Know who the Pittsburgh Steelers’ front office could take some lessons from? Prepare yourself for this — the Dallas freaking Cowboys.
I know, shocking. Look, I’m no Jerry Jones fan, but there are some similarities between the Tony Romo situation and the Ben Roethlisberger one. Both are gunslingers on high-profile offenses, and both get injured rather frequently. So in the 2016 NFL Draft, the Cowboys took a quarterback, even though they saw Romo as the face of their franchise for years to come, and they got what looks like the steal of the draft:
Dak Prescott.
When he was drafted, the 23-year-old quarterback out of Mississippi State wasn’t even close to being the Cowboys’ starter, but with Romo out with an injury — sound familiar? — Prescott has been utterly spectacular. So much so that people have a mostly legitimate argument that he should be Dallas’ starter even when Romo returns. In six games, Prescott has completed 125 of 182 passes (69 percent) and has thrown seven touchdowns to just one interception.
Sure, he plays behind one of the most dominant offensive lines in the NFL, but the guy is good, and the Cowboys got the situation exactly right.
Know when Prescott was taken? The fourth round. With the 135th pick of the draft. 12 picks earlier, the Steelers selected LSU OT Jerald Hawkins, who was named to the IR before the season started.
Hindsight, am I right?
Look, in his eight-year-long career, Roethlisberger has missed 16 games due to injury. He missed one game apiece in 2004 (ribs), 2006 (appendix), 2007 (ankle), 2009 (concussion) and 2011 (ankle); four games in 2005 (knee) and 2015 (MCL); and three games in 2012 (ankle). And even having him miss a couple of games here and there in a season could be the difference in the typically tough AFC North.
Now, in 2016, Roethlisberger is set to miss at least a couple more after undergoing surgery to repair a torn meniscus suffered in Sunday’s 30-15 loss to the Miami Dolphins. There’s no set timetable for his return, but reports say he could be out four to six weeks.
The Steelers have been spoiled with Roethlisberger and, oh, some guy named Terry Bradshaw who you might have heard of, but let’s remember what Pittsburgh looked like without a franchise quarterback. In the 21 years between Bradshaw and Roethlisberger, the Steelers completely flailed at quarterback. Just look at this list of names of the 13 starters between the two Super Bowl champs:
—Cliff Stoudt, who was mostly known for winning two Super Bowl rings (the 1978 and 1979 seasons) without getting in a game once, before becoming the starter when Bradshaw was injured at the end of his career.
—Mark Malone, best remembered for catching the longest pass in Steeler history (90 yards) and for bearing a striking resemblance to actor Tom Selleck in his heyday, which aren’t exactly supposed to be the highlights of a quarterback’s resume.
—David Woodley, a 53 percent passer for his career (and he was better in Miami than he was in Pittsburgh).
—Scott Campbell, a 49 percent passer for his career, with 19 touchdowns and 25 interceptions. Enough said.
—Bubby Brister, who gets major points in my book for having an amazing name and who every once in a while looked like he might be OK, but whose best year out of seven with the Steelers produced a quarterback rating of 81.6.
—Steve Bono, who kicked around the league with seven teams over 16 years and stopped long enough in Pittsburgh for the proverbial cup of coffee — contributing a 25.9 quarterback rating in his two games in the 1988 season.
—Todd Blackledge, the Penn State star who was chosen ahead of Dan Marino in the famous 1983 draft but who flamed out in Kansas City and came to the Steelers just long enough to finish his slide out of the league.
—Neil O’Donnell, easily the best of the bunch in his five years as the Steelers’ starter in the early and mid-1990s. But he threw two inexplicable interceptions in the second half of the Super Bowl after the 1995 season to set up short touchdowns for the Cowboys and Pittsburgh lost the game. A free agent after that game, he left to join the Jets, where he showed just how dependent he was on the Steelers’ strong running game and great defense. The Jets dumped him after two years.
—Mike Tomczak, who was rarely really bad but who never was better than mediocre.
—Jim Miller. Who? (He played in all of five games over two seasons.)
—Kordell Stewart, a popular figure best known for a cool nickname, “Slash,” because he played quarterback/wide receiver/running back, but, let’s be honest, he was only good enough to occasionally tease the Steelers into thinking they’d found a decent starter.
