Mike Tomlin made right call in starting Ben Roethlisberger
By Matt Shetler
I can hear it now.
“They should have started Charlie Batch.”
No, they shouldn’t have.
December 9, 2012; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger (7) listens to offensive coordinator Todd Haley (right) on the sidelines against the San Diego Chargers during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The San Diego Chargers won 34-24. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
Despite the Steelers’ loss to the Chargers on Sunday, head coach Mike Tomlin made the only logical move by starting Ben Roethlisberger.
It wasn’t Roethlisberger who cost the Steelers on Sunday. He started slowly but rust was expected having not taken a snap in three weeks. At the end of the day, he threw for 285 yards and three touchdowns, although most of that came late.
It would be an awful lot to have asked Batch to win consecutive games.
Steelers’ fans should be thankful that he played well enough to bet Baltimore. There haven’t been many instances in Batch’s 12-year career that he has won back-to-back games and asking him to do it at this point of his career was probably asking too much to begin with.
Roethlisberger is the Steelers’ franchise quarterback. There aren’t many in the league like him. If he is healthy, then he’s the guy. You can’t turn to a third-string quarterback when you have one of the games best ready to go.
Batch was a good story one week ago, but the Steelers win with the right arm of Big Ben.
By the end of the game, he looked like the usual Roethlisberger, so that’s good news going forward because the Steelers are going to need him to make the playoffs.
As for who should have started today, with the way the defense couldn’t get off the field it really didn’t matter. But Tomlin made the right choice in Roethlisberger. As a matter of fact it was his only choice.