A QB's Job

Some will make excuses for Palmer, but let�s be clear here. Palmer is failing as a quarterback. Palmer is a nifty passer who racks up some very nice numbers for the multitudes of fantasy geeks out there. But on the field, he fails as a leader and as a quarterback.

The Bengals season may well have been on the line this past week. They badly needed a win. We�ve seen this scenario with the Bengals before. Why, they needed just one win in the final three games to end the season last year to make the playoffs. They couldn�t pull it off. The Bengals may have just put the final nail in their season�s coffin. Their star QB, who is also one of the league�s highest paid players, failed to show up.

Mike Shanahan has a nice saying. QB�s earn their money on third down. The reasoning behind that is pretty simple. Third is a clear passing down. The defense knows what you�re going to do. The play will usually require a QB to go through his progressions. The drive hinges on his success. There�s no play-action and it�s harder for a coordinator to compensate and hide a QB�s weaknesses.

Carson Palmer played Kansas City this past week. With Chad Johnson and T.J. Houshmanzadeh lined up outside, Carson Palmer managed to convert just one third down all game. That�s 1/11 all day long. The average distance faced by the Bengals on third down was 6.4 yards. The Bengals lone conversion came in the fourth quarter while down by two scores on a third and five.

On the season, the Bengals are currently 28^th in the league in third down conversions. They are converting just 33%. What happened against Kansas City wasn�t an isolated case.

The Steelers played the Seahawks prior to the bye. The Steelers converted 8/15 for the game. The average distance faced was 7.9 yards. Roethlisberger, of course, was without his top two receivers for this game. The Steelers put up 21 points on a Seattle team that Carson Palmer struggled against just two weeks prior.

The Steelers are currently ranked 2^nd in the league in third down conversion rate. They are converting 51% of all their third downs.

That leads nicely into the next crutch people are using for Palmer. Too much pressure is being put on him. He only has two Pro Bowl caliber receivers to throw the ball to. He can�t do it all with his golden arm, right?

Well, it really just boils down to third downs again. An offense won�t run the ball if they can�t keep the chains moving. To be patient with the run requires you to convert 3^rd and 5�s. Madden has a saying, as well. It�s that it�s more important to run successfully. You really don�t hide or protect your QB by just blindly running the ball because teams will stop you when they know what�s coming. They will put you into third downs.

Run teams generally don�t have very potent offenses. It�s because they generally don�t have top QB�s. Offenses who can�t convert third downs and keep those chains moving will not score points. This is all pretty obvious.

When you don�t convert, you don�t get off enough plays to have success with the run game. When you don�t have leads, you don�t have a chance to pad running statistics. The Steelers rushing stats are a not a true reflection of their offensive tendencies. Haven�t been for years. A lot of people can�t wrap their head around this fact. The yards gained at the end of the day are a reflection of ease of victory, and how efficiently Roethlisberger was able to play.

The next point is that a QB needs to get everyone involved in the offense. The Bengals currently have the league�s number one receiving duo in Chad Johnson in T.J. Houshmanzadeh. But what good has it done them? They are sitting at 1-4. The Bengals third leading receiver is TE Reggie Kelly, who has just 11 catches. The big two both have over 35 catches.

Carson Palmer has talked about the need to find someone else besides them to catch passes. With Chris Henry, a guy who would be many teams first receiver, now missing half the season, there hasn�t been that dominating presence behind them to share the load. Palmer has been unable to spread the ball around. The Bengals ended the 06 season with just three players with 30+ catches. Even Henry could not eclipse 40 in that offense.

It�s easy to dismiss that as T.J. and Johnson eating up the touches. But when those two are being taken away, or teams are targeting them, and it�s third down, why can�t Palmer find anyone else to throw the ball to?

The Steelers played that game against Seattle without their two starting receivers. We�ve seen that scenario before. We saw it against the Bucs last year. Roethlisberger played one of his better games of the season that day. No problem. Roethlisberger found other guys. Whether it was Heath Miller, Nate Washington, or Cedric Wilson. He looked to other guys to make plays.

Of course, the Steelers finished the 06 season with 5 players eclipsing 30 plus catches. Heath Miller, Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes, Cedric Wilson, and Nate Washington all passed that total. The Steelers may see the same number again this season, given how things are currently going. Heath Miller is the leading receiver right now with 17 catches. That�s followed up by Santonio Holmes with 14.

