Lolley's 10 Thoughts: Don't give up on Roethlisberger

Franchise quarterbacks don't grow on trees.

Don't believe that? Go ask David Woodley, Scott Campbell, Cliff Stoudt, Todd Blackledge and Mark Malone.

Those were some of the quarterbacks who were immediately tasked with replacing Terry Bradshaw back in the mid-1980s. And you never want to be the man who replaces the man.

Ask Bubby Brister and Neil O'Donnell and Jim Miller and Mike Tomczak and Kent Graham and Kordell Stewart and Tommy Maddox.

They were guys who tried to fill the shoes of Bradshaw in the next decade before the Steelers were fortunate enough that Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger fell into their lap in 2004.

For those counting at home, that is some 12 guys mentioned who started games at quarterback for the Steelers in the time between when the Steelers had Bradshaw in 1983 and when they finally replaced him with Roethlisberger in 2004.

In that 21 years in between, the Steelers went to one Super Bowl. They didn't win it. In those 21 years, they did appear in the playoffs 10 times. But they went 9-10.

So, as we sit here in the aftermath of Sunday night's 48-37 defeat at the hands of the Browns at Heinz Field, it's easy to say Roethlisberger should hang it up. After all, he threw four interceptions in this game.

And, as he typically does after games like this, he was quick to take the blame.

"I need to apologize to them for tonight, the rest of my teammates, for the way I played," Roethlisberger said. "Very disappointing. I hate it for our fans. I hate it for my teammates. But I enjoy playing this game for those reasons."

If Roethlisberger felt he was done, he would hang it up. You can bet that is what he and Maurkice Pouncey were talking about as they sat on the bench so long after everyone else had cleared the field.

For Pouncey, that decision appears to be made. He's done. And that's why Roethlisberger was in tears. He felt he had let Pouncey down in what will likely be his final NFL game.

"I love that guy. He is one of the best competitors and teammates I've ever had," Roethlisberger said. "It's just been so much fun to share a football field with him. I hate that it ended the way it did. I just wanted to apologize to him. I wanted to win it for him."

So Pouncey will likely be gone from this team. Others will be, as well.

But the old cowboy, as Roethlisberger once referred to himself when he had another game like this a few years ago? He'll be back. Bet on it.

Those trying to push him into retirement apparently don't recall what those years were like between 1983 and 2004. The Steelers fielded some bad teams in those years, especially in the '80s, but they had some good ones, too.

And all too often, the shortcoming of those teams was because they just didn't have a quarterback capable of taking them where they wanted to go.

Roethlisberger is still capable of that. You don't go 12-4 in the regular season this year without the quarterback playing well for extended stretches.

When asked if he still believes Roethlisberger can perform at a high level, Mike Tomlin simply replied, "I do."

But he also isn't what he used to be. That is undeniable. He'll be 39 next season. But he's still younger than Tom Brady and Drew Brees, who both advanced in the NFC playoffs over the weekend, and is one year older than Aaron Rodgers, who led the Packers to the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs.

There's still something there with Roethlisberger. Yes, he threw four interceptions in this game. But one was on a pass that was tipped at the line of scrimmage. Another was on a pass that glanced off the hands of wide receiver Diontae Johnson.

He also gave the Steelers a chance to get back into this game, throwing four touchdown passes in the second half.

The issue was not so much that Roethlisberger failed this season. It's that management failed him. It failed to provide him with a viable option at running back. The Steelers went into this season with the belief that James Conner, Benny Snell, Jaylen Samuels and Anthony McFarland -- the league's 32nd-paid running back room -- was good enough to help this team win.

It went into the season placing its entire hopes on offense on the surgically repaired elbow of Roethlisberger. And that wasn't fair.

Five years ago, that wasn't the case. Now, there's nothing wrong with this offense a dynamic running back such as Cleveland's Nick Chubb or Minnesota's Dalvin Cook doesn't at least help fix.

So some can scream from the rooftops that they think Roethlisberger should hang it up. And they'll be wrong.

And when he runs out of the tunnel at Heinz Field later this year to kick off the 2021 season, those people will be among the 65,000 people standing and waiving their Terrible Towels.

