Nobody knows what new Dolphins receiver Mike Wallace is capable of quite like Ben Roethlisberger. On Thursday, the Steelers quarterback called in to The Finsiders to give a quick scouting report on his former teammate.
“Love Mike, was sad to see him go,” Roethlisberger said. ”He’s a great teammate, obviously a great player, but I thought he was even better off the field. Just a great guy, great teammate. Miami is very lucky to have him because he’s a great player.”
When an athlete has a skill that is so overwhelming, it tends to lead a vocal minority to undervalue his overall ability. Wallace isn’t immune to this. Many think that, because he is so fast, he must be be a poor route runner or an inconsistent pass catcher.
Roethlisberger said, though, that the “one-trick pony” label isn’t fair or accurate.
“Mike is way more,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s to Mike’s credit. Mike is really focused on becoming a better receiver. So he’s focused on his route running. He’s focused on running out-routes, and curl-routes, and in-routes and doing all the little things that’s required to become a great wide receiver.
“That’s why he, to me, is one of the best in the league, because he not only has that speed – he can run by anybody – but he can run routes and he can get open. That’s why we’re going to miss him, and the Dolphins are lucky to have him.”
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Jalen
April 7, 2013 at 9:53 am
I dunno if this means anything but I find it strangely curious that the routes BB focused on in terms of Mike Wallace practicing and getting better at we’re of the most rudimentary nature—-curls, out routes and in routes—so easy a caveman could do it! If you’ re more than a one trick pony and working on becoming a well-rounded NFL receiver, why are you working on routes that most HS receivers have down pat?! Ergo, shouldn’t you be working on big boy routes such as post corners, knowing whe to sit down in a zone versus when to know when you’ re getting man-to-man? I mean I understand that there’s a large degree of timing involved at the NFL level even with the most basic routes but I played in HS and our main routes were curls, button-hooks, ins and outs— far from an NFL route tree. To go out on a limb here it’s almost as if BBis saying, ” Yeah, you got areal speedster who’s still working on his ABC’s!
Steeler Mafia
April 7, 2013 at 4:57 pm
If Wallace has that much potential why are we always having cap problems and cannot benefit from their raw talent?