Worst game of the week? No. Worst game of the season.

Luckily it’s a Thursday night game on NFL Network, on the eve of Christmas Eve, so no one is watching anyways.

The Panthers have been running the ball well of late and they just beat the worst team in football (Cardinals) at home last week, but the Steelers jsut don’t give upa ny rushing yards, it’s their thing. The only way to beat or even compete with the Steelers is to throw the ball well. And Jimmy Clausen isn’t going to win any games in the air.

This one shouldn’t be close. The line is Steelers by -14. Projections say Steelers by 20. Pick is Steelers -14.

For full game stats projections and predictions see the Panthers Vs. Steelers Matchup.

This is a picture of Ben Roethlisberger and the police officer that is in charge of the sexual assault allegations of the 20-year old Georgia college student.  This picture was of the two alone about one hour before the alleged attack occurred.  He later posed outside with other officers outside the club as shown below.

Other New information in the case:

• Big Ben was joined at the club in his VIP curtained area with one off duty state trooper and one off duty local police officer.  He was also accompanied by one of his Steelers offensive lineman.  (actually seems like a smart/safe way to go out clubbing)
• The Bar in which the sexual assault may have happened has lawyered up.  Since the 20-year old girl was probably drunk, and now the tapes have been seized to maybe see if she was drinking or buying drinks at the bar.  Both of which can carry huge fines.
• If the 20-year old was drinking and used a fake ID, it could help the Roethlisberger case significantly, or force the girl to drop any charges if they are eventually filed.
• Accuser has also lawyered up.
• Ben’s Lawyer has hired a private investigator to look into the sexual assault and the accuser as well.  Roethlisberger lawyer is known for his investigative lawyering.
• The accuser posed for a picture with Big Ben moments before the alleged assault occurred.  the accuser had a huge grin on her face in the picture.
• Roethlisberger admitted to police that there was “consensual sexual contact” between the accuser and Ben, but no sex occurred.

Looks like Ben is very buddy buddy with all of the local police force.  This may keep him from being charged of any crime without a lot of evidence, but it could also cause a world of trouble for Ben and the local police if the girl’s lawyer is any good.

Steeler’s Super bowl QB Big Ben Roethlisberger is at it again.  On Saturday, the police began investigating Big Ben for another sex crime.  This is the 2nd accusation in the span of one year against Roethlisberger.  28 year old Big Ben is accused of sexually assaulting a 20 year old in the bathroom of a Milledgeville, GA night club.   Roethlisberger and his posse were out at a college kids night club in a private curtained off VIP suite and said to have had 30+ women invited in for free drinks. n He owns a home 30 miles north of this small Georgia college town.

Now Ben hasn’t been charged with any crimes yet.   He is being accused of sexual assault.  A sexual assault is defined as “any form of sexual contact without voluntary consent.”  So if Ben ever groped, grabbed, rubbed up onto anything inappropriately without this girl’s consent he’s guilty.  Now there were about a dozen cameras inside the club (none in the bathrooms) which should shed some light on consent before the fact or any assault going on before and after the bathroom, and will show the woman’s distress upon leaving the bathroom.  Don’t worry Steelers and Roethlisberger lovers, the lawyer says he’s innocent, which is always the truth…

“The facts show that there was no criminal activity. No sexual assault occurred,” attorney Ed Garland said in a statement Monday. “Ben is completely innocent of any crime.”

Now for all the annoying lawyer wannabes who will say “innocent until proven guilty”.  Well your right, he is innocent right now of committing any “crimes”.  But the guy is definitely guilty of being an immature, irresponsible idiot who can’t control himself.  Definitely not the kind of guy you want as the face of your franchise, or a big ticket name in the NFL.  Commissioner Goodell will probably put it as “Conduct not conducive of an NFL player” when he hands down a suspension regardless of the outcome of the case.  Well maybe this is a wake up call for Big Ben?  Well hes already had a couple of those wake up calls, and he’s missed them both.

The first was when he nearly killed himself riding his motorcycle with no helmet on in Pennsylvania.  And at the time, Roethlisberger was unlicensed to drive a motorcycle in Pennsylvania.  This accident hurt his training for the following season immensely, and had the worst year of his career.  Big Ben himself at the time saw this as a wake up call and a time to change his irresponsible ways.

When he left the hospital after suffering serious injuries, he said in a statement, “In the past few days, I’ve gained a new perspective on life.”  Obviously the perspective for him was that he was still so young and didn’t need to kill himself doing something stupid since he just hadn’t gotten laid enough by random college girls to suffice for a full life.

Now, Big Ben wanting to party is fine, and all the young QB’s do it.  And maybe the bike accident didn’t convince him that he needs to stop doing stupid stuff.  But you think a few red flags would go up when Big Ben is accused of rape in a Lake Tahoe hotel/casino.  No, Ben?  Not event he civil suit that followed?  Whether that sex was consensual or not (and it probably was), you have that get out of jail free card there because the girl took too long to file a police report.  So maybe you won’t do something stupid again and put yourself in the same situation?

Hell, Ben, just bring along a whole bunch of consensual sex disclaimers and get all these girls to sign it.  They wouldn’t think it’s any more strange than the huge gut you carry as a $100 million NFL QB.

Now Ben is a good QB and a great winner.  But was I the only one who saw Dennis Dixon play last year in those couple games?  He looked amazing for a young prospect.  Despite some bad stats from his one start in the regular season, if you watched the game, you liked what you saw from him as the 3rd string with very little work with the offense.  And if anyone remembers him from Oregon when he was the front runner for the heisman, you know how sick of a talent this guy is.  And If the steelers could get rid of that nasty $13 million dollar contract every year and play a young exciting Dixon I think they would make a lot more money due to the excitement.  Granted, they would lose a couple more games than they would with Big Ben at the helm.

But how long is this guy really going to last as an NFL QB?  You’ve never seen Tom Brady and Peyton Manning out doing stupid Big Ben stuff.  And that’s because they are conscience of their brands and keeping it clean.  Time to grow up Big Ben.  Or watch your NFL career and $100 million dollar contract disappear.  Once that happens, the girls won’t be coming into that VIP curtained area anymore.