Is it time for Pittsburgh Steelers to move beyond Big Ben era? – NFL Feature
A big question mark has started emerging around fitness of veteran quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, especially the latest rib injury has prompted some analysts to see if the Pittsburgh Steelers take it as a warning sign and start thinking beyond Big Ben era.
In one of his preseason talks Ben admitted he was fast aging after having played around a decade of professional league and to sustain in the longer run he has started making selective use of himself in plays. He had then rebuffed suggestions that it was
all over for him.
Away from his own analysis, some commentators see the player has maximum two years to go on the field, and it is time for the Steelers to start weighing bringing in and grooming a quarterback with long-term prospects.
The Steelers are in a situation similar to the one the Indianapolis Colts were last year. They too had to rely on one man, Peyton Manning, too much. He was victorious for them for 13 consecutive seasons and one season he spent on the sidelines because of
a neck injury and the team collapsed to record only two wins in the entire 2011 season.
Owner Jim Irsay sacked all officials over having failed to groom his replacement and it cost the team the entire past season. Now the Steelers are heading into a similar scenario.
It will not bode well with their hopes for victories in rest of the season if Ben is out for a longer period, which remains a possibility. The player himself has admitted this.
Apparently, all the officials from front office and coaches are silent over the recent injury blow struck to them but they will have to give a second thought to their strategy some time soon. If the Steelers fail to pull up themselves together without Ben,
options for sourcing another offence leader from the market will be rather difficult because more than half of the season has passed and no team would be interested to trade off their quarterbacks.
There are a couple options provided the teams are willing to surrender them. Tim Tebow, the former Denver Broncos’ offence leader, is playing as a backup quarterback in the New York Jets’ side. Another option is Cleveland Browns quarterback Colt McCoy.
Even if not this year, the team has next draft season where from they can pick up a rookie quarterback and groom him keeping the longer-run objectives on their mind, because even if Big Ben returns to action soon this year he cannot sustain more than a couple
of seasons on the field. So it is better earlier than later for the Steelers to groom their future quarterback.
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