15 years ago today, the Steelers were in Baltimore for a week 2 divisional matchup with quarterback Tommy Maddox starting for the Steelers, during the game, Maddox left the game against Baltimore with an elbow sprain in the third quarter, and rookie QB Ben Roethlisberger took over as quarterback. Roethlisberger was named the new starting quarterback as Maddox would be sidelined until November. As starter, Roethlisberger would lead Pittsburgh to a franchise-record 13-game winning streak but would go down with a rib injury during the Week 16 (December 26) 20–7 win over Baltimore, the game that marked the 13th straight win. (Baltimore defensive end Terrell Suggs caused both injuries to Maddox and Roethlisberger that forced them to leave their games against the Ravens.) Maddox played during the fourth quarter. In the game, Maddox completed one pass to Verron Haynes for no gain, and the Steelers relied mostly on running plays by Haynes, Jerome Bettis, and Hines Ward. This scheme allowed Pittsburgh to keep the ball for the last 7:45 of the game.Maddox would start the final game of the season on January 2, 2005 (Week 17) in a 29–24 win over the Buffalo Bills that eliminated the Bills from playoff contention. Maddox completed 12-of-24 passes for 120 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions. The Steelers became the first AFC team in NFL history to finish the regular season with a 15–1 record and Ben Roethlisberger would win his first 13 games of his NFL career as a starter.
This past Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger suffers an elbow injury that requires him to have surgery that keeps him out for the rest of the season, in the game against the Seattle Seahawks, second year quarterback Mason Rudolph relieved an injured Roethlisberger in the second half and threw for 112 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception in the Steelers’ 28-26 loss. After the game and when it was revealed that Roethlisberger would be facing season ending injury, Mason Rudolph was officially named the new starting quarterback and stars this Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers.
Not only is that one of the eeriest coincidences ever but with Ben Roethlisberger at 37 years old and having just recently signed a contract extension to keep him as the franchise guy until 2021, many have begun to wonder if we’ve seen the last of Ben Roethlisberger as the leader of the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Now, if you haven’t already figured it out by now, I live in Pittsburgh, my NFL team is of course the Pittsburgh Steelers, I’ve followed Big Ben’s journey from the beginning seeing both Super Bowl victories and been to many of the games on numerous occasions so I’ve seen the man do what he does best….but with that said, even watching this season, I slowly but surely began to realize that something was really off with Ben Roethlisberger, his throws didn’t seem like they usually did in these first two games of the season, he wasn’t making the big plays he was making last year, whether or not you want to assume that’s because Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell aren’t there anymore is your distinction but we’ve seen the rest of the Steelers players on this team be big playmakers, hell, in the preseason, Roethlisberger heaved a good one down to Juju in Tennessee:
But yeah, it just really felt weird seeing Ben not being up to his standards these first two weeks.
So, that does lead to the question that everybody is asking, are we seeing the end of the road for Ben Roethlisberger as a quarterback? Was last Sunday his last time we’ll see him on a football field as a QB?
Now, I’ve seen this guy go through the most brutal of injuries and get back on his feet pretty quickly, he really is one of the toughest quarterbacks to bring down for good…but even then, to see him have this injury without really getting pelted big time is alarming. This is a UCL injury which would lead to him having Tommy John surgery, which is rare for quarterbacks in the NFL, mostly associated with baseball players. Players such as Jake DelHomme and Josh Allen of the Bills have had this same injury and have come back to play so I figure if those guys can come back to play, a guy like Big Ben can come back to play too at some point.
So, in the short term, no, I do not think we’ve seen the last of Ben Roethlisberger on the NFL field, it’s going to take some time to come back but we’ve not seen the last of Roethlisberger in the NFL, if a guy like Peyton Manning can come back after having neck surgery and winning another Super Bowl, then a guy like Roethlisberger can easily come back…the real question is going to be whether it will be with Pittsburgh or not.
These next 14 games will be very interesting to say the least because the Steelers now have 15 weeks to see what Mason Rudolph can do as the starter, this is the guy that they have set as the eventual successor to Big Ben so assuming something backfires big time in these next few months of rehabilitation, Rudolph is the guy going forward. And let’s not forget, the Steelers just gave up their first round pick in 2020 to bring Minkah Fitzpatrick in so, they are gambling a lot for Rudolph to come in now and help this team win.
While I don’t see Mason Rudolph having the same type of success Roethlisberger had in his starts, what we saw on Sunday does show a lot of promise and it will be very interesting to see how this plays out.
Nevertheless, I really do not believe that Ben Roethlisberger is done at this point, the man has proven he can come back from some major injuries in his career from pulled achillies, concussions, foot fractures, ankle injuries, dislocated joints, separated shoulders, dislocated fingers, MCL sprains, foot sprains, meniscus tears, cracked ribs, the guy’s been through a lot but he’s usually been good at coming back quickly from these types of injuries, a tall task to come back indeed but if anybody can do it at this point, Ben Roethlisberger probably can.
The next few months are going to be very interesting for Steeler nation indeed to watch.
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