Ben vs. Duck: Can Hodges really take Steelers to Super Bowl?

[Avoid_Lloyd]

Beginning Sunday. The Bills are playing good football and looking to beat the Steelers to remain in W/C contention. Beating the Bills would certainly do Hodges’s stock a nice bump.

This. So far Fitchner has been unwilling to allow Duck to throw the ball down the field consistently. Lots of run, run, pass on 3rd down. We don't know enough about Duck, but I don't see the current offensive gameplan being good enough to get us any W's in the playoffs.

What I recall about Ben's 1st year is we saw flashes of him making some big plays down the field within a conservative gameplan, I haven't seen nearly as much of that trust from the coaches with Duck

Eventually Duck will half to drop back and throw when the D knows it's coming, then we'll see...

 

[Coryea]

Dupree, for one.

They can tag him, Ben's contract won't stop that.

 

[Coryea]

what about the 38-yard TD pass to Brandon Stokely in the superbowl? or his 44-yarder to qadry ismail in that same game?

I do remember that pass to Stokely now that you mention it, it was down the right sideline. The point I was making is they didn't suddenly start throwing it 25 times per game, once they got in the playoffs, Dilfer averaged like 9.5 completions per game in the post season.
It was also alot easier to play defense then too. Our defense is very good but they aren't going to keep playoff teams from scoring like that Ravens team did. We'll need our offense to produce

 

[Omar10213245]

I do remember that pass to Stokely now that you mention it, it was down the right sideline. The point I was making is they didn't suddenly start throwing it 25 times per game, once they got in the playoffs, Dilfer averaged like 9.5 completions per game in the post season.
It was also alot easier to play defense then too. Our defense is very good but they aren't going to keep playoff teams from scoring like that Ravens team did. We'll need our offense to produce

Agreed

 

[Stryker]

Dilfer's strength was he didn't fumble or throw INTs. They relied on Stover's leg to win games. Our kicker is better than Stover.

 

[Shane Falco]

Dilfer's strength was he didn't fumble or throw INTs. They relied on Stover's leg to win games. Our kicker is better than Stover.

Exactly. If Hodges continues to properly manage the game. With this defense and better special teams play- they have a shot in my opinion.

 

[Troglodyte]

Only Steelers fans would want to cut a future all of fame QB with two SB rings for a UDFA that couldn't beat out Mason Rudolph.

WTF? When a player is sitting on the bench watching the other guy take the field with the starting unit for the third straight game, that player most certainly has been beaten out of a job.

 

[Black & Gold Bleeder]

Fiectner get **** on a lot in the forums here. The fact we are winning with a udfa 3 Rd string rookie QB, an ZERO run game to speak of, and a buncha rookies and practice squad receivers,,,. Says he is doing a great job. But no , the way we run right now , I don't think we go anything past a wild card birth.

 

[Steelerz99]

Baltimore barely threw the ball in those playoffs, the only pass play I remember was the quick slant to Sharpe in the AFC title game at Oakland, that he ended up running for like 94 yards for a TD. In those 4 post season games, I'd be surprised if Dilfer completed a total of 40 passes or even attempted 75 passes combined.

Nice comment because he was pretty horrible. 35-73-590-3-1. The only thing mind boggling was his completion avg was over 16 yds. I cannot imagine a QB playing like this (again) and leading a team to a championship. Unicorn

 

[Sarge]

WTF? When a player is sitting on the bench watching the other guy take the field with the starting unit for the third straight game, that player most certainly has been beaten out of a job.

Nuance isn't really your thing is it? You see, Mason Rudolph beat him out. Mason was the #2 to start the season, and Duck was on the practice squad. Had Mason not nearly lost everything from the neck up against Baltimore, Duck would still be on the bench. Mason melted down two games in a row. Any coach worth his salt would have made a change. **** isn't hard.

 

[Coryea]

Nice comment because he was pretty horrible. 35-73-590-3-1. The only thing mind boggling was his completion avg was over 16 yds. I cannot imagine a QB playing like this (again) and leading a team to a championship. Unicorn

The only reason it worked was because the NFL was a run first, play defense league then, now it's a pass happy league where everything is geared toward the offense. At some point your offense is going to have win a game for you, not just not get in the way.

 

[Hypocycloids]

Didn't Nick Foles take over at QB and win a Super Bowl?

Hell yeah Duck can take the Steelers to the Super Bowl!

