Sports Illustrated projection

[BengalChris]

(09-08-2015, 08:41 PM)Whatever Wrote: Dalton is 4-0 in making the playoffs in the same division, and Flacco is 6-1.  Ben is 7-4, and trending downwards.  After making it 4 of his first 5 years, he's 3-3 in the last six.  Correspondingly, that falls in line with Pittsburgh moving away from a defense first/ball control offense which asked him to be a game manager into their current model of trying to make him the star.  Also keep in mind that both Dalton and Flacco have led their respective teams to the playoffs four years in a row.  Ben has never gotten the Steelers to the playoffs 3 years in a row,  let alone four.  He also has no playoff wins the past four years, same as Dalton.  You can argue better supporting casts for Dalton and Flacco, but isn't the point of an elite QB that they can win games with less talent surrounding him?  Particularly in a discussion about regular season records, Ben has simply not proven himself to be a significant enough upgrade over Dalton or Flacco to produce more wins, so unless we're calling Flacco and Dalton elite, there's no reason to put Ben in that category.

Flacco and Ben have SB wins. Ben had two of them in his first four years.

We can't seem to overcome those playoff blues for some reason and until we do, we'll be the 3rd best team in the division. Fair or not, that's the way of perceptions in the NFL. That 0-4 record in the playoffs just doesn't resonate the same as winning a SB. A SB win is so much more difficult than just making the playoffs.