Sometimes you really can just tell when somebody is baiting a hook. Frankly, we have no incentive not to take the bait, though, because it’s our job. So let’s just enter this discussion knowing full well what Colin Cowherd’s motives are in ranting about the Ben Roethlisberger video and how it means nothing about the Pittsburgh Steelers’ success this year.
“The one legendary franchise that everybody thinks is really going to be good this year and I don’t, is the Pittsburgh Steelers”, he said on his program yesterday. “I have them 7-9 and I think I no longer think of the Pittsburgh Steelers as a great organization to be a great organization”.
This, of course, after 16 consecutive seasons of never finishing worse than 8-8, only two seasons finishing third in the division (2006 and 2012, both years plagued by injuries), and the fact that they are returning a top-five defense while adding a massive upgrade at quarterback.
“It’s a head coach-quarterback league. I don’t think they’re an A in either”, he said of Roethlisberger and Mike Tomlin, the latter of whom he also ranted about, suggesting that he’s “sloppy on the details” and that he is basically the only decent head coach whom he ever feels is outcoached.
“I also don’t think they’re as well-run as Kansas City right now. I don’t think they’re as well-run as Philadelphia in their own state right now”, Cowherd continued. “I think there’s seven or eight teams in the NFL, including San Francisco, Baltimore, that are just better run”.
Are there, though? Or are there seven or eight teams who have recently had more success? To say that teams are better-run, it should at least be based on a few years’ worth of data. The 49ers picked second-overall last year for a reason. And if you want to excuse them because they didn’t have their quarterback, then…oh, wait. Neither did the Steelers.
“Nothing against him, but when I see the Big Ben video, I’m like, cool. I still think you’re finishing third”, he continued to rant. “The league’s evolving. It’s adapting. Lots of smart people, some brilliant young coaches, some quarterbacks that work harder. Big Ben has become more legacy than legend than me. All the good stuff feels like years and years and years ago”.
He said that Roethlisberger, if you discount the 2019 season, has the most interceptions in the league since 2015. He does have the most interceptions—59—between 2015 and 2018. There are also 34 quarterbacks with 100 or more pass attempts with a higher interception percentage in that time period. His interception rate was lower than Andrew Luck’s.
But he also has the sixth-most touchdowns, the 12th-highest touchdown percentage, the sixth-most passing yards…oh, and the third-most wins. Tom Brady is far above everybody else. Russell Wilson has one more win, but seven more losses. And he’s in the top 10 in fourth-quarter comebacks and game-winning drives.
“I have the Steelers at 7-9. I no longer think of them as a great organization… Big Ben has become more legacy than legend.” — @ColinCowherd pic.twitter.com/056gf8hB0X
— Herd w/Colin Cowherd (@TheHerd) May 19, 2020
