Are We Ready to Forgive Big Ben?

The Pittsburgh Steelers are five days away from their third Super Bowl in six years. This is a truly remarkable accomplishment in sports and it should be the focus of the week.

Oh but if life were only that simple.

Sadly but predictably, there is a great deal of focus on Ben Roethlisberger this week. I admit I’m pleasantly surprised by the amount of accolades Ben is getting for his continued on field excellence. Alas those accolades are diluted through continuous reminders of his off the field issues. Roethlisberger’s superlative and gritty play seems to have finally swayed the football world to the reality that he is one of the elite quarterbacks in the game. And yet that reality is obscured in the shadows of what happened last spring.

Let’s be honest, this was inevitable.

In a rational world, Ben’s off the field behavior would be completely irrelevant. He is a football player; nothing more, nothing less. As long as he does his job every Sunday, it should not matter whether he spends his weekends in churches or VIP rooms.

Alas, we all know sports are not rational. And nothing is more irrational than Super Bowl week.

We as fans make an emotional commitment to our favorite athletes that is impossible to explain or justify. We feel as though we are personally vested in them. We don’t just want to cheer for them, we want to genuinely like them (or at least like our perception of them). And when they let us down, we feel truly betrayed. It’s irrational and illogical, but its reality.

To reiterate what I said back in April, I did not want Ben to be found not guilty. I wanted him to have not done what he was accused of doing. The Milledgeville district attorney’s not to press charges is enough for me to accept Ben the quarterback. It’s not enough for me to like him or be emotionally vested in him. I need to genuinely believe that he is not a monster before I can do that.

I noted the following last April in a blog entry entitled, “Big Ben at a Crossroads in the Burgh:”

It’s sad that I’m probably one of Ben’s most staunch defenders and the best I can offer is, “it’s not illegal to be a jerk.” When the best thing people can say about your actions is that no crime was committed, that’s not a good thing. Let’s be honest, there are a lot of people who feel far more strongly than I do that Ben should be playing somewhere else next season (or not playing at all). And make no mistake, if he does not get his act together that’s exactly what will happen

Steeler fans are a forgiving bunch. In all likelihood, their forgiveness can be purchased at a cost of one additional Lombardi trophy. That being said, they will never truly accept and love him again unless he clearly makes a commitment to change in his life.

When I wrote that, I had no idea that the Steelers would be on the precipice of their 7th Super Bowl title. I did not even know if Roethlisberger would be a Steeler on opening day. I admit I was just hoping that the team could stay afloat without him and maybe compete for a playoff spot. It’s a testament to their skill and character that they rose so far beyond that

And yet without suggesting any clairvoyance on my part, it’s amazing how much we are living out the situation I described nine months earlier.

I think most of Steeler Nation has “accepted” Ben back. Truth be told, I was more than ready to do that after living the Byron Dixonbatch experience for four games. That said, any doubt of his “acceptance” was likely erased seconds after Ben’s final completion to Antonio Brown against the Jets.

Alas there is a huge difference between accepting Ben and liking Ben. And that’s where the part about changing his life comes in to play. For Ben to regain his status as a beloved sports icon in the Burgh, he needed to demonstrate a complete commitment to changing his life and being a better person. In short, he needed to stop being an ignorant jerk.

A properly motivated person can effect such changes virtually instantaneously. It takes considerably longer for those around him to trust and believe in it. The worst case scenario for Steeler fans is to reinvest emotionally in Ben and then have him let us down with another ugly off the field incident.

Ben has zero “obligation” to seek our forgiveness. His only true “obligation” is to perform on Sundays, which he has always done to the highest level. That said, there are absolutely ramifications when players lose the trust of their fans.

Did you notice how quickly the city of Chicago turned on its supposed superstar QB Jay Cutler last weekend? Cutler compounded a poor performance in a big game with a questionable but very real injury. And for this he was blistered both by fellow NFL players and a Chicago fan base that has been desperately seeking a franchise QB for a quarter century.

And why did this happen? Because in two years in Chicago and five years in the NFL, most of the football world has come to believe that Cutler is a first class jerk. He has forced Bear fans in to the unenviable position of being emotionally vested in a person that they genuinely do not like. As a result he gets zero benefit of the doubt from those fans. If he performs to the expected level of stardom, they will grudgingly accept him. If he falls in the slightest, they will start the lynch mob to run him out of town.

