Ryan, are you confident in Big Bend during the playoffs?

You know that that that that question is a little a little loaded, Charlie.

I mean, I don't think you're supposed to start the show with those.

You kind of started with some with some softballs.

Let me hit some home runs, and then I could get some single that some bunts, and then we could have a great show.

But I trust him enough to be who he is.

I trust him enough to be the best he can possibly be at this stage of his career.

Big Ben can't carry this team.

Know what you saw in the second half of the Indianapolis Colts game is not what you're going to see going forward in the playoffs.

He's not going to duplicate that for two halves of football.

It big Ben has to be disciplined.

But this is the smart decision to keep him out right, because you want him to be a healthy as he possibly can.

You don't want to see those balls skipping into the dirt like we saw against the Cincinnati Bengals, or I guess, the rubber because they don't have dirt on their field.

You don't want to see the bad decision making, Like the interception to Mackensie Alexander are choosing the wrong crossing route and getting juju Smith Schuster blown up.

And now my dog can't even go Corvette Corvette before the game starts on the logo because people are blaming him for losing the game.

No, Ben, you're throwing it to the wrong people now.

Uzi and Future can't get they shine on before the game on tiptop.

And so when you see all these things happened and then now you see the way Big Ben shows his championship medal in the second half against the Indianapolis coach, his ability to actually push the ball down the field, throwing outside the numbers and doing so with velocity with accuracy with efficiency.

Those things get you excited.

Those things make you feel like okay, there's still a little bit less left in the championship tank.

But let's not be food.

This isn't a F C championship team.

This isn't a Super Bowl team.

And so, in order for Ben Roethlisberger to be a successful as he is, he wants to be right, because when your Pittsburgh Steelers Steeler, it's about winning the championship.

In order for Big Ben to get to that level, it's going to take much more from the run game, much more from the offensive line like we saw in the second half against the coat.

But it's gonna take Mike Hilton do, picking up a phone board, running it to the five Mike Hilton, picking off a deep ball against Philip Rivers.

Pressure by two.

It pressure by Hayward Pressure by T.

J.

Watt.

So there's so much more that goes into the success of the Pittsburgh Steelers other than Ben Roethlisberger.

But we have to remember, and we got to know they don't win it without been playing well, as we've seen throughout this season, Yeah, absolutely have some confidence.

Ah, high level of confidence and been to be been.

I think you're right.

They're going to need a lot more help, but I think Dan Orlovsky made a good point when we did the show on Monday and I stole his color combo because I thought it looked nice.

So I brought it today with the Brown in the maroon anyway, that's that's off the topic.

I e think I work better personally.

Uh huh.

No, no, no, he too big.

I think I wore a well or a little bit better myself, but I think that off the top, Ryan's reaction was perfect.

He had that face where was kind of a smile, but not like at the end of church, when the pastor say The Lord loves a cheerful giver on you like, Yeah, I'm happy about it.

That's how you smiled and it was the same feeling.

And that's how I feel about Ben Roethlisberger is.

That's the only choice you have at that moment.

When he said, The Lord loves a cheerful giver, you better smile.

Why you giving?

You don't have no other choice.

You could go to Mason Rudolph.

No, Ben Roethlisberger is your choice.

And frankly, it's not a bad choice toe have.

He's been in the playoffs.

He's one playoff games in the role on the road.

He's won Super Bowls.

He's done all those things and he has shown that he has the capability to touch that old Ben Roth Roethlisberger.

On occasion, he's not gonna put you on his back.

He's not gonna be Ben Big Ben the best Big Ben all game, But you don't want him to be.

You can't ask him to be that.

That's not how your team is going to succeed.

You need him to just be able just like he did last week.

Just be ableto pull out a little bit.

Roethlisberger when we needed stand in that pocket, take those hits by sometime, throw an accurate issue pass downfield when we need you to, and he's capable of doing that.

So I have high confidence in him doing that.

As long as they don't ask him to do any more, this defense is gonna need to play well for him to win.

And those receivers gonna have to make big plays because they're not gonna just develop a running game out of nowhere.

They know how to play.

They know how to win.

There are well coached team, and I like Ben.

Go ahead, Ryan I'm not.

I think I've heard you say something before.

And if I'm misquoting you, you know, I apologize.

My dog.

We do a lot of TV together, but I think I've heard you say before that great, great quarterbacks, right When they start to get older, the thing that they can do is be great in spurts, right?

What happens is they don't lose it totally.

But you can't ask them to be great for four quarters, weekend and week out.

I think that's where we are with Ben right now.

I mean, much like you say when the preacher says he wants a cheerful giver, he also is gonna tell, you know, they'll take the money that jingle, but they read of the kind that folds.

Well, Ben's gonna he's gonna jingle a little bit, right.

He's gonna hit the collection plate, and he's gonna claim a little bit.

But every now and then you get the money that folds.

And we got that against the Indianapolis coach.

We saw him once.

He was in command of the offense a little bit of hurry up and some of those things that he feels comfortable doing, we saw a little bit of the old Big Ben.

The problem is, how much of that or you're gonna ask him to bring up right?

How much of the old Big Ben does he have to remember that?

Does he have to show you week in and week out while you're in the playoffs?

Because you can't x effect that down in and down off.

You have to find something else that bolsters him and gives him a chance to make those critical situational football play moments.

That's what he's in.

That's what he's great at best.

That's what's important for him to do.

But you can't ask the whole game, My bad dog, the best thing you could.

The best thing about Ben Roethlisberger is I believe he knows that he's changed his game because he knows that he's getting rid of the ball quicker because he knows his limitations.

I think that's the difficult thing when you deal with guys who are older, who were superstars and they still believe there, that person in the past.

Ben seems to be aware that he's not that guy and he plays within himself.

So as the collection plate is coming around, when it comes to bend, he's not gonna go like coming to America and put no chicken bones in that chicken.

No, he got jingle, You know, he's not.

He's not gonna reach for the for the paper.

He know he only got one bill and he gonna save that bill until the end of the service because, you know, they send it around multiple times.

They got to do the building fund, they got to do the sick and shut in, and then they got the old church ties.

So it's gonna sit around multiple times every time we come around.

He gonna put a quarter in that thing.

He gonna put a little jingle jangle jangle in that thing.

He gonna wait to the last time, come around.

It's the fourth quarter.

He's gonna take out his big $1 bill, go fold it in half, hold it up high so everybody can see it and then put it in there with a smile on his face because he understands.

And that's the worst part.

I think when you have a superstar like that, our guy who's one Super Bowls won MVPs and put teams on his back when they get to 38 years old, they get late in their career.

They're like, Hey, I'm still that guy.

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