We had the story about Mike Tomlin stating he’s gonna have his starting QB for suspended Ben Roethlisberger picked by July. Right now all signs point to Byron Leftwich getting the spot, and Pro Football Talk had a tidbit earlier today on it, and some other NFL ‘experts’ seem to be on the same page of Leftwich being the guy.
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said this week that it’s not really a “three-man competition” to determine who will start at quarterback while Ben Roethlisberger is suspended.
“We know what all three men are capable of doing,” Tomlin said.
Just a guess, but we took that to mean Charlie Batch isn’t part of the competition. Tomlin also said he will know his quarterback pecking order before training camp starts, even if he doesn’t make the information public.
We didn’t know what that meant.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter thinks he has a clue. He said on NFL Live Friday that the job is Byron Leftwich’s to lose.
Leftwich ran with the first team at Pittsburgh’s recent minicamp. The team explained that by saying they wanted to get him back up to speed after spending last year in Tampa Bay.
Dennis Dixon played well in his one start last year, but Leftwich has more experience and the Steelers seem to like the leadership he brings to the team.
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Melissa Schmidt
May 14, 2010 at 7:35 pm
I think that Charlie Batch should have been made our starting QB! He is the best and he should be given that opportunity.
Tre
May 15, 2010 at 9:30 am
What are you talken about he is to slow and he will take way to many sacks and he isnt that accurate it should be leftwich and if he messes up give it straight to dixon
jake
May 15, 2010 at 1:41 pm
agreed. Batch is old. dixon is the no.2 man
down but not out
May 15, 2010 at 11:06 am
I don’t see how anyone can say that dixon had a good start last year? Hell he only threw a couple passes and completed like 1 he sucks and doesn’t deserve a starting spot. Sure the defense blew that game at the end but he’s no starter. They should start leftwich and if it goes south put in batch.
jake
May 15, 2010 at 1:44 pm
dixon didnt do poorly… the game that he lost isnt on his shoulders, its our defenses fault for putting him in that position last year against the ravens.. you try going out your first game and make it against your division rival, put it in the fourth quarter, the last minute or so, your down by less than a TD, compound that with an away game… and now you gotta worry about some damn defensive end falling back into coverage (which speaks volumes about baltimores skill at that position)… in my opinion Dixon is a very capable QB and the competition is good between him and leftwich
arrow61095
May 17, 2010 at 10:34 am
I agree with above that Dixon did not do badly in his 1 start. It was against a tough division rival with a tough defense (the Ravens) and he took the game to overtime.
Most people also forget the details around that start. Word was that Ben might play up until the actual game. Dixon got very little work with the first team offense that week in practice so they only gave him about 10% of the playbook that they let him run. It’s hard to say, but I tend to think that if it hadn’t been his first start and he had gotten more reps with the first team in practice we would have won that game.
The Tony
May 16, 2010 at 8:55 am
You got to keep in mind that it was the first career start for Dixon and it was against the Ravens.
Brian
May 16, 2010 at 9:48 am
Denis Dixon all the way.
arrow61095
May 17, 2010 at 10:52 am
In all honesty I wouldn’t mind seeing a QB by commitee between Leftwich and Dixon similar to how Arizona did it with Warner and Leinhart early in Leinharts career for the first 4 games.
Looking at the 3 QBs:
Batch – I love Batch, but he is done as a QB (too prone to injury). His future is more as a QB coach.
Leftwich – Would be solid. Is probably the best win now answer since he would provide stability. But would starting him hurt the future more than he help the present?
Dixon – A lot of Talent, but little expereince. Needs to get on the field to prove what he has and to get better.
So, I like the commitee solution. You have Leftwich on the field to provide stability. But you also work Dixon in a set number of plays on the field to get him some experience and provide a change-up. It also puts less pressure on Dixon and will let him devop more naturally.