The New Big Ben

By: Matt

In 2004 the Pittsburgh Steelers drafted a young quarterback in the first round of the NFL draft. They never expected their young signal caller to start that year, but early injuries to incumbent Tommy Maddox thrust a young Ben Roethlisberger into a starting role. That year Roethlisberger was fantastic, he took the reigns of a team that already had a dominant defense and future Hall of Fame running back Jerome Bettis. Under Roethlisberger the Steelers were unstoppable and made it all the way to the AFC Championship Game before suffering their first loss. The next year Roethlisberger took his team to a Super Bowl victory. At the time, Roethlisberger was not seen as an elite passer or offensive weapon, he was a young game manager, and not someone who was going to lead the league’s best passing offense. Roethlisberger was not particularly successful in the Super Bowl, in fact, many argue the Steelers won inspite of, and not because of, their young quarterback. Five years later, the public opinion of Roethlisberger has changed, and his story appears to be unfolding again.

In 2008 the Baltimore Ravens were a team attempting to return to prior greatness. In the past they were a team with a dominant running game and elite defense. They were also a team with absolutely no stability at the quarterback position. Since 1999 the Ravens have starter more quarterbacks than seasons, none was particularly successful. That year the Ravens, much like the Steelers in 2004, had drafted a young quarterback in the first round. Joe Flacco was seen as a player with great size and arm strength who was not yet ready to be the team’s starting quarterback. Incumbent, and former first round bust, Kyle Boller was on the injured reserve, but his former backup and college superstar Troy Smith was expected to start on opening day. Unfortunately, Smith fell ill just prior to the start of the season and the lingering effects of a bad flu forced Flacco into the role of opening day starter. Just like Roethlisberger before him, the big young quarterback had tremendous success. Flacco did not throw for an exceptional number of touchdowns, but he made few mistakes and allowed a Ravens team with a strong running game and defensive legend Ray Lewis to win football games (something they had been unable to do the previous year). Like Roethlisberger, Flacco took his team to the AFC Championship game, where they fell, to the Pittsburgh Steelers and Ben Roethlisberger. The Steelers went on to win Super Bowl XLIII and in his second big game Roethlisberger was an offensive playmaker, leading his team on a scoring drive with less than two minutes to come from behind and win.

This season, Big Ben has continued to look like a franchise quarterback, and his even bigger divisional rival has started to throw touchdowns, a lot of touchdowns. Just as Ben Roethlisberger emerged as a true leader in 2005, Joe Flacco appears to be doing the same in 2009. Whether Big Joe will ultimately achieve the same early career success as Big Ben is impossible to predict, but what is obvious is that in the NFL, history can repeat itself and the re-run is always just as sweet.