The New Steelers' Way

As you may have read in an earlier blog, today’s NFL is highly quarterback driven. More than ever, the stars of the game play that position. Recently, we have heard so much about so many different quarterbacks and the kinds of years they are having. Just in case you haven’t been following along, we have heard about Cam Newton and his amazing debut in the NFL. What about Tim Tebow? Is he an NFL quarterback? We can’t forget about Aaron Rodgers, today’s king of the world in the NFL. What’s going on with Joe Flacco, completing barely half of his passes? It seems that the whole world has heard about Andrew Luck, the virtual lock to be the number one overall pick in next year’s draft. We have even heard about Curtis Painter, how he and no one else can play like Peyton Manning. Then there is the golden boy, Tom Brady. He is having a good season, but nothing he hasn’t done before. In looking at his game Sunday, he wasn’t terrible but he wasn’t great, wasn’t quite “Brady-esque.” And in a very rare instance, he wasn’t as good as the other quarterback on the field. In case you were saying, oh yeah, what about Big Ben? You would not be the only one. The fact that Ben isn’t making any front page news is not a bad thing. We remember how the season started last year: a four-game suspension due to his alleged actions with a woman. It seems that most have forgotten about it. The main reason: winning.

Ben Roethlisberger statistically has had better games than Sunday. He has played and won bigger games on bigger stages. Despite this, Sunday’s 25-17 Steelers victory over the Patriots will go down as one of the most important games in his already successful career. Let’s look at what we already know. Until yesterday, Tom Brady was 6-1 lifetime vs. the Steel Curtain, with not all but most against Big Ben. Looking back at most of those Patriot games, Brady cut apart the vaunted Steelers’ defense, destroying every game plan that Hall of Fame defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau drew up. Brady’s offense was able to spread out the defense, take 3 step drops, threw short passes and marched down the field with precision and almost perfection. That changed Sunday. What really happened is that the roles reversed, and that is what Roethlisberger did to the Patriots. In doing so, Ben may have found a way to not only slay the big bad Patriots, but may have also changed the culture of one of the most successful franchises in all of sports. Today’s Steelers are not your father’s Steelers, or my father-in-law’s Steelers. Here is a clip of the Steelers of the past, the ones my father-in-law so frequently reflects upon:

Just to catch you up on who the Steelers have always been, the Steelers have won six Super Bowls, four in the 1970’s when they would dominate defensively with Jack Lambert, “Mean” Joe Greene, Mel Blount and many others. They would wear you down and control the clock with Franco Harris. They would really need only a couple of big throws from Terry Bradshaw, which he made, probably to John Stallworth or Lynn Swann. The franchise also kept the players and the success within the Rooney Family. They’ve drafted well and rarely have they signed free agents. In the past 32 years, there have only been three head coaches: Chuck Noll, Bill Cowher and Mike Tomlin. The Steelers won their last two rings this past decade. Yet something has changed. Maybe it started last year, but it is very evident this year and yinz fans in the ‘Burgh should get used to it because these changes will likely continue into the future. All I have heard this season is how old and slow the Steelers have become. Last time I checked, Ben is 29 years-old and in the prime of his career. Mike Wallace, only 25, isn’t quite Calvin Johnson, but he is lightning in a bottle and can explode at any moment. Rashard Mendenhall is only 24 and is coming off back-to-back 1000 yard seasons. It seems like Heath Miller has been around forever, but he hasn’t reached age 30 yet and is always a reliable and formidable tight end. And the up and comers, Antonio Brown, 25, and Emmanuel Sanders, 28, look ready to produce game-in and game-out.

You may have noticed that I haven’t mentioned any defensive players. Two reasons: one, while they are still good enough to keep them in games, the defense is no longer the main focus. Two, the defense no longer needs to be as dominant due to the more productive offense. The Steelers’ best player is no longer on the defensive side of the ball. Ben Roethlisberger just threw for 300 yards in back-to-back games for the first time in his NFL career. The way he did it Sunday is what makes all the difference. He distributed the ball to nine different wide receivers. While he did make “Big Ben” plays by avoiding the rush and extending the play, for the most part he was able to sit in the pocket and make quality throws left, center and right. The most important part of Sunday’s game is that, while throwing the ball 50 times, he led 5 drives of 10 plays or more that not only gave his team points, but kept Tom Brady off the field. It wasn’t that Brady was bad; he just wasn’t on the field much. Ben and the Steelers took what Tom Brady’s Patriots have always done and threw it right back in their faces. Ben kept his Steelers offense on the field for over 39 minutes. As long as he has his offensive line to give him some protection, this is how Ben and the Steelers should attack the Patriots in the future. This is how they should attack the Baltimore Ravens next week. This is how the Pittsburgh Steelers should game plan for the rest of the season. That’s how they have been winning games in 2011. And did anyone notice that at 6-2, the Steelers have the best record in AFC? And in an important situation, shouldn’t every team put the ball in the hands of their best player? That’s what the Black and Gold are doing these days, leaning on Big Ben Roethlisberger, the leader of the new Steelers Way.