Big Lead Sports Bar

8/18/2010

Hines Ward Says Dennis Dixon is the New Kordell Stewart



"He's the new Kordell Stewart. Newer, not better. I'm sorry,”

Those were the words of Hines Ward, describing the #10-wearing, trusting-his-legs-more-than-his arm quarterback that has taken the city by storm with his performance against next year's UFL players the Detroit Lions' backups on Saturday night.
I said the very same thing before and after the Saturday night exhibition, and it appears that others have thought along those lines as well. But Kordell, mind you, was a starter. Could Dixon ever get the opportunity that the Old #10 had?

“He’s got to take the job if he’s going to take it,” Mike Tomlin told the NFL Network. “He’s doing a nice job thus far, and we’re going to continue to give him opportunities to do that.”

Added Tomlin: “It’s a nice start guys, and that’s what it was,” Tomlin said Monday of Dixon’s performance. “He was productive, [but] half of that production came in the fourth quarter of the game, so we’re not going to get carried away.”

And before we get too excited about Kordell 2.0, let's hear what Dixon's offensive coordinator, Bruce Arians, thought about #10's performance on Saturday night. Happy he ran so much, coach?
"No, because we had wide open receivers. It's fine to run when there's nobody open but when there are open receivers, get them the ball. That was their down-the-line guys out there chasing him. The front-line guys are a little faster and a little quicker. When he does break it, that's great, but I'd rather see him deliver the ball to his check-downs and other players."

As you know, Big Ben will see action on Saturday against the Giants, and if you factor in Tomlin's words, that shouldn't inspire much confidence for those in Steeler Nation hoping that Dixon gets the opening day gig over Byron Leftwich. If you're connecting the dots, it looks like Dixon will be relegated to special packages in the offense along the lines of the Slash role that Stewart seemed to loathe. But them's the breaks, as the saying goes.

Speaking of Roethlisberger, he will be talking to Mark Madden at 5:20 on Wednesday, and that should be an interesting conversation. Madden, the former neighbor of the QB, has fostered a close relationship with Roethlisberger over the years and normally delivers a very insightful and colorful interview. Judging from Mark's blog, it appears that the questioning could include discussion of Roger Goodell's wildly inconsistent personal conduct policy, and the more discussion about that, the better.

Mondesi's House: The Director's Cut (more links, commentary, etc): twitter.com/mondesishouse
Email: mondesishouse@gmail.com

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Whooooooa.

I imagine he's going to be hearing from Tomlin, Colbert and others. Wow.

Pops Freshenmeyer said...

Dixon's the new Kordell. Hell, I said that the first time I watched him play, and giving him #10 just drove that home even further. I hope for all Steelers fans' sakes that Leftwich outplays him in the preseason.

HomeRunFromBehindTheMeatballs said...

"Newer, not better" WOW! That's a shot to the ole pride. Ward's a pretty good WR, but he's no Troy Edwards!

DD did most of his work in the 4th quarter, most of his stats are from YAC, and he was still tucking/running with open receivers against the 3rd/4th team of one of the NFLs perennial losers. Sorry, if i'm not gushing over his play.

Ben expectedly pleaded the FIF when Madden asked about Goodell's suspension 'policy'. Suspension hasn't been reduced to 4 games yet! Overall, a great interview though.

jmarinara said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Steve said...

Yeah, low blow by Ward even if he didn't mean to offend. Plus, if he thinks that, then what's that say of his opinion of Leftwich? He's really had it out for QB's not wearing No. 7 lately.

I agree with most that Dixon is nothing to get excited about. If you can't show at least some poise and confidence in the pocket then I don't care how well you can scramble, you're not going to be a good starting QB. Tired of seeing him check off only one receiver and then it's "Feets don't fail me know!" time before the pressure get's past the line of scrimmage.