Ben Roethlisberger: Friend or Foe of the Pittsburgh Steelers?

After watching Ben Roethlisberger's dreadful performance for the Pittsburgh Steelers in their 24-20 home loss to the Indianapolis Colts, I've got a quick question: Is "Big Ben" a friend or foe to the Pittsburgh Steelers?

He's still the team leader. He is still quite nimble through the tackles—despite being a giant. And despite all the crap people give him, he's still having a pretty effective year. He's thrown for 10 touchdowns and over 1,600 yards. The Steelers are 8-3 under his leadership and are winning the ultra-competitive AFC North.

We also can't put the whole blame of Sunday's defeat on Roethlisberger's shoulders. "Concrete" Ike Taylor dropped two makable receptions.

Ike: If you're going to do that terrible celebration every time you make a play, can I suggest you make the play every time? 

Roethlisberger has also thrown 11 interceptions.

While the third interception of the game was the result of a last-second deflected Hail Mary, the first two ones resulted in touchdowns. If he hadn't thrown the first two, then we would be talking about 24-10 Steelers.

This season we've seen forced throw after forced throw from "Big Ben's" arm. A lot of the throws have been far too hard, bouncing off the receivers' hands. Don't get me wrong—I can blame the receivers for some of the drops, but the communication seems to be a bit awry.

When Roethlisberger was out with his shoulder injury, Byron Leftwich took over and was very, very impressive (14-24, 223 yards, two TDs) in the Steelers' excellent 23-6 road smashing of the Washington Redskins last week. Leftwich looked comfortable in the pocket, and his team felt confident with him.

There's no question that Ben Roethlisberger is a friend of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He transformed the franchise when he arrived, winning a Super Bowl and giving the Steelers a competent quarterback. However, he's not been at his most effective this year, and you can't afford to have those types of problems in a train-wreck of an AFC North.

Put Leftwich in for now, and wait for Big Ben to solve his problems.