One Thing This Offense Needs

[RemoAZ]

WaaaAAa Waaaaaaaa somebody call the wambulance !!!!

Good lord man.....get a grip.....trying watching a few games Ben is still pretty damn good

He can’t carry an offense the way he used to.

That’s all that matters.

No, he can't.

I think though, put enough of the right players around him and he can be the savvy vet making enough of the throws he has to make to give us a shot with this stacked defense when we have enough of our defensive starters on the field.

I said it all off season... it's about the OL. It was never about the RB. This offense can be kick started if we can get competitive OL play.

They never won shit when they needed Ben to put the team on his shoulders. They won when they had a good team around Ben. The defense was there this season. They needed to fix the oline and failed.

[Greeksteel]

I agree the offense needs to attack the middle of the field more, but Ebron should never see the field. Muuuuuuuuth is the guy that needs featured. Why have a 39 year old Ben scramble and avoid a sack to make a great throw just to have Ebron drop it? Friermuth is the future and superior player. Plus he comes from a college football powerhouse.

This offense needs a guy like Ebron, but Eric Ebron is just about everything I hate in a player. He's a bad teammate, a bad influence, thinks he's better than he is, is a loser who makes all the fuck ups that don't show up on stat sheets that lose games, and he plays like an unclutch pussy. I know that's harsh but I love the guy. He had more than enough chances.

We'll be better off when he's off the roster.

Endorsed except where you love the guy, I can't stand him.

[Greeksteel]

WaaaAAa Waaaaaaaa somebody call the wambulance !!!!

Good lord man.....get a grip.....trying watching a few games Ben is still pretty damn good

He can’t carry an offense the way he used to.

That’s all that matters.

No, he can't.

I think though, put enough of the right players around him and he can be the savvy vet making enough of the throws he has to make to give us a shot with this stacked defense when we have enough of our defensive starters on the field.

I said it all off season... it's about the OL. It was never about the RB. This offense can be kick started if we can get competitive OL play.

[Scunge]

Ben doesn't need Enron, because he has JuJu!!!!

JuJu has become his Heath Miller replacement. Ben uses JuJu like he did Miller, whenever he gets nervous in the pocket and is looking to dump it off, he looks to JuJu. JuJu is Ben's security blanket. Yet again, this year JuJu is averaging what, 8-9 yards a catch? The rookie Freiermuth has 5 catches for 60 yards, a healthy 12.0 yard average and a long of 24 yards. That is a nice start under the circumstances but what might he do with a QB that is not so infatuated with throwing to JuJu? Muth on another team may end the season with over 60 catches and 750 yards, 7-8 TDs, here in the 'Burgh, we want to continue to waste time with Enron?

And this idea that Muth can't get open or get separation is bullshit. Are our WRs so clearly getting separation? NO, no they are not, Ben will force throws to them, you would think throwing to a 6'5" target with longer arms, a much wider catch radius, and as was pointed out all through camp, the best hands on the team, you would think throwing to Muth would be almost routine. Easy, free production, there for the taking.

I wondered how Ben was going to do in Canada's offense this year. I wondered why he would want to come back, with this youth movement at all of the skill positions AND the offensive line. And Canada is not going to be able to fully implement his offense this year, no, he is hamstrung by an old QB in his last year. It is a really a crappy situation.

Ben is set in his ways and is being stubborn.

[RemoAZ]

Ben doesn't need Enron, because he has JuJu!!!!

JuJu has become his Heath Miller replacement. Ben uses JuJu like he did Miller, whenever he gets nervous in the pocket and is looking to dump it off, he looks to JuJu. JuJu is Ben's security blanket. Yet again, this year JuJu is averaging what, 8-9 yards a catch? The rookie Freiermuth has 5 catches for 60 yards, a healthy 12.0 yard average and a long of 24 yards. That is a nice start under the circumstances but what might he do with a QB that is not so infatuated with throwing to JuJu? Muth on another team may end the season with over 60 catches and 750 yards, 7-8 TDs, here in the 'Burgh, we want to continue to waste time with Enron?

And this idea that Muth can't get open or get separation is bullshit. Are our WRs so clearly getting separation? NO, no they are not, Ben will force throws to them, you would think throwing to a 6'5" target with longer arms, a much wider catch radius, and as was pointed out all through camp, the best hands on the team, you would think throwing to Muth would be almost routine. Easy, free production, there for the taking.

I wondered how Ben was going to do in Canada's offense this year. I wondered why he would want to come back, with this youth movement at all of the skill positions AND the offensive line. And Canada is not going to be able to fully implement his offense this year, no, he is hamstrung by an old QB in his last year. It is a really a crappy situation.

Ben is set in his ways and is being stubborn.

Great post. I will say that even with as rich as Ben is, it would be hard to walk away from that "pay cut". He's not going to make a ton of money in retirement with endorsements or working for a network. This might be it for him. That and I'm sure he still loves being a starting NFL QB.

[steelmann58]

Well if you look at the current group pf QB no of the 3 fit Canada Offense. BTW ben is getting some BIG hits behind this line.

