Roethlisberger will suck this year

I'm starting to realize that the CW has Ben Roethlisberger coming "down to earth" this year. Chuck Delsman, for example:

If you're looking for an NFL player who will fall back to earth this season, try Ben Roethlisberger. I look for him and the Pittsburgh Steelers to struggle and miss the playoffs.

The more people bet against the Steelers, the better their chances. They play better with a chip on their shoulders. Last year they were universally disrespected after the 6-10 season. It's a good thing to see the Roethlisberger-will-be-a-dud meme going. I'll try to promote it with the misleading title of this post.

I don't know if it was Ward's good faith or the abundant magic on Monday Night, but I'm growing more optimistic about this Steeler season. No way Roethlisberger will be as good as he was last year. Well, he'll be better, but there's no way his stats will reflect that. Teams will attack weaknesses that he had (but no one knew about) in 2004. We can expect that. But down to earth? I doubt the guy will be mundane. My point in stating the expectation that he'll look worse on paper is mainly to say that everything went right in the 15-1 season, and the odds are greatly against a repeat of that run. He'll throw a game-ending interception into the end zone this year. When comparing the 2005 Steelers to the 2004 Steelers, you have to see that we can't expect Roethlisberger to be as near-perfect as he was last year.

Speaking of Steeler QBs, Tommy Maddox has always reminded me of Mike Tomczak - great backup. If Roethlisberger misses a game or mightily struggles somewhere, I don't think that impacts the Steelers that terribly, especially if they have Maddox ready to go in his place.

I still think that 9 wins is the most likely result. Before I said 7 before 10, but I'd reverse that now and say 10 before 7. Maybe 11 before 7. I can't expect 11 or more, not at this point, though I wouldn't rule it out.

And I think they'll take the division. They have to be the favorite. I look for the bad teams to be better, so I expect the North will be bunched up. The Bengals and the Browns will pose more difficult tests this year.

Depth does look like the possible problem with this team, but it's not a problem until it becomes a problem. I've liked Max Starks from day one. And once again I think Verron Haynes could break out with health and opportunity. So we'll see. The rest of the preseason will be a meaningless fog. So long as everyone stays healthy, we won't learn much more about this team until the games begin next month.