The real funny part of all this is that Palmer supposedly reads defenses better. He should have the ability to find his targets and go deeper into his reads to make the plays. But that clearly isn�t the case.

I�ve already drawn the parallel between a QB and a conductor. Said that above. Well, here�s another comparison. A QB is like a great basketball player. The true greats spend the early parts of games spreading the ball around to their teammates before taking over in crunch time. A QB has a similar job with his offensive weapons. It�s his job to make the guys around him better and get them involved in the game.

Roethlisberger does this in a number of ways. He�s underrated as a pocket passer. His mobility and incredible (yes, incredible) pocket awareness allow him to buy extra time. It was buying extra time that allowed him to slip out of the pocket and convert a 3^rd and 17 to Cedric Wilson against Seattle. That third down would lead to the Steelers going up 14-0 against Seattle, and effectively ending the game. By moving around, Roethlisberger puts his OL, receivers and backs in a position to succeed. Roethlisberger is hiding their weakness and giving them a chance to make plays.

Roethlisberger is great at slipping out of the pocket. Many QB�s use that as a chance to run. Roethlisberger does not. Tomlin called Roethlisberger a freak for this. What #7 does exceptionally well is keep his eyes down field. His receivers are able to break off their routes and come back to the football. Roethlisberger creates throwing lanes and makes plays out of nothing. Carson Palmer does not. And when receivers are able to break routes and move around, they often end up in space. And when they do that, they can usually get yards after that catch.

But Roethlisberger doesn�t just have to get outside of the pocket. Just ask Dexter Jackson about that. Who remembers when Roethlisberger shrugged his shoulder at the last second on a Jackson blitz? The Steelers were backed up in their end zone. He ran in untouched. Roethlisberger, where most QB�s never would have seen him even coming, was able to shrug his shoulder and dodge the pressure. He then was able to hit Miller in the middle of the field and convert a third down. The Steelers marched down the field following that. Here�s another area where Carson Palmer falls short. His fumble rate is a nice indicator of his poor pocket presence. Anyone who saw him get sacked by Allen in the second quarter and cough up the ball can tell you that Palmer does not feel the rush well. The Chiefs rarely brought more than 4. They showed blitz, and dropped into coverage. The confusion caused hesitation from the OL, and more importantly, Palmer. Palmer, even on 3^rd and short, could not get rid of the ball because he could not make his reads. Palmer has a quick release if he knows what you�re doing. But once he�s asked to sit back there and read the defense, Palmer will struggle. He�ll hang on to the ball, and frequently make mistakes with the football. We saw an example of that when he threw to the flat and had his pass undercut by Patrick Surtain. Palmer has thrown several game ending picks on those same routes. He threw a similar pick against the Steelers last year after being baited into the throw by a LeBeau blitz.

Palmer is a whiner. He�ll insult his receivers frequently. We�ve seen his sideline arguments with Johsnon. We�ve seen him call out Chris Henry after he was picked off on a hail marry pass against Baltimore. Palmer will throw the guys around him under the bus.

To put it bluntly, Roethlisberger does not. Roethlisberger never gave up on Cedric Wilson when Wilson failed to peel off his routes at the right time. It resulted in a costly pick against the Broncos last year. Roethlisberger took the blame after the game. It was similar to the pick Palmer threw against the Pats this year. There was no public argument. There was no anger from Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger has never hesitated to throw back to Wilson.

And we saw something similar this past week. While Wilson and Washington struggled the week prior, and Wilson had a slow start against Seattle this week, Roethlisberger kept throwing passes to them. After that 3^rd and 17 conversion, Roethlisberger ran up and celebrated with Wilson. When Wilson complained about his role in the offense this pre-season before the game against the Saints, Roethlisberger made a point to look for him. Wilson exploded for that one game and his ego and confidence were restored.

This attitude of Roethlisberger�s was even questioned by Ward a bit this off-season. Ward said Ben could stand to get on his OL a little more. Will anyone ever accuse Palmer of being too soft on the guys around him? And, in the end, who would you rather play for? A guy who will throw you under the bus when things go wrong, or the guy who will keep supporting you through thick and thin?