Roethlisberger should be Steelers MVP

Thursday, December 29, 2005
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The Steelers will select their Most Valuable Player today. The players vote secretly and then it goes to an Electoral College of One: Bill Cowher. He counts the votes and announces the winner(s). Tallies in Iran could be cleaner.

I don't have a vote, but I'd give it to Ben Roethlisberger with a big thumbs up. Clearly there is no player more valuable, more indispensable than the second-year quarterback. If he had not gotten hurt, this team would be at least 12-3 and perhaps 13-2 at this point with the No. 2 playoff seed in the AFC beckoning.

They would not have lost at home to Jacksonville in overtime with Roethlisberger. That was the Beginning of the End game for Tommy Maddox, who imploded in Heinz Field like a bottle rocket gone awry. Yet the Steelers almost won it. Maddox also was at his ineffective best in Baltimore Nov. 20 when the Steelers lost in overtime.

Toss in their loss Dec. 4 against the Bengals at home by 38-31. Roethlisberger injured his thumb the previous Monday night against the Colts and he threw three interceptions against the Bengals, one obviously because he had landed on his thumb on the previous play.

Of course, they also might have won in Baltimore had Charlie Batch not gotten hurt and played that game. And they might have beaten Jacksonville had coach Bill Cowher showed up for work that day.

Nevertheless, Big Ben has become the Big Man on the Steelers. He has not thrown an interception the past three games, one big reason the defense has been able to buckle down and hold those three foes to 12 points. It's a lot easier to keep scores low when your quarterback isn't throwing comeback pitches, the kind Turnover Tommy has made infamous.

Roethlisberger is second in the league with a 103.4 passer rating, .9 behind the great Peyton Manning. No, he doesn't throw much, but as Bill Cowher pointed out the other day, that makes the passes he does throw that much more important and come under that much more pressure, usually on third down.

He may complain about his injuries a tad too much to suit his coach, but he plays through them and plays with pain and he's a tough kid. I've been told he takes a painkilling shot to his thumb before each game, or at least he did during the early weeks of the injury.

As Jerome Bettis said on Wednesday, the face of the Steelers is no longer his but Roethlisberger's. They've gone from a Bus to a Big Ben, and today, he should get the MVP award.

But will his teammates vote for him? I don't know. There are other possibilities. My second vote would go to Hines Ward. His receptions may be down but his touchdowns are up on a team that doesn't throw much. His 11 TDs are one short of Marvin Harrison, who leads the AFC with 12. And nothing else about Ward has changed: He catches the tough ones and blocks like Dan Kreider.

Other possibilities: Alan Faneca, Joey Porter, Troy Polamalu.

All are worthy of mention, but the landslide tally in my world would go to Big Ben. And if he does win it, there could be a string of them from here on as long as his victory streak.

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