Benless, Hopeless, and Winless

Last night, under a clear and chilly November sky, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens did battle for the inside track to the AFC North Divisional title; along the way two important opinions would be tested:

#1: The importance of an elite franchise quarterback, say Ben Roethlisberger, is oft overrated.
#2: By continually renewing the contracts of both Byron Leftwich and Charlie Batch, the Steelers have wisely maintained a glut of talent and experience at the quarterback position.

By the end of the first quarter of last night's painful 13-10 loss, it should have been self evident to all that both opinions are bustable myths.  Starting in reverse order, anyone who still feels the need to cling to the aging "Steelers are so-o-o deep at QB" mantra should fire up the DVR and review the tape a few more times.  Byron Leftwich, despite his nimble footed 31 yard touchdown gallop to open the game, looked old, slow, and brittle throughout the critical junctures of the contest, while certainly not resembling a quarterback capable of winning a big game.  The slow delivery looking like an AJ Burnett cutter, just begs for a defensive end tomahawk chop, and that big right arm, well, I didn't really see it much from section 113.  Now the boys at 93.7 The Fan are telling me that Leftwich got hurt during his rampaging TD lunge, untouched mind you,...again, not the serviceability that the Rooney dollars paid for.  Considering that coach Mike Tomlin displayed nearly no interest in inserting Charlie Batch, even after Leftwich's injuries, should tell you that the supposed depth at the position is greatly over reported.

As far as the franchise quarterback thing, there shouldn't be any doubt anymore.  Anyone who is delusional enough to believe that this team can pull out anything better than .500 with Ben's arm in a sling should contact their therapist immediately.  There's a reason why the Steelers win with Ben and lose without him.  No further commentary is needed on this.

Now, here comes the big contradiction: despite all I that I just ranted over, the Steelers did NOT lose last night simply because #4 lined up under center in place of #7.  In what could have been an epic team victory, failures on special teams as well as other critical miscues saddled the Steelers with a stinging team loss.  On a night when the team needed to be strong on all phases of the game to give Leftwich any remote chance of victory, the Steelers had far too many breakdowns to put a kill on a playoff bound team.

CHEERS AND JEERS

CHEERS:

• Jon Dwyer.  More good, hard running by an emerging back.  Why he only got 12 carries is still mysterious to me, but at least you can't blame Bruce Arians anymore.
• Defensive Secondary.  Particularly CB's Ike Taylor and Keenan Lewis.  The Ravens' offense is predicated on Joe Flacco connecting on big strikes down field to set up Ray Rice's underneath game.  Taylor and Lewis effectively kiboshed any vertical yardage, thus forcing Flacco into short and quick outs, something that he just hasn't shown efficiency in doing at this point in his career.

JEERS:

• Mike Wallace.  As this outlet has become a weekly critic of #17's shortcomings, last night should have again shown you that Wallace is simply a talented receiver with blazing speed.  He is nowhere close to the elite wideout that his agent would like you to believe he is.  His fumble, deep inside the Steelers' own territory, was the first big pendulum swing of momentum towards the purple birds. His lack of effort on a short hopped (but catchable) pass from Leftwich proved costly.  The fade route in the end zone was probably a bad call given the small space available, but again, the elite receiver makes the play.
• Todd Haley.  Where was this tailor made game plan designed to maximize Leftwich's limited strengths.