Ben Roethlisberger won his fifth consecutive start for the Pittsburgh Steelers last Sunday over a team that had been previously undefeated. Now, I'm not going to toot Ben's horn just because he plays for my hometown team, but I think it's a good idea to put the win in perspective and give him the credit he deserves.
For starters, lets compare Big Ben to the other members of the 2004 NFL draft class. The No. 1 pick overall, who was traded to the Giants, Eli Manning, has played in two games this season. He's thrown nine passes, completed three and has a total of 66 yards. His replacement on the Chargers, Phillip Rivers, has yet to play a down. Now let's look at Roethlisberger.
Ben has played in six games this season and started five. He's thrown 137 passes and completed 96, an incredible 70.1 percent. He's thrown nine touchdowns against just four interceptions, and most telling of all, he has a quarterback rating of 104.7, the highest for a rookie in a long time.
Next, let's compare Ben to his fellow NFL quarterbacks, veterans and rookies alike. To begin with, his 104.7 quarterback rating is the fourth highest in the league this season. He is ranked behind Peyton Manning and Dante Culpepper - two potential Hall-of-Famers. He is ranked ahead of perennial all-stars Brett Favre, Donovan McNabb and Tom Brady. His nine touchdowns in just five games this season put him 12th on the total touchdown list. While this may seem like a low place on the totem pole, it puts him ahead of eight-game starters Pennington and, even more remarkably, Michael Vick.
Sometimes it is tough to compare someone with his fellow players because one season may not reflect a typical NFL season. Because of this, it becomes necessary to compare Roethlisberger with quarterbacks of years past. His five straight wins as a starter and five straight wins to open his career put him behind only former Steeler rookie Mike Krupczek, who won his first seven. Former NFL Superstar Dan Marino this week said Ben "has a shot to be a good player for a long time." Ben has a chance to overthrow two of Marino's rookie records; his 58.45 completion percentage and his 96.0 passer rating. While the season is not over yet, Roethlisberger is sitting pretty with a 70.1 percentage and a 104.7 rating.
Finally, it is important and sometimes the most telling to look at what Big Ben has done for his team this season. Before the season began, many analysts had written the Steelers off as a struggling team with no identity. ESPN picked them as the fifth worst team in the league.
What Ben has done for the team is remarkable. He has gotten them off to their best start in forever, he has anchored an offense that had under performed severely in recent memory, and, most importantly, he has beaten the team that was unbeatable.
In the win over New England, Roethlisberger only threw for 196 yards, He didn't have any rushing yards and he was barely a factor in the second half. But that was just it. He didn't make a mistake, he put the game in the hands of the running backs who were able to finish the deal and, most importantly, whenever the defense handed him an opportunity to put the Patriots away, he took it. He is the most impressive rookie quarterback the league has seen in a long, long time.
Now let's see how he does against Philadelphia.
