Whisenhunt's comments could sting Steelers

[BullheadCardFan]

Whisenhunt's comments could sting Steelers

By John Harris

TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Monday, February 26, 2007


Interesting.

Former Steelers offensive coordinator Ken Whisenhunt passed on the opportunity to take the high road when discussing the 2006 performance of his prized pupil, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Whisenhunt, now the head coach of the Arizona Cardinals, told members of the national media assembled at the NFL Scouting Combine in Indianapolis that the Steelers rushed Roethlisberger into the lineup too quickly following his near-fatal motorcycle accident and subsequent emergency appendectomy.

Whisenhunt said that the Steelers' coaching staff miscalculated Roethlisberger's readiness to play, even when his poor decision-making and "trauma" in the pocket became painfully obvious.

 

[Shogun]

It was true. They totally mishandled his situation.

 

[RON_IN_OC]

I think that portion of the story is taken a little out of context. Their is another thread on here that has the entire story and all of Whiz's comments. Nothin he said should irk the Steelers.

 

[BACH]

Whisenhunt was a key member of the Steelers' trusted inner circle under Cowher who decided to not let bygones be bygones. It's doubtful that Roethlisberger, or the Steelers, will ever look at Whisenhunt the same way again.

Interesting...

 

[blindseyed]

Why should it sting? Ben sucked.
Ben is an average QB anyway, with no run game defenses can key in on him and he won't beat many teams y himself

 

[BullheadCardFan]

Interesting...

Interesting indeed .. I'm sure this had something to do with Cowher not recommending either Whiz or Grimm for the HC job in Pitt ...

 

[Renz]

Interesting indeed .. I'm sure this had something to do with Cowher not recommending either Whiz or Grimm for the HC job in Pitt ...

Good point. If the Steelers have issues with loyalty, they should look at Cowher first and the fact he recommended Chan Gailey to be his replacement.

 

[Gambit]

So the high road is pretending he was good, and that everything that happened to him wasn't a factor?

Big Jen usually whines a lot and has a bunch of excuses for poor performance (my thumb, a fever, etc.) but it's hard to say that a motorcycle accident wasn't a big deal, even if I think he exaggerated how close he was to death.

 

[1usctrojan]

Maybe I'm missing something here......I commend Wiz for making that statement....a head trauma is a serious injury, which can certainly effect judgement and emotional lability. There can be a lengthy recovery while the brain heals - Ben was not making responsible decisions - because he could not.

The coaching staff should have known this and protected the young man by not listening to him, insist on therapy (cognitive) and kept him the hell away from the football field.

Wiz to me, took responsibility for a poor coaching decision, and at the same time defending/explaining Ben's poor judgement and inconsistant play on the field.

 

[Hollywood]

also in breaking news....the world is round.

 

[seesred]

Very huge non issue.

GBR
40

 

[Trey]

John Harris is obviously trying to manufacture a story here. ESPN ran a similar article, but with a completely different tone. Some excerpts:

"When we started the season, even in training camp, it didn't seem like it would have an effect," Whisenhunt said. "But, at the end, and when you look at it again, I am convinced it did. Not because of his health, he is a tough kid and he did a good job coming back and being prepared. But from the standpoint of being in the pocket and facing the rush, certainly there was some trauma with him that maybe we all underestimated, and I think it took him longer to get over that than we all thought."

And don't expect Roethlisberger to be down for long, says Whisenhunt.

"I see him as one of the top quarterbacks in the league. He's an outstanding young player. I think as he gets more experience he'll see things better and have opportunities to make more plays in the pocket, but he'll still have the element of being able to move outside the pocket."


http://us.lrd.yahoo.com/_ylt=AsYnXJ...y?id=2779053&campaign=rss&source=NFLHeadlines

 

[BigRedRage]

So the high road is pretending he was good, and that everything that happened to him wasn't a factor?

Big Jen usually whines a lot and has a bunch of excuses for poor performance (my thumb, a fever, etc.) but it's hard to say that a motorcycle accident wasn't a big deal, even if I think he exaggerated how close he was to death.

They said he had split a main artery and if the ambulance did not arrive when they did he would have died minutes later. If you google it you can see the massive indent his skull put into the windshield and then he had to reconstuct his face to look normal again. That isnt serious?

 

[BigRedMO]

Good point. If the Steelers have issues with loyalty, they should look at Cowher first and the fact he recommended Chan Gailey to be his replacement.

Maybe Cowher thought neither was right to be headcoach. Showing loyalty to a subordinate by recommending that person would not be showing loyalty to his boss if Cowher thought the subordinate was not right for the job. The fact that Cowher did not recommend Whiz causes me a lot of concern. A lot of assistants with great reps crash and burn when they get the head coach job. That seems to happen repeatedly with the Cardinals. Cowher knows a whole lot more about what it takes to be a good head coach than the Bidwills know.

