The Steelers overcame short-term absences of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger with acceptable results in the past, most famously when they went 3-1 while he sat because of a four-game suspension to start the 2010 season.
They reached the Super Bowl that year. This is different.
Previously, they could call on some of the best defenses in the NFL to button down things and keep games close for Charlie Batch, Byron Leftwich and Dennis Dixon, who replaced Roethlisberger.
This was to be the season in which Roethlisberger and his team’s dynamic offense would carry a young, transitioning defense, especially early. Well, it’s still early and, while that defense did carry them in their quirky, 12-6 victory Sunday in St. Louis, it might not be able to keep those tender fingers in the dike over the next 4-6 weeks. That is the timetable Roethlisberger will need to recover from the sprained MCL and bone bruise in his left knee before he returns to play.
There also is the matter of all those other playmakers on offense such as their two All-Pros, running back Le’Veon Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown. How effective might they be with Mike Vick at quarterback instead of Roethlisberger?
The idea might be to lean on Bell, the AFC’s leading rusher in 2014. Let him carry them the way Jerome Bettis once did. But Bell was effective in part because he played with a quarterback who tied for the most passing yards in the NFL. Defenses loosen up when they must worry about such a passer, which opens many lanes for a back such as Bell who knows how to find them and hit them quickly.
It won’t be the same without Roethlisberger. Defenses will pack it up front to try to stop Bell and Vick from hurting them on the ground. They will dare Vick to throw on them, especially deep. They won’t have to double-team Brown anymore. Vick has a strong arm and certainly can throw it deep, but he’s not nearly as accurate as Roethlisberger, especially on long passes.
What do you think the Baltimore Ravens are putting in their defensive game plan right now? Stop Bell, at all costs. Let Vick try to beat them with his passing. Brown? He’s only an All-Pro when someone can deliver him the football and, if Vick cannot do that, Brown cannot hurt an opponent unless he somehow breaks a punt return.
Brown has to be not only disappointed for Roethlisberger, but also dismayed at the effect his absence will have on his chances to keep producing the kinds of receiving numbers he has. Sunday, he topped 100 yards for the seventh time in the past eight games, including that playoff loss to Baltimore. His 108 yards represented 47 percent of the two quarterbacks’ 230 yards passing — 75 percent of all the wide receivers’ yards.
Brown and Roethlisberger had become the best quarterback-receiver combination in the league, a rapport they built over the past several seasons. Brown’s prolific production is not likely to continue with Vick at quarterback. Neither might the Steelers’ ball security. Vick was criticized in his first two seasons (2011-12) as Philadelphia’s quarterback when he threw 24 interceptions and fumbled 21 times in 23 games.
Sunday, he fumbled once, but Bell recovered at the Steelers 24. He also had a pass dropped from his 37 by St. Louis cornerback Lamarcus Joyner that should have been an interception.
The Steelers discussed signing Vick early in training camp when it became obvious that their backups were not good enough and that veteran Bruce Gradkowski’s ailing right shoulder wasn’t getting any better. They dragged their feet, however, perhaps because of the political repercussions they knew would come with signing a felon who spent nearly two years in jail for dog fighting.
They also have available Landry Jones, who will be active for the first time in three years for a regular-season game after they drafted him in the fourth round in 2013. Jones had his best training camp and preseason, but they still were not confident enough in him to stop them from signing Vick as their backup quarterback Aug. 25 when they put Gradkowski on injured reserve. Coach Mike Tomlin said the team was not looking to sign an additional quarterback to the roster or practice squad at this point.
Therefore, Vick has had very little time not only in their offense but also with the first team. He will not get much more time this week. The players had off Monday and will practice today and Wednesday.
“We have to make an adjustment in terms of starting Vick,” coach Mike Tomlin said, “and bringing the game to him and allowing him to play. We have to find what his personality and our personality is with him, letting him get a week’s preparation from that standpoint.”
That young transitioning defense will have to grow up in a hurry. They need not just to hold down offenses, they need to force turnovers, something that has eluded them for several years now.
“Baltimore, they’re a rugged opponent,” safety Will Allen said. “We have to help out our offense more by giving them the ball more.”
Allen did that Sunday when his interception of a wildly overthrown pass by Nick Foles late in the game stymied the Rams comeback attempt and led to a fourth of the Steelers’ points in St. Louis, a Josh Scobee field goal. But it was their only interception through three games — on pace for about half of their low, low total of 11 last season.
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Baltimore quarterback Joe Flacco has had success against the Steelers when throwing deep, and this secondary has not shown it can cover anyone deep. That means they absolutely must put pressure on Flacco from their front seven, which has emerged over the past two games as a strength of that defense.
“If we continue to deliver and put our offense on the field we’ll be that much better,’’ linebacker Jarvis Jones said.
Many of them will need to do that, if they are to overcome the absence of Roethlisberger.
Ed Bouchette: ebouchette@post-gazette.com and Twitter @EdBouchette.
First Published: September 29, 2015, 4:00 a.m.