Want a closer to home example? How about Jeff Reed? I noted in November that Reed was ultimately cut because he stopped making kicks. That said, his poor behavior, bad attitude, and lack of accountability cost him any benefit of the doubt with the Steelers or their fans. Both were more than happy to run him out of town.

So no, there was no “obligation” for Ben to seek or receive forgiveness from Steeler fans, but it’s truly in his best interest to do so. Otherwise, he would face the same wrath as Cutler and Reed the moment his on the field performance failed to live up to standard. You need only remember many of the fan reactions to Big Ben this summer to recognize that.

Which brings us back to the question, are we truly ready to forgive Big Ben? Yes we’ve accepted him back, but are we truly ready to embrace him again?

For me the answer is yes. And not just because Ben has lead us to another Super Bowl. I truly believe that he has grown and matured as a human being. I think we really are seeing a new Ben Roethlisberger. I know there significant skeptics but I’m not one of them. And here is why.

Often when a person is truly on the wrong path, they have to hit rock bottom before they turn things around. They need a genuine slap in the face before reality sets in. Big Ben got more than a slap, he got flat out punched; first by the accusations, then by the investigation and finally by his four game suspension. And he continues to endure daily slaps in the form of negative press and a steady public relations battering. I can’t even walk to work in Chicago without hearing Big Ben criticism on the street.

In short, Big Ben got a desperately needed wake up call.

What I’ve seen from Ben since then genuinely impresses me. I strongly believe that deeds overwhelm words so I’m happy to hear both teammates and media members saying that Ben is acting like a better person and better teammate. That said, I’ve been extremely impressed by his words. I hear a man who genuinely gets that he went off course and needs to change; not a man trying to placate the fans and media.

Maybe that makes me a fool. Maybe when you pull back the curtain it’s nothing more than a weak justification to enable my Super Bowl dreams. Maybe I’m no better than San Francisco fans who celebrated Barry Bonds’ home runs and blissfully ignored his steroid use.

Maybe, but I don’t think so.

The ultimate proof for me came when I pulled on my #7 jersey after a season of confinement to the top shelf of my closet. Sports are about emotion and there is nothing more emotional than pulling on a player’s jersey. It was telling that even as I supported Ben last summer, I could not bring myself to this simple act. It’s just as telling that I’m willing to do so now. That act comes from my heart; which more often than not is a better judge of character than my brain.

I’ve always believed in Ben Roethlisberger the football player. Slowly but surely I’m regaining my belief in him as a person. That to me is nearly as important as a 7th Lombardi trophy…although I’ll happily take both. I’m not sure we could have had the latter without the former anyway.

The message in all ways is I am ready to finally forgive Big Ben. Let’s hope he does not let me down…and I don’t mean this Sunday.

Slamming the Door on the Jeff Reed Era

It’s taken nearly two years but this blog has officially reached uncharted territory. I’m about to focus an entire entry on a kicker. More specifically, a former kicker, given the abrupt ending to Jeff Reed’s Steeler career this week.

Reed’s career in black and gold veered wide right this season through a perfect storm of bad performance, bad attitude and bad behavior. Before 2010, he had solid standing in the Steeler Nation, notwithstanding his eccentric tendencies and his well established position on the Pittsburgh party scene. His rapid fire decent is thus nothing short of stunning.

I counted myself a solid Jeff Reef fan before 2010. Good kickers are hard to find and Reed was a consistently good, especially working in the place kicker’s graveyard that is Heinz Field.

Well, consistently good with some caveats. Reed’s range was five or so yards shorter than most NFL kickers and his kick offs rarely reached the goal line. It’s also fair to say that he lacked Daniel Sepulveda’s affinity for making special teams’ tackles. The Steelers accepted these flaws because Reed was remarkably accurate inside of 48 yards. Before this season.

And therein lies the rub.

Jeff Reed is unemployed today primarily because he stopped making field goals. No matter how obnoxious and ignorant he’s acted in the last 12 months (or seven days), he would still be wearing number 3 for the Steelers today if he were making his kicks. His petulant whining and excuses, not to mention his various off season escapades simply greased the skids.

