In the mid-1990’s there were few music acts as popular as the country duo ‘Brooks and Dunn. One of their most popular songs was called “You’re going to miss me when I’m gone.”
I find that title to be more and more fitting each and every time I watch Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger play. For the record, I want Ben Roethlisberger to finish his career in Pittsburgh. Seeing him in any other uniform gives me the shakes and the willies like you wouldn’t believe.
What I am however is a realist as well and when you put all of the pieces of the puzzle together I keep coming back to one simple question; will the Steelers be willing to pay Roethlisberger what he deserves?
I just don’t know the answer to that but what I can tell you is that Roethlisberger more than proved his worth today with what amounts to his greatest game ever and one of the best in the history of the National Football League.
Have you seen the stat line of Ben Roethlisberger from today? It’s worth repeating… 40 of 49 for 522 yards and six touchdowns. His passer rating was over 150. Nine incompletions out of 49 throws and to be honest, a few of those were catchable balls.
I credit the fact the Steelers were willing to throw the ball down the field more than any time in the Todd Haley era. Roethlisberger thrived and while a great deal of his success was due to a fantastic performance from his offensive line, he also had his receivers to thank as well. From rookie Martavis Bryant to Antonio Brown to Heath Miller, Roethlisberger had a plethora of guys getting open.
The overall performance of the entire offense was something we’ve been waiting for for quite a long time but now the real test comes in terms of consistency.
Big Ben became the first quarterback in NFL history to throw for over 500 yards in two games. No one named Manning or Brady or Unitas has ever accomplished the feat. Generally records don’t mean much to me with the exception being those pertaining to Super Bowls.
Roethlisberger can move mountains and can cure cancer but he will always have those who hate him. You know why and I know why so I won’t get it into it. Those that dislike him from a purely football standpoint will never understand his style of play and will accept that he is a franchise quarterback that doesn’t grow on trees. These folks have rights to their opinions just as I do so we’ll leave it at that.
What we should take from this performance is that this is what Ben Roethlisberger is capable of and it’s also what you’re going to miss when he’s gone like him or not.
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @SteelDad and the website @SCBlitz. Check us out on Facebook at facebook.com/steelcityblitz and on Fancred.com. You can hear him weekly during the season on game day on the Trib-Live Radio Steelers Pre-Game
photo courtesy usatoday.com
1 comment
Marc you are spot on. Pay Ben his money for crying out loud. Guys like Romo, Cutler and Dalton and even Kapernick don’t deserve the money there getting yet ART II thinks that he can win with out him. Here is a list of guys in between Bradshaw and Ben: Hanratty, Gilliam, Kruczek, Mark Malone, Cliff Stoudt, David Woodley, Steve Bono, Scott Campbell, Todd Blackledge, Bubby Brister, O’Donnell, Tomczak, Jim Miller, Stewart, Graham, Maddox, Batch, Dixon and Leftwich. That is 19 different QB’s in between Bradshaw and Ben. Now granted guys like Gilliam, Hanratty, Kruczek, Stoudt, Maddox and Batch have rings to there name but if you add the number of starts they have a total of 370 regular season starts. So I wish that somebody would send this info to ART II’s desk and tell him what will happen if he lets Ben walk out the door, but that is just a wish on my part and I highly doubt it would come true.