I get it. This one hurts. It always does when a season comes to an end.

But it doesn't hurt you more than it does the guys who are out there putting their bodies on the line to do it. 

That's what Pouncey was living through in that moment. That moment when your body tells you that you can't do it any more. It's something that every athlete faces at one time or another. Either their body or somebody else tells them it's time.

But that time hasn't yet come for Roethlisberger -- unless he decides he's done.

He's earned that.

• There was a common theme in the Steelers' losses this season. They were 1-4 this season when they didn't force a turnover, including this game.

In a season in which you lose just five times, that's telling.

I wrote about that very subject last week leading up to this game. The Steelers not only couldn't lose the turnover battle. They had to get the ball on defense. They didn't even come close to doing so in this game.

When you lose the turnover battle 5-0, you're not going to win, regardless of the opponent.

And you certainly can't have the first play of the game be a snap that sails over the head of the quarterback and into the end zone.

Handing a team such as Cleveland a 7-0 lead will make for a long day in the trenches. Handing it a 28-0 lead with turnovers and miscues will doom you every time.

But please spare me the old, tired excuse that the Steelers came out "flat." There was nothing flat about that game. The Browns came out and played well and executed. By saying the Steelers were "flat," you're not giving the Browns their due.

And they earned it in this game.

• So, just because I would run things back with Roethlisberger again next season doesn't mean I wouldn't make some changes.

Now is the time to discuss potential coaching changes. The Steelers aren't and never will be a team that makes staff changes in-season. Nor should they be.

And you certainly didn't want to be one of those teams that did it last year, when the offseason program was non-existent and there was little training camp and no preseason.

I wouldn't make the sweeping changes in the coaching staff some are calling for. That's not what is needed here. But when you fall short, change is a big part of the process of getting better.

And that includes on the coaching staff. Perhaps it is time to move on from Randy Fichtner to an offensive coordinator who doesn't remember the days when Roethlisberger could put on the red cape and play Superman on the field.

That seems to be the fall-back option all too often.

• This team will certainly look different in 2021 with Bud Dupree, Alejandro Villanueva, Matt Feiler, Mike Hilton, JuJu Smith-Schuster, Cam Sutton and James Conner all headed toward unrestricted free agency and others such as Pouncey retiring.

But that doesn't mean it can't compete for the Super Bowl next season.

Pouncey's retirement, assuming that happens, will clear $8 million in salary cap space. The team can easily clear the space it needs to retool this thing.

Certainly it won't suddenly become a major player in the free agent market. But a couple of players here or there will make a big difference.

The Steelers will pick 24th in this year's draft. And they'll also pick up a couple of compensatory picks, as well, when those selections are handed out, which should give them plenty of ammunition to acquire talent.

When you build, as this team does, through the draft, you'd better hit on those picks. And this year, it certainly looked like the Steelers did well with wide receiver Chase Claypool, linebacker Alex Highsmith and guard Kevin Dotson.

Those three will all be starters in 2021.

And, as we saw in 2017, when the Steelers selected T.J. Watt, Smith-Schuster, Conner and Sutton in the first three rounds, a draft can make an immediate impact.

• There is little doubt slow starts on offense dogged this team throughout this season. And Roethlisberger deserves a large part of the blame for that. Maybe that's who he is at this point in his career.

But he's also a quarterback who, when he gets hot and into a rhythm, can be as good as anyone in the game.

So again, adding talent to that running back room is a must. Run the ball early and take pressure off the quarterback until he gets heated up. Because when he gets heated up, he can still be special.

That, to me, should be priority 1B this offseason. 1A will have to be shoring up that offensive line again.

Villanueva was a shadow of himself this season. And Pouncey wasn't the same, either. David DeCastro dealt with knee and chest injuries early in this season and really didn't look like himself. But he should bounce back.

Re-sign Zach Banner, draft a center and then perhaps a tackle, as well, and see how things play out.

One thing for certain is that signing offensive linemen in free agency is not the way to go. Too often they are overpriced and disappoint.

• Defensive depth was one of the things that was looked at as an Achilles' heel when training camp opened this season. The team's depth on the defensive line and at cornerback were fine. But inside and outside linebacker were an issue.