Reed’s limitations, which became more apparent in 2009, reduced his collateral with the Steelers’ organization. His moronic behavior over the last year or so burned up whatever he had left. Reed could have learned a thing or two from his good buddy Marc-Andre Fleury about how to handle a slump with grace. Clearly he did not.

That being said, I maintain that on the field performance, or lack thereof, is what did in Reed.

NFL teams do not keep back-up kickers. There is no Brent Johnson in reserve when the kicker struggles. When kickers stop making kicks they lose their jobs, even under the best of circumstances. And to state the obvious, Jeff Reed circa 2010 has hardly been the best of circumstances.

Under the NFL’s unofficial code of conduct, kickers are to be seen and not heard. It is an odd idiosyncrasy that this vicious, hard hitting game, played by large angry men, puts so much emphasis on kickers. They are a necessary evil in the sport, tolerated when they succeed and hated when they fail.

When kickers open their mouth or make a spectacle of themselves, bad things happen. See Vanderjagt, Mike, aka “the idiot kicker” who got liquored up and ran his mouth about how Peyton Manning and Tony Dungy were not clutch performers. We last saw him choking a game tying field goal about ten yards wide right against the Steelers in the 2006 playoffs.

Clearly Reed did not learn any lessons from the man affectionately known as VanderJerk in Indianapolis. Clearly he did not see how fast Vanderjagt was run out of the NFL when his game slumped. And he clearly did not learn from his former teammate Tommy Maddox who prior to Reed was standard bearer for fastest alienation of the Steeler Nation in 2005.

Over three seasons, Maddox became immensely popular in Pittsburgh. He resurrected a failed NFL career and for a brief period looked like the star QB Steeler fans were waiting on for two decades He blew it all in one game against Jacksonville, Maddox might have survived his horrendous performance on the field had he not gone Roger Clemens in the post game press conference, throwing everyone and everything under the bus.

Pittsburgh fans demand accountability from their athletes. We can live with a bad game or two if you are willing to take responsibility for it. Just don’t insult our intelligence by blaming the wind, the turf, your wife, or Bruce Arians for your failure. In summary, don’t blame the bad turf when you miss a chip shot 26 yard field goal; the same bad turf you’ve been kicking on for nine years.

Getting beyond the obvious issue of poor performance, I think there are three fatal blows to the relationship between an athlete and a fan base. Lack of accountability is at the top of the list. The other two are publically complaining about your salary and ripping the fans. Given that Reed is a well known Penguin fan, its fair to say he’s had a hat trick of moronic behavior in about four months.

My issues with Reed started when he spouted off in training camp about his contract. I have no idea if the Rooney’s promised Reed a long-term deal or not. I suspect they said something like, we’ll discuss it in the future. Regardless, I don’t care. The guy was getting paid $2 Million, to kick a football. We should all have such problems.

Look, I am generally not one who complains about the exorbitant salaries of athletes. Yes they are outrageous and ridiculously disproportionate to the rest of society. Yes I think a good teacher provides more value than a good offensive linemen. Regardless, it’s irrelevant. Athlete salaries are what they are and I’ve accepted it.

All I ask is don’t complain about it. Modern athletes love the term “disrespect.” Do not disrespect me by complaining about your seven or eight figure salaries. Maybe I can’t kick a football in an NFL game but I’m pretty sure Jeff Reed can’t debit and credit. And he makes a heck of a lot more money than I do.

Seriously, does Reed expect sympathy from hard working fans because the Steelers are making him earn his next contract? Did he sleep through Sports Center the day they explained that NFL teams focus on other positions before they lock down kickers who can’t get kickoffs inside the ten yard line?

So that’s two grievous violations of the athlete/fan covenant. And to complete the trifecta, Reed blasted the fans. Showing a frighteningly ignorant and exaggerated view of his own importance, Reed suggested that Steeler fans come to games just to boo him. Newsflash Jeff, nobody and I mean nobody pays $200 for an NFL ticket to jeer you and Sepulveda (who to my knowledge was not being jeered anyway). If we boo you Jeff, it’s because you keeping missing kicks.

Ok, let me expand on that. We also boo you after you say, “I’m not one to complain to the media,” right before you complain to the media about your contract. We boo you because you say, “I’m not one to make excuses,” right before you make ridiculous excuses. But I covered that already.

