Monday, September 13, 2010

The best you can hope for

So after an impressive outing by both the Steelers and Falcons defense on Sunday, the Black & Gold squeaked out a victory in overtime. Rashard Mendenhall's 50-yd run capped the game and more importantly gave the Steelers one victory without the Overrated One (Big Ben).

Momentum is a very crucial aspect of sports and particular football. The Steelers built up a bunch of it last night, taking down one of the early favorites to win the NFC (the Falcons). It gave Dennis Dixon his first win in the NFL and some confidence, as his final line was (18-26, 236 Yards, 1 INT). Not too bad for a rookie and especially for someone whose only expectation was to manage the game. The Steelers next 3 games are against the Titans, Buccaneers, and Ravens. Two out of the three (Titans and Ravens), will be very difficult games. Going into the first four games (length of Ben's suspension), no one was expecting them to win more than 2. The real question is what if?

If the Steelers lose the next three, that's a a tough uphill battle they have the rest of the season. After the suspension they still have to battle against the likes of the Patriots, Ravens (again), Dolphins, Raiders (don't laugh b/c they have a tough D), Saints, Jets, and the Bengals twice. Ben would probably be blamed if they miss the playoffs after such a start, since it truly is his fault for putting the team in that position. Every Steelers fan (Ben included) is hoping and would be satisfied by a 2-2 start. It would still give the team a great chance at the playoffs especially if their other win comes against Baltimore. This would guarantee all the teams in the division of having at least 1 loss after the first four weeks. At that point, everything is up for grabs.

Here's where it gets interesting. Say the Steel Curtain lives up to it's name. Say Dennis Dixon lights it up in one of the next 3 games, passes for 2+ TD's or over 300 yards. What if they start out 4-0? You may laugh but it's easily possible. The defense is that good and who knows if Dixon is the second coming of Kordell Stewart, who many forget led the team to the AFC Championship game one year.

What then?

99% of you will argue Ben is the franchise QB and should start no matter what the record says. The 1% of us who have a clue will say, not so fast. The Steelers would have a ton of momentum after a 4-0 start with a young QB, especially after beating 3 playoff caliber teams. Dixon would be battle tested and ready for anything the rest of the season may throw him. I'd say keep riding the young QB until he shows signs of falling apart. It's happened before, even in the Steelers history. Tommy Maddox anyone? The guy was supposed to be just a "filler" QB. Kordell Stewart after being in the AFC Championship game the year before was replaced three games into the next season by Maddox and never saw the job again.

Sure Ben has two rings with the Steelers, but the team clearly sees something in Dixon. Otherwise, why would they have drafted him and also started him ahead of Charlie Batch? Batch should have easily been the replacement QB for these first four games. He's safe, reliable, and no one would have expected him to start after Ben returned. Now with Dixon, who is a young, athletic QB, they may be starting a bit of controversy. It's almost the perfect storm if he does start 4-0. The local fans are getting fed up with Ben's off-the-field performance and the only thing that matters to these fans are wins. If Dixon collects 4 of them in his first four games, expect plenty of love from the Black & Gold faithful and one important question.

Ben who??

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