Question for Andy

[packa7x]

I thought this was an interesting question and thus I'm asking it on the main forum:

Andy, up until Monday, Ben was going to be the starter for Pittsburgh Sunday. How badly does it throw you guys off when a starting QB misses the game and what do you focus on when they're out? Do you guys focus more on the absence of the QB or do you focus more on the replacement QB??

[ElGuapo]

I'm flattered that you'd throw this question my way.

-Andy (El Guapo if you're not into the whole brevity thing)

[Andy Freeland]

I'll give a better answer later. Using my phone to type long answer isn't fun. We pay attention to the story lines but are mainly concerned with gameplay so more attention to guy who is playing.

[packa7x]

I'm looking forward to it Andy thank you so much, I can't tell you how much I appreciate it. This kind of stuff gets me giddy haha...hence why I'll be alone forever

[Andy Freeland]

I hate to say it, but as far as preparation goes having a QB out can actually help. Not that I ever hope a QB gets hurt before our game, the quality of the game is the most important thing. But as far as prep work, we're looking for the story lines. This is a really, really big one. One of the last things Cris and Al do is write their 'opening on camera'. This team is up, that one is down, this defense is playing well, this team has a great punter. Ok, I'm pretty sure a punter has never made it into the opening on camera, but you get the idea. Once the theme song is over and Al and Cris are on camera setting up the game, I'm guessing Roethlisberger's name will be mentioned fairly early.

As for me. I'll write notes on both players, but with the injured guy I'll skew the notes towards 'this is why they'll miss him'. For instance, with Ben this week I normally would have had a note about fewer sacks recently (without looking it up, I believe it was 8 sacks in the first 2 games, 10 in the last 7 games). That's not much use now. More stuff about historical achievements and league standings (ie, he has won 2 super bowls. He's 6th in the league with a 100 rating. etc). For the replacement, I desperately search for anything of value (7th overall pick in '03. Hasn't started more than 6 games in a season since '05. Former Jaguar, Falcon and Buccaneer, 2nd stint with the Steelers. etc). In this case I also have the great numbers on the Steelers without Ben vs the Ravens (0-4) and vs everyone else (8-1).

Once the game starts, of course, it'll be 90% Leftwich, 10% here's the difference between the two.

[wxwax]

You guys running a stopwatch on his release? Be neat to compare it to others, as I have seen done in the past.

[Andy Freeland]

You guys running a stopwatch on his release? Be neat to compare it to others, as I have seen done in the past.

At Steelers' practice today I brought up the stopwatch and asked our director Drew Esocoff if they were going to use a sundial on Leftwich. He said they were going to, but it's a night game. We've timed Leftwich before, where most QBs come in at .25 to .5 seconds, Leftwhich is usually around .7. Cris asked him point blank about the delivery. Leftwich, who's a really good guy, wasn't defensive at all. He said that before the draft he had never heard a word about his delivery, then started to hear that he had a windup. He watched tape on himself and thought 'wow, I really bring that ball low don't I'. He also said that no coach has ever tried to change his mechanics because he throws so accurately and hard, which he thinks makes up for some of the windup (making up time in the air, as a pilot would say).

[packa7x]

I hate to say it, but as far as preparation goes having a QB out can actually help. Not that I ever hope a QB gets hurt before our game, the quality of the game is the most important thing. But as far as prep work, we're looking for the story lines. This is a really, really big one. One of the last things Cris and Al do is write their 'opening on camera'. This team is up, that one is down, this defense is playing well, this team has a great punter. Ok, I'm pretty sure a punter has never made it into the opening on camera, but you get the idea. Once the theme song is over and Al and Cris are on camera setting up the game, I'm guessing Roethlisberger's name will be mentioned fairly early.

As for me. I'll write notes on both players, but with the injured guy I'll skew the notes towards 'this is why they'll miss him'. For instance, with Ben this week I normally would have had a note about fewer sacks recently (without looking it up, I believe it was 8 sacks in the first 2 games, 10 in the last 7 games). That's not much use now. More stuff about historical achievements and league standings (ie, he has won 2 super bowls. He's 6th in the league with a 100 rating. etc). For the replacement, I desperately search for anything of value (7th overall pick in '03. Hasn't started more than 6 games in a season since '05. Former Jaguar, Falcon and Buccaneer, 2nd stint with the Steelers. etc). In this case I also have the great numbers on the Steelers without Ben vs the Ravens (0-4) and vs everyone else (8-1).

Once the game starts, of course, it'll be 90% Leftwich, 10% here's the difference between the two.

I'm giddy just reading this. I'm that much of a loser. Awesome post, thanks Andy. I'm looking forward to Sunday to see what you guys do!

[Andy Freeland]

I'm giddy just reading this. I'm that much of a loser. Awesome post, thanks Andy. I'm looking forward to Sunday to see what you guys do!

We're trying something a little different this week. We've been too focused on football, so this week Al and Cris are going to take turns reading articles out of Ladies Home Journal. Hope you like it.

[brauneyz]

We're trying something a little different this week. We've been too focused on football, so this week Al and Cris are going to take turns reading articles out of Ladies Home Journal. Hope you like it.

I'd have suggested Cosmo but I wasn't consulted.