QB, a decent running game, etc. if the Steelers had won the tie breaker to get into the playoffs or even won another game and got in?

01/15/2010 8:31am

jeffed

This nonsense was started by PFT becuase they were reporting the Ken Laird "report" like it was written in stone, so PFT tried to cover their ass and throw Ben under the bus which seems to be their agenda every time his name is brought up.

01/15/2010 8:34am

j_s15226

EXACTLY rk....more often than not this ofense put the team in a position to win on Sundays. That's all you can ask for

01/15/2010 8:42am

rkrichter

Yeah, but for the five games that the defense couldn't hold on to for the team, all the haters will say, "Yeah but if Ben wouldn't have played so poorly against the Browns then the Steelers would be in the playoffs." Well, that game shouldn't have been so important to their season, except perhaps playoff seeding.

01/15/2010 8:58am

SV84

I bitch and moan about his 4th quarter gameplan.

01/15/2010 9:01am

↑ previous comments ↑

rkrichter

Yeah BA's fourth quarter gameplan was almost as stellar as Dicky boy's.

01/15/2010 9:10am

SV84

I'm not saying it's all on Arians in the 4th. But do you really want to say his gameplan in the 4th was good? It would be either three straight runs behind the inner three or three straight bombs (see Baltimore which would have been costly if the penalty never happened). He wasn't the reason the defense sucked, but it didn't help. The short yardage also needs work, don't go 5 wide on third and one. Those are my problems with Arians. The stats are great and I'm not one of those radical Anti-Arians guys, but situational play calling isn't good.

01/15/2010 11:50am

rkrichter

All valid points. Although, I think the poor performance of the defense forced his hand into trying to put as many points as possible on the board.

01/15/2010 11:57am

SV84

It's possible, could've been an urgency to score to cushion the defense. It would be nice to see some off-tackles and if they don't work short passes to Heath and Hines to move the chains.

01/15/2010 12:04pm

tj1015

I agree SV. I think his playcalling is horrid- especially in the 4th quarter. I agree the offense was great statistically and the DEF/ST playing decent would have won games. I understand that it is a passing league now, but Ravens game is a perfect example of terrible plays. If the argument is going to be you don't pay a QB $102 million to hand off, then you don't use a first round draft choice on a RB if you are going to go empty of 3rd and 1.

01/15/2010 11:37pm