 

[Omar10213245]

Nuance isn't really your thing is it? You see, Mason Rudolph beat him out. Mason was the #2 to start the season, and Duck was on the practice squad. Had Mason not nearly lost everything from the neck up against Baltimore, Duck would still be on the bench. Mason melted down two games in a row. Any coach worth his salt would have made a change. **** isn't hard.

uh, the reason rudolph was eventually replaced, was because he sucks. hard. not because he "lost everything from the neck up" against baltimore. whether he was knocked out or not, his time to ride the pine was eventually going to come.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

I don't think there's a fan and steeler nation who didn't want Rudolph the workout. At least to give some indication he could be "the guy" in a couple of years. The end result is unless Duck keeps on improving, "The Heir" is still in college

 

[Sarge]

uh, the reason rudolph was eventually replaced, was because he sucks. hard. not because he "lost everything from the neck up" against baltimore. whether he was knocked out or not, his time to ride the pine was eventually going to come.

Yes he does. He sucks. But I don’t think Tomlin makes the change if Rudolph doesn’t get hurt and comes back Ryan Leaf reincarnated. He wasn’t playing great, but prior to that injury, he wasn’t killing the Steelers either.

Truth is, if Ben doesn’t get hurt, no one knows or cares who Devlin Hodges is. Guy would be still running the scout team. Personally, I’m kinda glad things worked out the way they did because Hodges has been better than Rudolph and without that injury we may never have found out.

But the fact remains.......Rudolph was #2 and Hodges was on the PS.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

At one time, Trent Green was the unquested QB for what would become known as "The Greatest Show on Turf". He got injured, and in comes an arena league reject who went on to a HOF career. Not saying Duck is anywhere near the QB Warner was, but, turned out Warner was a heckuva lot better than Vermeil initially thought he was.
Sometimes you just don't know the backup is better than the starter till the backup gets a chance (Duck > than Rudolph at this point)

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[Hypocycloids]

Yes he does. He sucks. But I don’t think Tomlin makes the change if Rudolph doesn’t get hurt and comes back Ryan Leaf reincarnated. He wasn’t playing great, but prior to that injury, he wasn’t killing the Steelers either.

Truth is, if Ben doesn’t get hurt, no one knows or cares who Devlin Hodges is. Guy would be still running the scout team. Personally, I’m kinda glad things worked out the way they did because Hodges has been better than Rudolph and without that injury we may never have found out.

But the fact remains.......Rudolph was #2 and Hodges was on the PS.

And if Tommy Maddox didn't get hurt no one cares or knows who Ben Roethlisberger is!

...eh maybe not. lol

Funny that Ben was replaced for the same reason he replaced Maddox...both with elbow injuries.

 

[MT~Forged]

Until someone is given a shot, you NEVER know what you have. Some players go their whole career without ever being given a serious shot at the job. We have heard of players killing it in practice, and when given the shot, they don’t get it done. There is an equally good chance that a mediocre practice player kills it when given the chance to play. Sometimes you just have to give them a shot.

EVERY team in the league passed on Brady MULTIPLE times, because he didn’t have the perceived ability. Yeah It can be said that he is not truly all that, BUT, he still has to make the plays. Even if he may have extra beneficial information.

 

[slashsteel]

Until someone is given a shot, you NEVER know what you have. Some players go their whole career without ever being given a serious shot at the job. We have heard of players killing it in practice, and when given the shot, they don’t get it done. There is an equally good chance that a mediocre practice player kills it when given the chance to play. Sometimes you just have to give them a shot.

EVERY team in the league passed on Brady MULTIPLE times, because he didn’t have the perceived ability. Yeah It can be said that he is not truly all that, BUT, he still has to make the plays. Even if he may have extra beneficial information.

Man you had me until you brought lady into the convo. **** him and that factory of cheaters.

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[pittbull]

I don’t think the question is that simple one way or the other. While I don’t question Ben has experience and phyical abilities far greater than Duck, I don’t think plug-and-play scenarios would be very accurate. First...Ben has ALWAY had a pro bowl caliber receiver, and few years without a pro bowl RB. Duck is operating with a rookie as his number one receiver and rookie backups to backups at RB. Secondly, the offensive skill players are all very young. Might they have a chemistry with Duck that they might not have with Ben? Third, the defense knows they need to carry this team. Would they have developed that mindset if Ben was leading this team? These are just a few variables that there is no way of knowing the asset to.

I predict/hope Ben comes back next year and has a BETTER year than his past few. His numbers have always been there, but he’s made some devastating errors the past few years at critical time. He’s said so himself a few time that he needs to do better. I hope sitting on the sidelines for a full year watching how passionate this young team is playing will give him some perspective and inspire him to do better.

