The Pittsburgh Steelers face a very big challenge that will start day one of their training camp. How will they find enough first team snaps for Ben Roethlisberger to prepare him for the job once he serves his suspension and rejoins the team, and for whichever back up QB will have the short term starting job while Big Ben is off learning how to be good.
Steelers Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians has a careful balancing act to conduct. He will have to find snaps to get Big Ben ready for the season, and enough snaps to evaluate who should take over for him in his absence. That means no less than three QB’s; Ben, Charlie Batch, and Byron Leftwich will need time with the first team offense. Most football fans know if you have more than one QB you really do not have any at all. Somehow the Steelers are going to have find enough snaps in training camp and pre season to get a good feel for who should be their starting QB through at least the first four games of the season.
They brought back Leftwich because he has been with the team before, and has a good grasp of their offense. On top of that Batch has proven he can be an adequate fill in when Ben has been injured. However this decision gets a little uglier when we realize that the best solution is for the Steelers to reinvest their commitment to the running game.
The real problem there is their opponents already know that , so they are very likely to stack their defense against the Steeler running attack. That means that they need to find a QB who can make their opponents at least respect the passing attack that is void WR Santonio Holmes. I would not want to have to game plan that attack, and I am sure all this is costing Arians a lot of sleep.
Related Links:
• Pittsburgh Steelers news and notes • The Business of the NFL •MTR Football.com
