The fact that Ben Roethlisberger played in all 16 games last season and took every single offensive snap should give Steelers’ fans a warm, fuzzy feeling inside. That feeling immediately turns to a cold, murky existence when swallowing the reality of those that will take Roethlisberger’s spot should something happen to him.
I openly admit that I thought Landry Jones looked better last week against the New York Giants than he did in last year’s preseason. He wasn’t great, but he had several balls dropped that made his numbers look worse than they were.
Any good feelings I might have finally had about the fourth round draft pick from last year disappeared quicker than Dri Archer’s first step. Inserted immediately following Ben Roethlisberger in the second quarter, Jones’ performance was the thing of social media hilarity as tweets poured in about the train wreck unfolding in front of them. I laughed out several times reading those tweets and I’m not too professional to say so.
Jones was 2 of 5 for 53 yards, was sacked twice, intercepted once and fumbled once. Any chance he had to take Bruce Gradkowski’s number two spot went out the front gates of Heinz Field.
That leads me to the second problem facing the quarterback situation. I don’t think there’s a whole lot of confidence in Gradkowski filling in for Roethlisberger either. While he has much more experience than Jones does, he isn’t the same quarterback that once led the Oakland Raiders to a comeback win over the Steelers several years ago.
He was 7 of 13 for 47 yards and threw a pick as well. His average was only 3.6 yards per throw and that’s not going to get it done either. Besides experience, Gradkowski also has his legs to rely on and that’s something Jones doesn’t have.
Gradkowski ran three times last night for 17 yards showing he still has the ability to get lose if necessary, but any thought that he or Jones is ready to take the helm for an extended period leaves us all trembling.
You’ll also notice that rookie Brendon Kay hasn’t even played in the preseason. That should tell you where the coaching staff thinks he is.
Really, it’s all quite simple. We just need Big Ben to take every snap again this season and boom! Problem solved.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on Trib-Live Radio.
