Roethlisberger Update

It's been a while since I posted The Roethlisberger Situation and there's been some new information, so I felt the need to update.

I have the feeling that Ben Roethlisberger will be charged with something bad. Like, real bad. Like, "Needs a trial" bad. Given the fact that Dan Rooney is stateside, Art Rooney II has been non-committal in his statements, and Kaiser Goodell has adopted a "wait and see" approach while he sharpens his Mighty Axe, I think all that forms a horrible confluence of bad for Mr. Roethlisberger.

Obviously, he hasn't been charged with anything yet. I'm no lawyer, but I had previously assumed that the long delay between accusation and formal charges coupled with the fact that Roethlisberger's lawyer has been all over the news trying to punch holes in the claim against his client meant that there would eventually be no charge.

That is, of course, until I talked to someone that is a lawyer. He asserted that Roethlisberger's lawyer is trying to tear down the case before it goes to trial. That means that Roethlisberger's lawyer is preparing for a trial. That means that there will be a charge and a trial. That's not good for Big Ben.

When you add in certain information that I have come across from people that have no reason to deceive me that indicates that the Steelers will release Roethlisberger if he is charged... it pretty much adds up to Steeler Nation envisioning a future that does not include Ben Roethlisberger.

I wish this was an April Fool's joke. I really do. I gave up playing pranks after I set every clock in the apartment ahead three hours and successfully convinced my roommate that he was late for class. He spent the next six months rearranging my movies, CDs, messing with my alarm clock, and I'm pretty sure he killed a guy, so I gave up on pranks after that.

At this point, I am fully in, "How do we replace Roethlisberger" mode. So... how do we replace Roethlisberger?

1. The obvious (and best) solution is to look at the roster. Dennis Dixon played well on half a week's preparation against an angry hated Ravens defense, took zero sacks, and really only made one mistake. That mistake cost the Steelers the game, but I'm sure you can think of mistakes that Roethlisberger made that cost the Steelers a game. More than one, for sure. Dixon has always been in the shadow of Charlie Batch and has not been given a full offseason of snaps and practices as "the guy." With a full offseason, he could totally surprise us all. He could also fail miserably, but the 2009 season was not exactly a clinic of awesome and the 2010 season wasn't looking too brisk before all this went down, so anything above 6-10 is a win.
2. Charlie Batch is an option, but he goes on injured reserve if you look at him wrong. The scary thing is that he's the second best option. Go Steelers!
3. If Roethlisberger is released, the Donovan McNabb rumors will start to swirl. ESPN's John Clayton said that the Steelers aren't interested in old quarterbacks. They want someone they can grow with. McNabb will be 34 in November, so that pretty much rules him out. It really rules him out when you consider that the Eagles are looking for a top-42 pick in exchange for him in a trade.
4. If you accept #3 as truth -- and John Clayton went to Duquesne and has mad contacts in Pittsburgh, he knew Roethlisberger's condition before the doctors at Mercy when Ben got in that motorcycle crash in 2006 -- then that eliminates retreads like Jeff Garcia, Daunte Culpepper, and Mike Vick. Byron Leftwich is a possibility, but I'm not sure he's a distinct possibility.
5. Draft someone. I'm sure no Steeler fan wants to break in another quarterback. The other issue is that this is a two quarterback draft, with Sam Bradford and Jimmy Clausen, then everybody else. There is a possibility that Colt McCoy will be available, but that's not likely. That leaves Tim Tebow. Now, I have a tremendous amount of respect for Tebow for his character, faith, and college production, but I don't think he's a pro quarterback. He's kind of like Dennis Dixon if Dixon had re-learned how to throw a football two months ago. I'll take Dixon.

That basically means that we need to welcome the Dennis Dixon Era with open arms. Not sure how I feel about that, but I know it's better than the alternatives. Unless we can draft McCoy...