Rookie had a great season, but loss in AFC title game a painful ending
Monday, January 24, 2005
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Let's get all of the appropriate qualifiers out at the start. Ben Roethlisberger was a rookie. He played some marvelous football this season, better than anyone could have imagined after Tommy Maddox went down in Baltimore in Week 2. He saved the Steelers' fannies, going 13-0 in the regular season and allowing them to dream Super Bowl dreams. And he played just well enough against the New York Jets to become only the fourth rookie quarterback since 1970 to win a playoff game.
Now, the harsh truth.
Roethlisberger's performance in the 41-27 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game last night at Heinz Field was every bit as bad as Neil O'Donnell's when O'Donnell played pitch-and-catch with Dallas Cowboys cornerback Larry Brown in Super Bowl XXX.
You know what else?
It was worse than Kordell Stewart's three-interception game against the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game after the 1997 season.
At least the Broncos didn't run one of Stewart's picks back for a killer touchdown.
"I feel like I let a lot of people down," Roethlisberger said. "I let my teammates down, the fans, the coaches ..."
Say this about the kid:
He's a straight shooter.
It's just a shame he wasn't so right-on with his passes.
It shouldn't have come as a surprise, really. All of the talk leading up to the game was about the Corey Dillon factor, about how the presence of the great running back would give the Patriots an edge they didn't have on Halloween Night when the Steelers whacked them and ended their record 21-game winning streak. It seems so silly now. The biggest advantage, by far, that the Patriots had was at quarterback.
New England's Tom Brady is a winner. He was 7-0 as a postseason starter coming in, a two-time Super Bowl MVP. And Roethlisberger? He wasn't just a rookie trying to make NFL history by taking his team to the Super Bowl. He was a struggling rookie, one who had thrown seven interceptions and just four touchdown passes in his previous four games.
Indeed, Brady was terrific, making the proud Steelers defense look ordinary. Don't bet against him winning that third MVP award when the Patriots play the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XXXIX in two weeks.
Just as true, Roethlisberger was not terrific. He picked a rotten time to have his first three-interception game.
"You can't throw three interceptions, not in a game of this magnitude," coach Bill Cowher said.
Roethlisberger was off from the start. His first pass was behind Antwaan Randle El and intercepted by safety Eugene Wilson. That led to a New England field goal.
Roethlisberger's second interception was the one that doomed the Steelers to a "what-if" offseason. The Steelers were driving at the New England 19 late in the second quarter, looking to close to 17-6 or even to 17-10.
Roethlisberger saw safety Rodney Harrison sitting on tight end Jerame Tuman in the right flat, but, as big-armed quarterbacks often do, he tried to force the ball. Harrison returned the interception 87 yards for a touchdown.
"That's like a 10-point swing," Cowher said.
Said Roethlisberger, "Obviously, that was a bad choice, a bad decision."
No one can blame this lame game on Roethlisberger's gloves. He didn't wear one on his passing hand, perhaps caving in to the public outrage that followed his shaky performance last week against the Jets. If that's what happened, shame on him. Only he knows how the ball feels in his hand -- gloved or otherwise. Certainly Joe in Munhall on the car phone doesn't.
You want to blame something besides Roethlisberger's accuracy, blame the New England defense. It was outstanding, just as it was against a little more proven quarterback -- the Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning -- a week earlier.
"They threw the book at us," Roethlisberger said.
Roethlisberger played better in the second half. And who knows what would have happened if Plaxico Burress hadn't dropped his lob pass in the end zone early in the fourth quarter? Had Burress made that catch, the Steelers would have pulled to 31-24 with momentum.
But let's be honest here.
Roethlisberger and the Steelers didn't deserve to win. They didn't play well enough to win.
"It would have been fun to see what would have happened if we didn't turn the ball over," center Jeff Hartings said.
"[Roethlisberger] tried to make plays. That's what he's always done. That's how he won a lot of games.
"If you ask me, you want a playmaker at that position. I'll take that every time and we'll come back next year and try again."
At that moment, though, next year seemed a million years away.
"It's been a record-breaking, storybook year," Roethlisberger said. "Unfortunately, a lot of people are going to see it as an all-or-nothing thing because we didn't go all the way. But it was a good season."
Actually, it was a great season.
All but the lousy ending.
(PG sports columnist Ron Cook can be reached at rcook@post-gazette.com or 412-263-1525.)
No comments:
Post a Comment