I’m not even bringing Mr. Reed’s various drunken escapades in to the equation (a google search on him is quite enlightening), because it’s not relevant. Jeff Reed is not the first person, athlete or not, to get soused and take out his aggressions on an inanimate object. Just the same, I’m not bringing Reed’s charitable work in to the equation. All are irrelevant to me if he produces on the field and keeps his mouth shut.

That’s not to say these things are not important to his employers. If the Steelers were willing to Blue Light Special Santonio Holmes for bad behavior, they would certainly jettison a non performing kicker for the same reasons. I know the Steelers held on to Big Ben after his less than stellar offseason. Rest assured they would not have done that if Ben were Derek Anderson. And whatever you think of Ben as a person, he has always demonstrated accountability on the field.

In summary, Reed’s poor performance is why he was cut. His bad attitude and moronic behavior is why we are so happy about it. At least most of us.

I know some Steeler fans are upset about this. They see cutting Reed as a knee “jerk” reaction by the organization. I’ve heard credible arguments that Jeff Reed has a far better track record than Shaun Suisham. Those arguments may be true but they are also irrelevant. Suisham may or may not be good enough this season, Reed definitely was not.

I’m sure there will be plenty of second guessing if Suisham misses a key field goal. Such second guessing is based on the flawed assumption that Reed would have made the kick. Nothing about his performance this season suggests that to be true.

Combine a season’s worth of poor performance with embarrassing and mocking the entire Steeler Nation and I simply say this. Goodbye Jeff Reed, and good riddance.

Coaches Coach, Players Play, Fans Complain

Sometimes I wonder who has the tougher job, Barack Obama or Bruce Arians. Yes Obama has to deal with the daily challenges of being leader of the free world. Is that any harder than dealing with the angry Steeler Nation that blames Arians for every play that does not result in a Steeler touchdown?

Okay, that might be a bit over the top but I think the point has been made. I have to go all the way to the White House to find a high ranking executive getting more criticism than Arians. Thankfully there are no midterm elections for NFL assistant coaches.

As I often do, let me clarify a few points here before I go any further.

First, this blog is not and will not be Arians’ personal advocate. My position on him remains that he is neither the best nor the worst offensive coordinator in the NFL. I would not put him in the top ten or the bottom ten. He’s somewhere in that middle 22 of guys that were good enough to earn these rare positions but are effectively interchangeable.

Second, I’m not suggesting Arians is alone in this plight. Quite the contrary. I’m not sure there is a worse job in sports than being an offensive coordinator in the NFL. That includes being a head coach in the NFL (a subject for another blog), although just barely. Take a read through blogs in Chicago, Green Bay, Miami, and Dallas if you don’t believe me. Their OC’s take the same beat down. The only difference of course is that the Steelers tend to win more than those teams.

There are three reasons that plays fail in the NFL; the offense does not execute, the defense flat out stops it, or it was a bad call. I will not attempt to assign arbitrary percentages to this but I’m guessing choice number three is the least frequent reason; and the number one choice of most fans. It’s just so easy to look at any play that fails and say a different call would have worked better.

Keep this in mind. If it were so easy to move the ball in the NFL, they would not give you three plays to go just ten yards. It’s the NFL, not the Arena league.

Here is a question that Bob Smizik often poses in his blog. Why is it that when Dick Lebeau’s Steeler defense smoothers an offense, fans call it great defense, but whenever the Steeler offense scores less than 24 points its because Arians is an idiot?

I don’t agree with every call Arians’ makes. In fact, I disagree with a lot of them. That being said, I try to look at it logically. First, I don’t think I would agree with every call that any offensive coordinator would make. And second, much as I would like to believe otherwise, I doubt I would do any better.

Keep in mind that the Steelers biggest problem offensively is not Arians, it’s a mediocre offensive line. That’s been the problem for the last three years. Football games are won in the trenches and the Steelers are just not good enough in that area. The problem is that it’s hard for fans to see that. Anyone can tell that Arizona’s offense went in the tank after Kurt Warner started his dancing career. Offensive line play is far more subtle, and just as critical.

But I digress.

The age old question in football is what is more important, play calling or execution. Both are important. That being said if you accept the notion that the Steelers’ play calling is at least competent by NFL standards, and I believe it is, then you have to take a look at the players on the field. That’s ultimately what determines the success or failure of an offense no matter how much the arm chair QB nation thinks otherwise.

