Flavell's Five Best Ben Roethlisberger Moments
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While nothing has been officially confirmed at this moment, it is fair to assume that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ loss in the Wild Card round to Kansas City will close the book on the final chapter of Ben Roethlisberger’s career.
Pittsburgh made the playoffs for one final chance at an improbable Super Bowl run, having absolutely no pressure or expectations on them. Promptly, the league’s ultimate offense took it to the league’s worst offense, thus ending Big Ben’s storied career.
It’s one of those “don’t cry because it’s over, smile because it happened” type of deals. To watch the same quarterback play almost two decades for the same franchise is unparalleled. Not many guys retire with the team that drafted them. Even Tom Brady moved on to greener pastures and won yet another Super Bowl.
The same will not happen with Ben Roethlisberger. He’s a Pittsburgh Steeler through and through, and he’ll head off into the sunset a winner of two Super Bowls as well as sitting top ten in most all-time quarterback statistical categories.
There’s going to be a ton of time for reflection as the offseason approaches and the Steelers try to sort out their quarterback situation. Mason Rudolph seems to be the leader in the clubhouse to get the first shot at being the quarterback for the Steelers.
Instead of doing a “Flavell’s Five” on the actual playoff game this week, I decided to focus on five of my favorite moments of Roethlisberger’s career. They aren’t necessarily his greatest moments, but they’re five important moments that will define his legacy nonetheless.
He achieved so much throughout his career that there will be glaring omissions to this post so please feel free to tweet or comment more moments for everyone to discuss and reminisce upon.
There are a lot of moments to cover. Let’s begin, shall we?
Final Drive of Super Bowl XLIII (2009)
Even though this list is in no specific order, there won’t be another moment that defined Roethlisberger’s career more clearly than this one.
This entire game was a battle. Between James Harrison’s 100-yard pick-six and Larry Fitzgerald’s late touchdown to force the iconic Roethlisberger drive, the game was full of action.
Many Steelers fans felt the dejection as Larry Fitzgerald ran down the field staring up at the Jumbotron at Raymond James Stadium as the Steelers’ defense chased him to no avail. It seemed like the Cardinals were going to spoil the Steelers’ moment.
Then Big Ben happened.
With just over two minutes left, Roethlisberger began an eight-play drive that saw Pittsburgh march 78-yards down the field. The final play, the iconic toe-tap from Santonio Holmes in the back corner of the end zone, capped a massive drive and pushed the Steelers to their NFL-record sixth Super Bowl trophy.
Roethlisberger was able to get Mike Tomlin his only Super Bowl to this point in Pittsburgh while winning his second as a member of the Steelers.
Championships are forever, and thankfully Big Ben brought the city of Pittsburgh two of them.
The Shoestring Tackle (2006)
The Pittsburgh Steelers were mere minutes away from advancing in the playoffs when Jerome Bettis fumbled the ball at the two-yard line against Indianapolis in the AFC Divisional Round in 2009.
Nick Harper scooped the ball off the ground and began running towards the end zone, sure to give the Colts the lead late. Roethlisberger, running in front of Harper, tried to slow him down by weaving back and forth.
Eventually, Roethlisberger was able to trip him up and make the game-saving tackle. The Colts started with good field position and only needed a field goal to tie the game.
As time expired, Mike Vanderjagt missed a 45-yarder that would’ve sent the game to overtime.
Roethlisberger made the play to prevent Indy from scoring a touchdown and likely winning the game, sending the Steelers packing. Instead, this sparked a Super Bowl run where Bettis got the proper send off, winning the Super Bowl in his hometown and then hanging up the cleats on an incredible career.
Broken Nose Game (2010)
Imagine getting punched in the face. Now imagine getting punched in the face by a massive defensive lineman.
Haloti Ngata inadvertently landed a clean shot inside of Roethlisberger’s helmet to his face. His nose visibly destroyed, Roethlisberger pushed forward and ended up playing the entirety of the game.
Until recently, the Steelers and Ravens were the only consistently good teams in the AFC North. Cincinnati made a cameo appearance or two in the playoffs but hadn’t won a playoff game for 31 years prior to this past weekend. The Browns is the Browns.
The Steelers-Ravens rivalry always provided meaningful late season games and this one was no different.
Roethlisberger pushed through the pain and delivered a touchdown to Issac Redman to beat the Ravens and overtake the lead in the AFC North.
Tossing 12 Touchdowns in Two Games (2014)
This is one of the cooler records that Roethlisberger owns. No quarterback in the history of football not-named Ben Roethlisberger has thrown 12 touchdowns in two games.
In the first game against the Colts, Roethlisberger dueled Andrew Luck to a 51-34 victory. Big Ben was a very efficient 40-49 with 522 yards and six touchdowns to no interceptions.
He followed that brilliant performance up with a 43-23 win over the Baltimore Ravens. Roethlisberger tossed for another 340 yards and six more touchdowns. Again, Big Ben had no interceptions.
Throwing for 12 scores and not throwing a pass to the other team was a huge heat check for Roethlisberger. He distributed the ball to six different receivers for those 12 touchdowns.
There has never been a two-game scoring stretch as lethal as Roethlisberger’s back in 2014. Not even Patrick Mahomes has back-to-back six touchdown games. That’s a pretty cool record.
TD-Pass as Time Expires vs. Green Bay (2009)
The Steelers and Packers played a thriller of a late season game that saw Pittsburgh prevail, 37-36.
Roethlisberger and Aaron Rodgers combined for 886 yards and six touchdowns on the night. The final touchdown came as the clock hit :00.
Mike Wallace made a beautiful toe-tap catch on an absolute seed of a throw from Roethlisberger. The Steelers’ season was on life support shortly after winning a Super Bowl just a year earlier. The play salvaged the season for the time being and sent the Steelers to a 7-7 record.
It was eerily similar to the Super Bowl throw to Holmes except it happened on the opposite side of the end zone. It happened to be the one of two receptions Wallace had the entire game, both going for scores.
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There have been plenty of amazing moments in Roethlisberger’s career. These are not the end-all be-all of Roethlisberger’s top highlights. This is my personal list.
It’s been fun watching Ben Roethlisberger play quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The new era is now upon us.
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