[Scunge]

Steelmann58, I am not so certain about that. Mason might actually be a better fit who knows? Maybe Rudolph would be more willing to throw it to the TEs, more willing to take snaps under center, more willing to be part of an offense that used the FB. More willing to use all of the presnap movement and shifts.

It seems like Ben tires of all of that pretty quickly in the games thus far and wants to revert back to what he is comfortable with. Would Mason be able to follow more what Canada wants to do on offense? Yeah, I think so at this point because Mason is younger and when you factor Ben's old age.

Mason has started 9 games the past two years. Only 1 game last year but 8 games in 2019 when things were sort of similar to this year to be quite honest.

There were injuries along the OL. That was not an All-Star offensive line, but one that was ALREADY showing signs of decline and they were starting to become injury prone, Pouncey missed 3 games in 2019, Foster missed 2 games in 2019, among the skill positions, JuJu missed time, 4 games, Conner missed 6 games, Diontae Johnson, Benny Snell and Zach Gentry were all rookies. Pouncey had more bad snaps that season than I could ever remember. He had one game where he had 3 consecutive bad snaps to Duck.

And yet for all of that, in those 10 games that Mason played and 8 games he started the offense wasn't so bad that it was averaging less than 20 points a game. These are some of the points scored in games in 2019 in which Rudolph played, 27, 27, 26, 26, 24, 23, 20, 17, 16, 7.

Now, maybe you might argue that was 2019 and this is 2021, yeah, but so far a Ben led Canada offense is averaging what exactly? You take away that blocked punt for a TD and what has the offense done? 32 points in the first two games, 16 points per game? I am not expecting 30 points per game on offense but what if Rudolph is able to come in and run this Canada offense better and average say, 22 points per game?

I have a feeling we will get to see Rudolph at some point this year and it will be interesting to see how the offense performs.

[ToddHaleysNineIron]

I keep hearing "Should have fixed the oline"

Okay - so you take a tackle in R1.... except that you probably reach to get one because no more were taken until R2. Does that "fix" your oline? You still have a rookie playing tackle. How about C? Well you could have taken L. Dickerson - except he was only activated this week in a backup role, so you would have had JC starting at C. Maybe you take an extra lineman in R2 and role with your TE depth - sure that's an option, but its still a rookie.

I don't think its possible to fix the oline in one draft... that's a multi year deal.

You then look to what they did after DeCastro was released... that's where they had money to play with. The invested a lot of that in depth at the linebacker position. I guess they could have went out and signed a T instead, maybe that would have helped - especially with Banner coming back - but that linebacker position would have been just as much a disaster than the OL...

pick your poison I guess. Maybe they wanted to float until Banner comes back - but man... is that going to help out that much

[Stosh-67]

Zach Banner will be 28 on Christmas Day.

He has 2 NFL starts in his career. TWO.

He played in 8 games for Cleveland in 2017
Did not play a single game in 2018. He was on the Panthers roster for 2 months in March and April.
Started 1 game in 2019 for the Steelers, appearing in 14 games, mostly as a 3rd Tackle.
Played and started 1 game last year.

He has 2 NFL starts in his career.

He is massive. He may be too big for his own body to stay healthy.
I root for him, because we need all the help we can get.

[ToddHaleysNineIron]

I'd say if Banner is an upgrade in any form, that might explain why they were comfortable this year...

I mean really, is there any moves you could make through the draft and FA that would have made this team a super bowl contender?

You could improve the line but be thin on defense... you could go deep on defense and try to win games that way (which is what they did, and lets not forget without injuries they beat a favorite Bills team.. If Haden/Watt/Bush play, do they win this last week?)


I really don't know if there is a "right" answer.... I think rebuilding the line is a multi year deal no matter what, and I think they just took the best talent where they could and where it fell to them. I think they felt there would be R2 guys in R4 at tackle and just took one there.

I also think there is a lot of doom and gloom for a team (comparing them to bottom dwellers) when they did just play a game where some of their more elite defensive guys got hurt mid game.

Injuries suck, no doubt, but I saw what that defense was capable of, and if they can get that - its a respectable team... is it a super bowl favorite? no... but was that possible this year at all?

[Stosh-67]

THN....

I think if Banner makes it back to replace Chucks,
the hope is that at least he would be a better run blocker.
and maybe his size and wingspan provides a bigger obstacle to get around on the pass rush.

The down side, between Banner and Turner at RG, we may have the least mobile right side in the AFC?
Turner is looking every bit as big as Ramon Foster did the last few years,

Listed playing weight is typically when they first enter the NFL and does not usually change.

Turner is listed at 6'-3" 315..............he has to be 340-350.
Banner is listed at 6'-8" / 360...........can't see him being less than 370

[Steel Bingo]

Banner is a massive human, just like his father, Lincoln Kennedy.

If/when he can get on the field and maul players, that would give the running game 3 brute options for running behind. Dotson, Banner and Turner.

Bonus points if he could work from both sides, but ideally he at least finds the field sometime this season.

[steelmann58]

I really think if Ben not healthy this week give Mason a try and use Watt as FB. But I agree Banner would definitely be an upgrade in the Run Game. He could not be worse than Chucks in the passing game.