Pittsburgh Sports, Opinion and Politics | Just Watch the Game Blog

I’ve had the sneaking suspicion all summer that Charlie Batch is the Steelers’ second best quarterback and mentioned it in a few places.

Any time his name was brought up, he was dismissed because of his inability to stay healthy.

He’s done a good job every time he’s been called on to start for the Steelers (they won three of the four games he started) and I’ve always been impressed by how smooth he is in practice.

He just throws a nice ball. Not a canon for an arm but accurate with a quick release and he’s good at gaining extra time by moving around in the pocket.

He made what I thought was the best throw last night and it was only 15 or 20 yards in the air.

He had to step up and to his left to avoid the rush. The running back had been in the flat but, when he saw Batch scramble, turned and headed up the sideline.

Batch anticipated that and led him with a perfect touch pass over the defender’s head right into the receiver’s hands, who was able to catch it in stride.

I don’t care if it came against the Broncos 12th string. It was a great bit of ad libbing  and a perfect example of his visions and poise. And a perfect throw.

Leftwich has a cannon for an arm, but I have serious doubts about him being able to play more than a game or two before he’s taken off the field feet first. He may not be as brittle as Batch, but Batch can at least get out of his own way.

Dennis Dixon is black and he wears number 10, but he’s no Kordell Stewart.

Not even close. Those comparisons need to stop.

He doesn’t run as well and he doesn’t throw as well as Stewart and he looked like a rookie last night–not a third year player.

If the Steelers make the decision to go with the two quarterbacks who give them their best chance to win their first four games, they have to go with Batch and Leftwich–in that order.

Whoever becomes the Steelers starting quarterback could have a long, long season .

And that includes Ben Roethlisberger.

He’s given himself and whoever replaces him—whether it’s for four games or 16–a tough act to follow.

Every quarterback who has played for the Steelers eventually found out that the fans and a good portion of the media don’t like to consider extenuating circumstances when it comes to judging a quarterback’s performance and whoever is behind center for the Steelers this season is going to have a major extenuating circumstance to deal with.

No Santonio Holmes.

He may not have been the Steelers’ best receiver last season but he was definitely in the conversation with Hines Ward.

He was Big Ben’s Big Play Guy.

Kordell Stewart was the talk of the NFL after his first year as a starter in 1997.

During the offseason he lost his favorite and most dangerous wide receiver, Yancy Thigpen, who still holds the Steelers single season receiving yardage record that he set that year..

He also lost one of the best offensive coordinators in the league in Chan Gailey and had to play for clueless Ray Sherman. And he  lost his All Pro left tackle John Jackson to free agency.

As everybody knows, 1998 and 1999 (after he lost his favorite receiver from 1998, Charles Johnson) were nightmare seasons for Stewart and the Steelers,

I became known as Kordel Stewart’s all time apologist for having the nerve to point those things out at the time, but very few people wanted to hear it.

If Byron Leftwich is the starter for the first four games, he is going to be compared to Ben Roethlisberger, but those comparisons won’t be completely fair because he’ll be compared to Ben Roethlisberger when he had Santonio Holmes to throw to.

Dennis Dixon (who, by the way, is nowhere near as athletically gifted as Stewart) is going to get a little more slack because of his age,  but he should know that nobody will want to hear that he’s playing without a receiver who made it much easier for his predecessor

There is the potential for all kinds of quarterback controversies in 2010.

If Lefwich is the starter at the beginning of the season, how much patience will the fans have before they start clamoring for Dixon?  I’m guessing the end of the first half of the opening game.

If Dixon is the guy and he struggles, he’ll get about the same amount of time before fans and some media are convinced that he’s either too small or runs too much.

Whoever is quarterback is not going to have to deal with a new offensive coordinator as Stewart did, but he may be dealing with an offensive coordinator who’s taking a new approach.

Art RooneyII made it clear to everybody that he thinks the team should get back to running the ball more.

It’s always dangerous when the owner wears his strategy opinions on his sleeve and it remains to be seen if  Bruce Arians is going to be affected by the idea that the owner might be looking over his shoulder when he’s putting in a game plan or calling plays during a game.

And you know what?

I don’t think either of those replacements  is better than Charlie Batch. He, of course, has the durability issue that’s probably going to cost him a job.

Unless, of course, Ben doesn’t play for the Steelers in 2010.

I think he will, but I still wouldn’t be shocked if he didn’t.