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Don't care for Ben off the field, but wouldn't trade him at QB.
He's far from the pretty boy, smooth pocket throwers, but the man has the heart of a lineman.
Tell Ben to suck it up. He has probably been hit harder by some college girls at a bar.
nose for nookie too—willing or not.
The Ravens play dirty !!!
Who knew ???
WHEN YOU’RE AS BIG AS THIS LARD ASS YOU DON’T NEED PROTECTION. HE’S A BABY!
The arbitrary nature of penalties and fines are hurting the game. More people need to speak up.
On a different note, Ben seems to be honestly trying to turn his personal life around. God bless him.
That said, after the last three weeks I have just about zero respect left for the refs. As I posted on an earlier thread, the refs (and the NFL commish?) have obviously decided to make an example of the Steelers - for what, I don't know.
Consider, in the first 9 games the Steelers had averaged 5 penalties per game, for 42 yards. Then three weeks ago "the decision" was made. For the next two games, that average jumped to 12 penalties for 135 yards. Obviously that didn't work, the Steelers continued to win even in the face of this twelfth or thirteenth man on the field helping their opponent. Last weekend it was so bad the refs may as well have put on a Bills uniform.
So what to do if you're a biased referee corps and you're not fulfilling your marching orders, and people are beginning to notice the obvious bias? Change it up a little, allow the other team almost a free hand to abuse the Steelers. Who better to do this than the equally hard-hitting Ravens? (ok, maybe the Raiders...)
Last night in the first series of downs a Ravens lineman hit Ben in the face breaking/bloodying his nose. It was intentional - watch the replay. Ben is what, 6 foot 5? You don't get a forearm up that high unless you are aiming to. In spite of this obvious shot at another players head (something the NFL is supposedly cracking down on) there was no flag.
Later on in the game a Ravens linebacker hits the Steelers tight-end Miller helmet to helmet so hard the announcers could hear it up in the booth. Again, supposedly a big-time no-no in the kinder-gentler NFL. Well, not so gentle, Miller is knocked nearly unconscious. Even the Ravens nearby immediately signaled to the Steelers sidelines to send medical help out. Miller suffers a concussion and is out of the game. Oh, the "impartial" refs? No flag.
Late in the game the Ravens big man Suggs is chasing Ben out of the pocket. Suggs is batting at Ben, trying to knock the ball loose and cannot. He then obviously intentionally takes a swipe and punches Ben in the head. Ben stays on his feet though and dumps the ball to avoid the sack. The refs, who usually protect QBs like their sisters' virtue? No flag.
Now, we'll never know, but I'll guaran-damn-tee you that had the Steelers Harrison taken a shot at the Raven's Flacko and broken his nose... Harrison would've been flagged and more than likely ejected from the game for the obvious head-shot. Had Troy Polamalu gone head to head with the Raven's tight end he would have been flagged. In fact the Steelers were flagged several times - whenever they played rougher than girl-scout flag football.
NFL, you're refs are as biased as an MSNBC "news" program. You will lose fans. No-one wants to come see an unfair contest. How much respect does professional wrestling get? (hint to those who don't know it, it is a show and all set up/rehearsed), how many fans did boxing lose when it went through its big fight-fixing scandals?
The league can fine all they want and make noises about safety and fairness all they want. But the front lines for them are their refs. And right now, their refs are showing themselves to be anything but the fair and impartial arbiters of fair play during the game. Clean up your act NFL. Lets see some public fines and suspensions of referees for poor performance. Even better, lets see some better called/run games. Then I'll believe it. Otherwise, the NFL is losing this fan, a little more every game I watch, I get a little more disgusted and fed up.
Somehow Ben’s nose was going north-south and east-west on his face at the same time. Gross!
As a Steeler fan I have never been one to complain about the refs. The Steelers have gotten calls to go their way as well as go against them. I can remember in the 2006 playoffs when Troy Polamalu intercepted Peyton Manning to seal the game. They ruled it an interception when he got up to run and then dropped the ball, then decided to just fall on it. However, a challenge flag was thrown because that’s all Indy had left and the refs overturned it when it was clearly an interception. It almost cost them the game. However, again the Steelers have had calls go for them including this year at Miami. So, I always felt that these things even out.
However, I have never seen the refs target one player. That being James Harrison so much. Yes he hits hard. However, if you look at his penalties and flags, the vast majority of them were unwarrented. The culmination came last week when he hits the Bills QB on a normal hit while he’s releasing the ball. He gets flagged for a penalty. After the game, the freeze frame of the play clearly shows the ref in the background reaching for his flag in his backpocket BEFORE Harrison even hits the QB!!!
Then, what happens to Big Ben and Heath Miller this week just tops it off. Everyone knows that if Peyton Manning or Tom Brady got his nose broke by a defensive linemans hands on his helmet and in his face mask, well we know what would happen. A penalty, fine and possible ejection from the game. The refs are definitely targeting Steelers, especially Harrison for their hits. I’d just like to see the same courtesy extended when Ray Lewis tackles someone as hard as Harrison does.
The player who took that cheap shot deserves suspension and a fine.
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I like James Harrison, and I think this’ll be his last year in the NFL. He’s one of those people who truly doesn’t give a rats dingleberries about what people think, and he’ll thumb his nose at the NFL. When Bush was president and the Stillers won the SB, Harrison didn’t go to the White House visit because he didn’t give a darn about going to the White House to get an award. Some thought it was his politics. And then when they won the SB again, and Zero was the alleged president, he still didn’t go... he just doesn’t give a darn about politics. And I know what he thinks of the NFL “rulers.”
Then there’s Hines Ward. The NFL will have it in for him for pointing out their hypocrisy over alcohol and gambling.... There’s some BIG money that’s going to be going after Ward and Harrison, and the rest of the Stillers team will pay as well, so as to penalize them for associating with rabble rousers.
Some choice quotes of Hines Ward on the NFL.
“Say one thing, and do another,” Ward said. “Talk about safety, but you add two games. Talk about you don’t want players to drink, but our major endorsement is Coors Light. That’s all you see is beer commercials.”
Ward said the league sends mixed messages to players.
“If they’re so concerned about safety, why are you adding two more games? That right there tells it all. They don’t care about the safety of the game,’’ Ward said.
“If they’re worried about concussions ... mandate each player has a new helmet. They don’t do that. They collect money from every helmet (company) that pays them enough money to get their helmets on the field. Now they have three different helmets, and none of them (are) proven that they work.”
“You say you don’t want us to gamble, but you have (point) spreads. For us, as players, we just play football. Whatever the league decides to do, they’re gonna do.”
“You don’t want us to gamble, but then there are [NFL-endorsed lottery scratch-off games].”
Hopefully Ward has a concealed carry permit.