Oct 24 2006
The Unbearable Lightness of Ben’s Melon
While reports out of Pittsburgh indicate that Ben Roethlisberger — shown in this AP photo watching Tom chase Jerry around his head — is just fine and should play against Oakland on Sunday, the Steelers organization is keeping its mouth shut. I have never understood why NFL teams try so hard to keep player injuries so secret. Opponents are going to find out one way or another if a player is going to take the field or not on Sunday. Why bother hiding it?
I mean, there’s only one reason to make the Oakland Raiders guess whether or not Big Ben will play on Sunday. Pittsburgh wants them to… wait for it… fear the Charlie!!!
Consider if you will: Charlie Batch is 3-0 as a spot starter the last two seasons, and so far this year, he’s completed 24 of 39 passes for 410 yards, 5 TDs and zero interceptions. Last week in relief of the cartoon-watching Roethlisberger, Batch completed 8 of 13 passes for 195 yards and 2 TDs. Right now, Batch’s money is no good in Pittsburgh, and Art Shell may think his team — which, by the way, is no longer the worst in the league — has a better shot of winning if Big Ben goes out there and plays like he’s had two concussions in four months.
Of course, I refuse to suggest that the Steelers should bench Roethlisberger for Batch. Big Ben got this team to the Super Bowl last year, he has a better arm, and when his brain isn’t bruised and his appendix scar doesn’t make him flinchy, he’s the best QB on the team. Still, the only reason to make people guess about Ben’s condition is to make the Raiders think that maybe, just maybe, their defense will have to face a somewhat mobile veteran QB with a quarterback rating of 136.8.
It’s good to have a guy like that around. Bill Parcells wishes he would have had a guy like that around during last night’s game…
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I would be the last person to ever suggest starting Batch over Big Ben, but I also really hope they don’t rush Ben back. Having two concussion within four months is a prime situation for more concussions and we don’t want Ben to be overly cautious about getting hit, we saw what that lead to in his first couple of games back! Plus, if you’ve gotten multiple concussions then it takes longer to come back from them. Batch could easily handle the Raiders, I say let Ben heal and give Batch the start.