You guys really DO hate Ben don't you?

[Wingman]

The problem with what you advocate is that even if they successfully use the money they did not give to Roethlisberger to acquire defensive talent via free agency and/or trade, there's a great chance they'll be no closer to winning the Super Bowl than they are now because the QB position will suck.

Too many people underestimate how QB oriented the league has become and what the implications of that are. If you have a franchise QB, you have to try to keep him and build around him for as long as he can play.

My point is not to over value the position so that it prevents the team from wining again. That is what happened with the dolphins. There are lots of teams that have over valued players and had tremendous talent at one position but were never able to put together a team of winners. Marino is a great example of an overvalued player. Barry Sanders was another with a huge salary and was the best at his spot but the team could not win. They were champions in the era before the SB and were good.

The gavens won with what was one of the worst QBs in a SB because of a great defense.

Fantasy games aside I do not want the team to overpay for a qb and then to have no defenders, or other offensive players. We have over payed for an offensive line based on what they have shown and it has hurt the team. I do not dislike Ben he still has a bit left in the tank. I think he is past his prime but still very good. His accuracy does not seem to be what it was again still good but not what it was early in his game. Yards don't mean squat points do. Consistency means a lot as well he followed up his two five hundred yard games with a loss and very low production this past season, in that instance he was not able to get us past a poor team. In the playoffs the team looked lost with out Bell.

As to getting his replacement, laundry jones does not look like it he might be the replacement for Kent Graham but not Ben. As to getting Bens replacement I would like for them to get a guy and have him on the squad so he can learn the offense and the game and be the second QB till Ben retires and then take over. Much the way Rodgers did for Farve

 

[Vader]

They have signed a few free agents in years gone by that were not scrap heap players, and on occasion traded for one who is going into the hall of fame by the way. Wayne Gandy left tackle, Kevin Green LB, J. Bettis, trade, James Farrier LB, Ryan Clark safety, I am sure there are others. At this point the defense needs much more than can be drafted and if the wait for the draft to fill it not only will Ben be a memory but it is likely our wide outs will as well. The only way for them to do something in the near future is to play in free agency, something that they have not done a lot of. Or we could resemble the dolphins during the time they had a great qb and only went to the sb once during his time there, they also had a coach that was much better than what we have now as well.

And EVERY SINGLE one of those players were years apart and on both sides of the ball. The Steelers will spend to bring in a FA but it's going to take more than one to fix this defense. That comes through the draft not FA. No team can afford to bring in 2 high priced OLBs, 2 high priced DBs, 1-2 high priced safeties etc... If anyone thinks FA can make up for bad drafting then they are sadly mistaken. I agree the coach use to be better but no team can over come bad drafting regardless of the coach.

Also the rats in 2000 are not a team to emulate. They did it once... the only time it's really been done in over 40 years. Just look at the QBs the past few years to win a SB and you won't find any Trent Dilfers. Manning, Brees, Ben, Brady, Wilson, Eli etc.... no Dilfers.

 

[Litos]

Paying ben is not overpaying, every team in the league except the patriots, colts, saints would happily pay that contract to him. As people has said here before, a premium QB doesnt come often so you better get the most from him, build around him as best as you can, that's drafting and getting good FAs without overpaying for them.

 

[TAS]

Didnt we make it to the AFCCG twice w Kordell ?

You like baseball caps?

 

[topseed]

Given that the Steelers are never big spenders in free agency, please explain how Roethlisberger's new contract is going to further handicap the defense.

More cap space is not going to magically make them draft better.

Roethlisberger probably has three or four prime years left, which is an eternity in today's NFL. If they cannot build a remotely decent defense during that time span, it will have little to do with what they're paying Roethlisberger.

"NEVER" is a strong word...James Farrior comes to mind. Yeah, the drafting lately has sucked. I'm not denying that...but it is also precisely the reason the Steelers WILL NOT be able to build a remotely decent defense during Ben's final few years of proficiency, after his contract monopolizes cap space for that time period (and perhaps well beyond, depending on its structure).

They haven't been big players in free agency in the recent past because of the very fact that they were drafting good young talent to replace their former quality veterans. That just hasn't been the case here over the last few years. They have no one to adequately replace Ike, or Troy, or Harrison. No one. Actually, I understand completely what you and Vader and Coryea continue to say; however, just because the Steelers have "NEVER" spent money in free agency does not mean that they SHOULD NOT consider at least a partial change in philosophy, given the weak overall depth of the current roster here in 2015.

 

[topseed]

I've been saying this for years now. Nobody can explain it but it keeps being said as if it is a fact. The Steelers are NEVER going to spend money like Snyder to buy a defense. It has to come through the draft. Having $100 million to spend won't help the draft a damn bit better. But for some reason people can't get that through their heads. IF Jones, Worilds, Hood, Allen were great players then Ben's contract is irrelevant. This isn't difficult to understand.

And EVERY SINGLE one of those players were years apart and on both sides of the ball. The Steelers will spend to bring in a FA but it's going to take more than one to fix this defense. That comes through the draft not FA. No team can afford to bring in 2 high priced OLBs, 2 high priced DBs, 1-2 high priced safeties etc... If anyone thinks FA can make up for bad drafting then they are sadly mistaken. I agree the coach use to be better but no team can over come bad drafting regardless of the coach.

I'll tell you what I can't get through my head, and what's difficult to understand: Why you keep going on and on about how bad the drafting has been...and how you can admit that the defense is several players away from being "fixed,"...yet your solution somehow involves the very same regime suddenly turning around all their ****** drafting here in 2015, and they'll heroically start surrounding Ben with enough great talent...which of course will magically develop in time before Ben's franchise QB window closes.

Good luck with that.

 

[stillwright]

I'll tell you what I can't get through my head, and what's difficult to understand: Why you keep going on and on about how bad the drafting has been...and how you can admit that the defense is several players away from being "fixed,"...yet your solution somehow involves the very same regime suddenly turning around all their ****** drafting here in 2015, and they'll heroically start surrounding Ben with enough great talent...which of course will magically develop in time before Ben's franchise QB window closes.

Good luck with that.

I kind of just think he is stating HOW the Steelers go about it....Mostly through the draft and a few mid to low FA signings and that is how most likely they will continue to keep doing it.