—Kent Graham, who pitched in for all of 12 games, contributing a 63.4 quarterback rating.
—Tommy Maddox, who was such a feel-good story, bombing in Denver after being picked in the first round, sitting out of football for five years, then becoming a backup in Pittsburgh and, given the chance to start, having a very strong 2003 season. But he faded the following year and probably was going nowhere even if he hadn’t been injured in the second game of the 2004 season and been replaced by one Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger.
Thirteen undistinguished starters in 21 years: not exactly the same kind of legend Pittsburgh has with its head coaches (three in nearly 50 years, with six Super Bowls to their names).
The stretch between Bradshaw and Roethlisberger was a dark, dark time for the Steelers, and it showed how rough things can be when you don’t have a reliable and talented quarterback.
Now, in 2016, Pittsburgh is all set to take on the Patriots in the middle of a season full of Super Bowl hopes but has yet another shaky quarterback situation. Until Roethlisberger is fit to return, the Steelers will have to rely on backup quarterback Landry Jones and, perhaps, third-string quarterback Zach Mettenberger.
But if the Steelers had been smart, they wouldn’t be in this tenuous situation where potential playoff hopes rest of the shoulders of someone who doesn’t have Roethlisberger’s Atlas-like stature.
If the Steelers had been smart, they’d have already drafted a viable and capable backup who could potentially be the future of the franchise.
Don’t get me wrong: Jones has by no means been awful. But he’s been mediocre, and the Steelers don’t do mediocre.
Drafted in the fourth round of the 2013 NFL Draft, he saw his first action in 2015, has played in seven games and has started two. He is 32 of 55 (a 58.2 completion percentage), with three touchdowns and four interceptions and a 77.3 quarterback rating. Two of those picks came last season in a nine-point loss to the Seattle Seahawks, in a game where he attempted just four passes.
That resume leaves a whole lot to be desired.
What about Mettenberger, whom the Steelers got off waivers after he was released by the San Diego Chargers? Can Pittsburgh really rely on the guy who was 0-10 in his career as a starter with the Tennessee Titans? The guy who has a career 60.3 completion percentage and 75.4 QBR? The guy who has thrown 12 career touchdowns to 14 interceptions?
Yeah, that guy isn’t the answer (despite what some angry Steelers fans might say.) Heck, he didn’t even dress in Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins.
The Steelers need a reliable backup, someone who can sit behind Roethlisberger and can be a legit starter in his own right in a couple of years as the situation calls for it. And the Steelers need this backup QB now — like, right now.
Things are iffy enough when it comes to finding a quarterback that you can’t assume you’re going to get it right the first time — even if you grab a guy in the first or second round (Johnny Manziel, anybody?). So maybe you have to kiss a few frogs before you find your prince.
When Pittsburgh took Jones, perhaps the team saw him as a viable backup, if not necessarily the eventual replacement for Big Ben. But he’s proved that he’s no Charlie Batch, so the Steelers need to look elsewhere.
Let’s say the Steelers still had hope for Jones to be a potential post-Roethlisberger starter in 2014. So, let’s say they realized that wasn’t really an option after he started and played in a few games in 2015. That’s when Pittsburgh should have tried again to draft Roethlisberger’s backup and the team’s potential future.
Part of the reason Pittsburgh needs another quarterback is so that there can be some sort of overlap between Roethlisberger and the new guy. It worked in San Francisco with Joe Montana and Steve Young, it worked in Green Bay with Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers. And it will probably work in New England with Tom Brady and whoever they find (Jimmy Garoppolo? Jacoby Brissett?) because Bill Belichick is a bona-fide genius.
The Steelers need to realize how important and precarious the situation at quarterback is, and they need to start doing something about it — and fast.
For the rest of the 2016 season (or at least until Roethlisberger returns), Pittsburgh will just have to rely on creative play-calling from offensive coordinator Todd Haley, stellar running from Le’Veon Bell and DeAngelo Williams and — if we’re being honest — some crossed fingers, knocks on wood and a whole lot of 11:11 wishes.
Image credit: Charles LeClaire/USA TODAY Sports