 

[Gambit]

They said he had split a main artery and if the ambulance did not arrive when they did he would have died minutes later. If you google it you can see the massive indent his skull put into the windshield and then he had to reconstuct his face to look normal again. That isnt serious?

Who said? The same media that is manufacturing a story here? I think his almost died thing is a little sensationalism.

ETA I see that Roethlisberger himself said they told him he was seconds from dying. But that's my point--he's overdramatic and this is the same guy who talks about fevers and his thumb and the people were making fun of me after a sack and everything. They guy likes to talk and tends to exaggerate.

If you find anything that is a direct quote from the rescuers that he almost died, I'll retract my disbelief. But as it stands I think Big Jen was taking liberties to make it seem even more dramatic than it already was.

 

[Renz]

Maybe Cowher thought neither was right to be headcoach. Showing loyalty to a subordinate by recommending that person would not be showing loyalty to his boss if Cowher thought the subordinate was not right for the job. The fact that Cowher did not recommend Whiz causes me a lot of concern. A lot of assistants with great reps crash and burn when they get the head coach job. That seems to happen repeatedly with the Cardinals. Cowher knows a whole lot more about what it takes to be a good head coach than the Bidwills know.

Cowher recommended Chan Gailey. That makes me question his coaching-hire acumen right there. If the Bidwills recommended hiring Gailey there would have been uncontrollable laughing from coast-to-coast.

I think Cowher didn't recommend Grimm or Whis because he was afraid that there would be too much familiarity and the players wouldn't give them the respect that they would a head coach from outside the organization.

I'd take Whis or Grimm over Chan Gailey any day.

 

[Mulli]

What a headache for the Steelers.

 

[Faithful]

I don't see how anyone could take this as Whis not "taking the high road". He just stated a fact and really it helped to explain Ben's ineptitude at QB last season. (even though I think it's more than just that)

 

[Pariah]

If you find anything that is a direct quote from the rescuers that he almost died, I'll retract my disbelief. But as it stands I think Big Jen was taking liberties to make it seem even more dramatic than it already was.

The guy hit a moving car with his face. If you don't think that you have a good chance of dying when that happens, then you either don't understand human physiology or physics...or both.

 

[Gambit]

The guy hit a moving car with his face. If you don't think that you have a good chance of dying when that happens, then you either don't understand human physiology or physics...or both.

Here's what he said:

Roethlisberger, in his first interview since the June 12 accident, told ESPN's "SportsCenter" that he doesn't remember much about the accident when he rammed his motorcycle into a car that was making a left turn in front of him on a Pittsburgh street. He did, however, remember what he was told by people at the scene.
"They told me that I was literally seconds, maybe a minute away from dying because I slit a vein or artery in my mouth or my throat and it was draining blood right into my stomach and luckily the paramedic noticed it and stopped it or else I would have had too much blood in my stomach," he told ESPN's Jim Rome in Los Angeles, where he was for the taping of the ESPYS.

I have my doubts that he was seconds from death, especially based on the above and his history of exaggerating. He was messed up, but I don't think he was inches from death's door.

 

[Pariah]

I don't think he was inches from death's door.

Based on what?

 

[cardsfanmd]

I think that portion of the story is taken a little out of context. Their is another thread on here that has the entire story and all of Whiz's comments. Nothin he said should irk the Steelers.

I read that also and agree wholeheartedly with you.

 

[Skkorpion]

I have a whole different perspective on this. It's just another in a growing body of evidence that Whis is very open to sharing his opinions with the media.

This is good for us because we'll get more and better info than we did under Denny Green.

 

[Gambit]

Based on what?

Based on that he said rescuers told him he had a cut in his mouth or throat, and that he would die from that because his stomach would be too full of blood(?). How much was this cut bleeding? Was it really enough to cause him to die of exsanguination? If so severe, how was the rescuer able to halt it? How much blood did he lose? Why did the rescuers themselves never make this comment to the media? Why did the doctors never make this comment to the media? Why only Ben himself?

 

[Mulli]

Based on that he said rescuers told him he had a cut in his mouth or throat, and that he would die from that because his stomach would be too full of blood(?). How much was this cut bleeding? Was it really enough to cause him to die of exsanguination? If so severe, how was the rescuer able to halt it? How much blood did he lose? Why did the rescuers themselves never make this comment to the media? Why did the doctors never make this comment to the media? Why only Ben himself?

The near death thing should come from his face hitting a moving car. Ben is a football player, not an M.D.



Lawyers.