Let’s take a look at Sunday night’s loss to New Orleans. The Steelers lost and scored less than 24 points so Arian’s is being annihilated by a large contingent of the fan base. Here’s my take on the situation.

1) Failure to score on first and down from the 1 yard line

This is abysmal. The idea that an NFL team can not move the football ½ yard in three plays is unacceptable. In case you have not noticed, this has been going on for three years. I remain amazed that the Steelers won the Super Bowl a few years back in spite of being completely inept in short yardage offense. Say goodbye to four points right there.

This problem is directly attributable to the offensive line. Keep in mind that five plus running backs have struggled in short yardage behind this line. Last year Arians tried to compensate by throwing more in these situations. He got blasted for it by fans, media, and Art Rooney Jr. This year they’ve gone back to trying to run. And again he’s being blasted.

I personally would like to see the Steelers consider a play action pass or QB sneak on at least one play. That being said, there is no guarantee those plays would have succeeded. What is guaranteed is that whatever way the Steelers offense failed in that situation, Arians would get most of the blame. Keep in mind that the Saints also failed in goal line and they did pass on several plays.

2) Jeff Reed Misses a FG

In other news, Tuesday was a bad day for democrats, Jordan Staal is having a rough year and Cookie Monster likes..oh you get it.

Look, I don’t expect Reed to make every kick and 51 yards is a long attempt. In a vacuum, I could handle one miss. The problem is that Reed has been missing from all over the place this year. And this was in a dome.

Mike Tomlin has been criticized a lot this year for trying long kicks with Reed right before half time. The argument is that if (or when) he misses those kicks it puts the defense in a bad position. That’s a loser’s lament. Reed is supposed to be one of the best kickers in football. Not withstanding his warped perspective on his measly $2 Million contract, Reed is paid to make those kicks. It’s not Tomlin’s fault he continues to fail. My guess is that Tomlin is at the end of his rope with Reed which means he may very well start bailing on him beyond 45 yards.

3) Emmanuel Sanders Converts to Defensive Back

I realize the Steelers defensive backs have been shaky the last two years. Maybe Sanders figures he has a better shot to play there than at WR. I’m not sure William Gay has made a defensive play all year as good as the one Sanders made on Heinz Ward on 4th and 4.

Tomlin is taking a lot of abuse for going for it in that situation. Not from me. It’s good aggressive coaching. It’s a coach who believes in his defense and his quarterback and is taking a calculated risk. If you want a coach who never takes chances or always goes by the book, I assure you Dave Wannstedt will be available in a few years.

Is Tomlin at fault for the decision? Is Arians at fault for the call? Or is Sanders at fault for stepping in front of a well thrown ball that Ward probably would have taken for a touchdown? I say the latter and there goes another 3 to 7 points.

4) Heath Miller fumbles

I’m not bagging on Miller who is one of the Steelers most reliable players. That being said, ball security is paramount when you are driving late in the game. I said the same thing about Ben’s fumble in Miami, you just can’t let that happen there. I’m guessing Heath agrees with me since he James Harrisoned himself in the cranium after the play. Notwithstanding all my Reed criticism above, that’s at least 3 and maybe 7 points lost, at a very key time in the game.

If the Steelers execute those four situations above, they likely pick up somewhere between 13 and 21 points...and win the game. All of those plays were there to be made, as were many others the offense failed to execute.

I’m not blindly absolving the Arians and the coaches; they play their part in any loss. Successful teams win because of a combination of three factors; 1) The organization brings in the right personnel 2) The coaches put players in a position to succeed and 3) The players execute properly. Bad teams usually lose for the same three reasons. And while I admit that any one phase if bad enough can destroy the other two, I just don’t see it on a team that’s gone 39 and 20 and won a Super Bowl with this coaching staff.

If you really hate Arian’s, ask yourself who would be better. Bear fans hailed Mike Martz as a genius when he arrived. Instead his offense has proved a poor fit for a team with a bad offensive line and a head case QB. No matter how much Steeler fans don’t want to believe it, Arians’ offense works to the talent of the players we have. Alan Faneca is gone and Jerome Bettis retired.

To repeat, I neither love nor hate Arians. In the long run, I don’t care if he stays or goes. All I know is this, I would not want to be his replacement.