Big Ben: Pittsburgh’s Newest Landmark

Chad Pennington. Drew Bledsoe. Brett Favre.

That's a partial list of quarterbacks ranking below the Pittsburgh Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger in passer rating.

Now, I don't think passer rating is the ultimate measure of a quarterback. It's just better than any other quarterback stats collected by the Elias Sports Bureau, because it uses all of the statistical passing aspects to judge passing efficiency.

And Roethlisberger, who has the NFL's fourth-highest passer rating, has been nothing if not efficient. Steve McNair, Jake Delhomme, and Jeff Garcia -- three more quarterbacks who rank beneath Roethlisberger, can attest to that.

After popular starting quarterback Tommy Maddox went down with an elbow injury in a Week 2 loss to the Baltimore Ravens, guard Alan Faneca gave in to a little self-pity at the prospect of Pittsburgh's season going down the drain with a rookie at starting quarterback.

The Steelers' guard just might be the best player at his position since Pittsburgh's offensive line coach, Russ Grimm, hung up his hog snout and hooves. But Al shouldn't go into business as a fortuneteller.

Four games -- and four wins -- after taking over from Maddox, the Steelers sit atop the AFC North as one of the NFL's surprise teams. And Roethlisberger has been leading the way.

The only quarterback to have more consecutive wins in his first starts was Mike Kruczek for the 1976 Steelers. And, just as an indication of Kruczek's impact on that streak, Roethlisberger has seven career touchdown passes more than Kruczek had in five seasons with Pittsburgh and Washington.

Roethlisberger, by the way, has seven touchdown passes.

Jake Plummer, Michael Vick, and David Carr also trail Roethlisberger in passer rating. Not that any statistic is as important as winning.

And the Steelers would have lost to the Cleveland Browns two weeks ago, had Maddox been playing quarterback.

Pittsburgh's two biggest plays in that play happened only because Roethlisberger moved around in the pocket so he could have time to make something happen downfield. If it had been Maddox, who is not nearly as mobile as Roethlisberger, both plays would probably have ended in sacks or throwaways to avoid sacks.

Instead, Pittsburgh got a long touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress and another long pass to Burress that set up a short scoring run by Jerome Bettis in a game the Steelers won by 11 points.

Four weeks ago, the Steelers might have been lamenting the fact that any playoff hopes would be gone by the time they got Maddox back. Now, they're probably walking past him in the training room saying, "Take your time about getting better, T. We're doin' just fine."

Big Ben's type of mobility is something the Steelers haven't had at quarterback in a long time.

Maddox didn't have it -- if anyone builds a statue in his honor, it will probably have an inscription reading "Actual Speed" on its base. Nothing against Maddox, who was the best story in the league two years ago. He's going to make somebody a wonderful backup quarterback.

Kordell Stewart, who certainly wasn't lacking in the speed department, didn't have it, because when he took off running, he ceased being a quarterback and became a running back. His inability or unwillingness to throw on the run limited his effectiveness both as a runner and a thrower.

Roethlisberger instinctively understands something that it took Donovan McNabb years to figure out and Stewart never did. Quarterbacks aren't supposed to regularly run for yardage; they are supposed to run for time.

Three highly-regarded current and former Rams quarterbacks -- Trent Green, Kurt Warner, and Marc Bulger -- also are listed below Roethlisberger on the passer rating charts.

But his success can't be explained solely by the stats.

Facing the most fierce rush he's seen as a pro, Roethlisberger only built on his growing legend Sunday against Dallas. Looking more and more like Brett Favre -- the Favre of 1997, not the Favre of 2004 -- Roethlisberger directed what will likely be the first of many game-winning final-minute drives in the Steelers' 24-20 win.

There are probably some bumps on the road ahead for the rookie quarterback. Pittsburgh has a bye week, which will break Big Ben's "Offensive Rookie of the Week" streak, but after that, the Steelers have the Patriots and Eagles.

At least one, and probably both, of those teams have the defensive talent and the coaching acumen to contain Roethlisberger in the pocket while shrouding their coverages in disguises veteran quarterbacks have trouble decoding.

Every young quarterback has one of those games where he throws three, four, or five interceptions. At that point, he either learns from it, or he cracks and never becomes great.

After seeing Roethlisberger for four weeks, it's likely that when and if that five-interception game ever happens, he'll respond in the latter manner.

Roethlisberger's dirty little secret -- difficult as it is to believe -- is that he might be even more talented mentally as he is physically. He doesn't get flustered by misfortune or mistakes. In two of his first four starts, he threw interceptions that were returned for touchdowns.

Stewart, for example, was notoriously brittle, emotionally speaking. When he was the Steelers' starter, an early interception was enough to ruin his entire day.

Against the Cowboys, Roethlisberger fired 11 consecutive completions on two scoring drives against defensive players who knew he would throw the ball and were deployed in the best ways to prevent him from doing it.

He stood in and faced the hits from a fierce rush, even sustaining a minor knee injury. And when the time came, he didn't take what the Cowboys' defense gave him; he took what he wanted.

Of course, no one's -- other than the NFL passer rating listings -- is saying that Roethlisberger is better than Tom Brady.

Not yet, anyway.

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