And wouldn't you know, that's exactly where this team suffered its two biggest losses with Devin Bush and Dupree going down.

Robert Spillane was a nice story for a while, filling in for Bush for a time, but he had a big red target on his back in this game. Cleveland was targeting him seemingly every time it put the ball in the air.

And once Highsmith went out of this game, Cassius Marsh, signed just a few weeks ago off the practice squad of the Colts, was seeing action.

Those shortcomings were too much to overcome.

• My high school basketball coach always used to tell us that we never wanted to peak too early. We wanted to be peaking -- playing our best -- as the postseason rolled around.

In training camp, I was convinced teams that had little turnover would have an advantage early in this season given the nature of the way this year had played out.

That did prove to be the case, at least for the Steelers. Trouble was, they just didn't get better, as some other teams did.

The Browns were the opposite of that. They had a new head coach and staff. They were learning along the way. And they got better. It happens.

Now, it's Tomlin's task to assess why that was the case and make changes in his preparation to ensure that doesn't happen. If that means losing some games early in the year to win late, so be it.

That was once a knock on Tomlin's teams. Same with Bill Cowher's before him. They would lose some games early, but they would be peaking come December and January.

Well, that hasn't happened in some time. And it's Tomlin's job to figure out why.

• Smith-Schuster's comments to the media last Wednesday were taken out of context in Cleveland. That's fine.

And he doesn't regret saying that the Browns are the Browns, that they are nameless gray faces and that he was happy they were playing them. Nor should he.

"I don't regret what I said. I said the Browns is the Browns," Smith-Schuster said. "They came out and they played a hell of a game. Today wasn't our night and hopefully the same Browns will show up next week against the same opponent and go out and do the same thing they did tonight and have a hell of a game."

There was nothing disrespectful about what Smith-Schuster said. He said the Browns have a good team. They showed that Sunday.

But if you need bulletin board material to play in the NFL, you're probably not long for this league.

That said, Smith-Schuster could have worded things differently. But he didn't. Oh well.

That's not why the Steelers lost this game. It's because they lost the turnover battle 5-0.

• The Steelers have now given up 45 or more points in their past two playoff games.

They've also lost the turnover battle 7-0 in those games.

But they've also been run on in those games, too. In this one, the Browns had 103 yards rushing at the half. Cleveland finished with 127 yards rushing and had 14 carries for 24 yards in the second half, so the Steelers were capable of stopping the run against this team.

They just didn't in the first half. And by the time they did, it was too late.

And that was why Tomlin punted on fourth-and-1 from his own 46 to open the fourth quarter down 35-23.

He felt his defense, which had forced three-and-outs on back-to-back possessions, was playing with some momentum.

That punt barely went into the end zone for a touchback, bouncing backward and coming dead at the 1. If it's downed at the 1, the Browns are in trouble.

Mayfield had been shaky on his last couple of throws. The Browns had gained four yards on their last three carries.

Instead, the Browns got the ball at their 20.

It takes more than skill to win playoff games. It takes some luck, as well. And in that case, the Steelers were just unlucky -- at least in my eyes. Maybe it was an extra gust of wind. Or perhaps Jordan Berry got just a little more of the kick than he wanted.

But I do know that if the Steelers go for it from their own 46 and don't make it, everybody and their brother are killing Tomlin for making that call.

• It was a challenging season in so many ways. Players and coaches weren't available to talk as often as anyone was accustomed to hearing from them. And sometimes, because of COVID-19 issues, they weren't available at all.

Hopefully, the next time the Steelers do play, some of you reading this will be able to be there in attendance.

There's not a doubt in my mind that also affected the way this game played out. No fans meant the Steelers were lacking in what makes Heinz Field one of the toughest places in the NFL to play.

Ask the Browns. They had just one other win in this stadium since it was built. When the Steelers pulled within two scores in the third quarter of this game, the place would have been rocking.

Renegade would have been played. The Terrible Towels would have been waiving.

Instead, there was silence throughout the game. And that's a shame.

Sports are entertainment. And there aren't many cases where they're not meant to be viewed live.

Here's to 2021 having live events take place with fans in the seats again.