Why Landry Jones Should Be the Pittsburgh Steelers Starting Quarterback This Week

The Steelers are 4-2 after winning their second game in a row without Ben Roethlisberger and one thing is clear. This team is good enough to contend for a Super Bowl when everyone is fully healthy. This team’s offense has yet to see it’s full potential as all of their primary pieces have yet to be on the field at the same time. After beating the Chargers and Cardinals over the last two weeks it’s clear this team can get by without Roethlisberger, but they can’t win a title without him being healthy.

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The Steelers offense has been ineffective with Michael Vick under center. The playmakers that need the ball in their hands are not having the success they could be having and many assumed it was because Big Ben is out. However, with Landry Jones at quarterback it appears that this offense is more than capable of scoring and moving the chains.

They need to put their draft pick in to do the job he was drafted to do

Jones went 8-12 for 168 yards and a touchdown in about a half of play against a very tough Arizona defense. Meanwhile, Vick has only thrown two touchdown passes since taking over for Big Ben in week 3. The Steelers offense is built to score points, but it needs a pocket passing quarterback to do that. There’s a reason the Steelers drafted Jones in the 4th round in the 2013 draft, and it wasn’t to have him watch a 35 year old back up quarterback struggle to move the offense. They need to put their draft pick in to do the job he was drafted to do, because the reality is Vick can’t do it anymore.

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Just like in the previous three games the Steelers offense looked nothing like fans are used to seeing from this Pittsburgh team. How could it? Roethlisberger was out so there is no way this team would look explosive on offense, but the Jones entered the game in the third quarter and perceptions quickly changed. The Steelers outscored the Cardinals 13-3 with Jones in the game and their offense looked pretty good.

Jones showed that his style of play is a much better fit for the entire offense. While Vick’s experience is good to have, you still need to have somebody under center that doesn’t change or limit the rest of the offense. At this point in his career Vick’s limitations are similar to the limitations he had early in his career, only he just doesn’t have the speed or ability to cover those up anymore. The loss to a bad defensive Ravens team showed that and even in the team’s victory over the Chargers you could see how Vick limited the Steelers offense.

This was forcing Roethlisberger to want to rush back into playing, but Jones may give the Steelers and Big Ben more time. They face the Chiefs next week at Arrowhead Stadium. This is a game that the Steelers should win even if they don’t bring their defense to Kansas City. Alex Smith doesn’t like to score touchdowns and he’s famous for being the quarterback who doesn’t throw touchdown passes to his wide receivers. The Chiefs defense however is pretty good and might be not the defense you let Roethlisberger make his return with.

Oct 18, 2015; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; Pittsburgh Steelers tackle

Marcus Gilbert

(77) and quarterback Landry Jones (3) celebrate a touchdown against the Arizona Cardinals during the fourth quarter at Heinz Field. The Steelers won 25-13. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

At 4-2 the Steelers are sitting pretty good in the AFC Standings. They currently own the 6th spot in the AFC Playoff picture and they are only two games behind the Bengals for the AFC North lead. The return of Big Ben will make the Steelers a Super Bowl contender and no team will want that match up in the playoffs.

However, if Roethlisberger isn’t healthy or ready to come back Mike Tomlin needs to put a little more faith in his 2013 draft pick. They don’t need Jones to be Big Ben, but they just need him to not be Vick.

This team is good enough to win games even when the offense plays bad, but after seeing Jones play this week there should be no reason for this offense to be as bad as it has been over the past three weeks.

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