 

[Coryea]

At one time, Trent Green was the unquested QB for what would become known as "The Greatest Show on Turf". He got injured, and in comes an arena league reject who went on to a HOF career. Not saying Duck is anywhere near the QB Warner was, but, turned out Warner was a heckuva lot better than Vermeil initially thought he was.
Sometimes you just don't know the backup is better than the starter till the backup gets a chance (Duck > than Rudolph at this point)

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Well, that was Trent Greens very first year with the Rams, same as Warner's. So unquestioned QB of the Greatest Show on Turn is quite the stretch, he played what, one preseason game with the Rams??? Warner instantly started slinging the ball all over the place, he wasn't just managing games, he was taking games over.

 

[Coryea]

I don’t think the question is that simple one way or the other. While I don’t question Ben has experience and phyical abilities far greater than Duck, I don’t think plug-and-play scenarios would be very accurate. First...Ben has ALWAY had a pro bowl caliber receiver, and few years without a pro bowl RB. Duck is operating with a rookie as his number one receiver and rookie backups to backups at RB. Secondly, the offensive skill players are all very young. Might they have a chemistry with Duck that they might not have with Ben? Third, the defense knows they need to carry this team. Would they have developed that mindset if Ben was leading this team? These are just a few variables that there is no way of knowing the asset to.

I predict/hope Ben comes back next year and has a BETTER year than his past few. His numbers have always been there, but he’s made some devastating errors the past few years at critical time. He’s said so himself a few time that he needs to do better. I hope sitting on the sidelines for a full year watching how passionate this young team is playing will give him some perspective and inspire him to do better.

Just maybe, those pro bowl caliber WR's were pro bowl caliber because of Ben??? Holmes wasn't nearly as good when he left here, Wallace a 3rd round pick had a very good rookie year, and was off to a historical start to his career until he decided he was worth more than he was, how'd he do when he left? AB a 6th round pick, how did he do when Ben wasn't his QB? How about JuJu, how'd he do with Ben as his QB. It's always the WR's that make Ben, never the other way around.
Ben did help us win a super bowl with an undrafted RB, not pro bowl RB(Parker) and a rookie TE(Miller) in 2005, then win another behind the worst Oline to ever make a super bowl and who was the RB then?
It was ok for the 2008 defense to dominate? So if Ben is in there, Watt, Cam, Dupree, Haden, Bush, Nelson, Minkah are thinking "we don't need to try hard, Ben is on offense, we don't want to get picks or sacks"

 

[Ron Burgundy]

Until someone is given a shot, you NEVER know what you have. Some players go their whole career without ever being given a serious shot at the job. We have heard of players killing it in practice, and when given the shot, they don’t get it done. There is an equally good chance that a mediocre practice player kills it when given the chance to play. Sometimes you just have to give them a shot.

Some guys look great in practice but suck in games (Limas Sweed) but keep playing because the coaches hope they will get it together. Some guys are gamers and look horrible in practice but turn it on come game time (Franco Harris). No matter how bad Mason was, if he doesn’t get hurt I don’t think we see Duck this year.

 

[Omar10213245]

Yes he does. He sucks. But I don’t think Tomlin makes the change if Rudolph doesn’t get hurt and comes back Ryan Leaf reincarnated. He wasn’t playing great, but prior to that injury, he wasn’t killing the Steelers either.

Truth is, if Ben doesn’t get hurt, no one knows or cares who Devlin Hodges is. Guy would be still running the scout team. Personally, I’m kinda glad things worked out the way they did because Hodges has been better than Rudolph and without that injury we may never have found out.

But the fact remains.......Rudolph was #2 and Hodges was on the PS.

what makes you think that? as weeks progress within a season, there is more and more film on a guy, hence more and more information for opposing defenses to work with, particularly when it comes to new/young players. How do you know that the league wasn't starting to put together a "book" on him, his tendencies, his shortcomings, his overall game, and using that information in an advantageous manner? ya know, since that's been happening since the advent of the game and all. Now, I grant you that our beloved coaching staff has their fair share of questionable decisions as to whom gets playing time, who makes the cut, etc etc, so you may well be right, maybe they'd have played mason into perpetuity, regardless of results. But, i tend to think that, getting knocked or not, mason was eventually going to play himself into an opportunity for a prime seat on that bench, which is what eventually happened.

 

[SteelBuckeye]

Well, that was Trent Greens very first year with the Rams, same as Warner's. So unquestioned QB of the Greatest Show on Turn is quite the stretch, he played what, one preseason game with the Rams??? Warner instantly started slinging the ball all over the place, he wasn't just managing games, he was taking games over.

Green was the starter (unquestioned even). It being their first year has nothing to do with it. At the time, Vermeil thought Green was the better option... and better QB. Warner, like Duck, just needed a shot to show what he could do. Yep, he aired it out more ... to a group of receivers that did NOT include practice squad players, a second year player trying to grow into a role and a rookie