The 2004 NFL Draft will always go down as a memorable one. That was the draft when Eli Manning came out and said he wouldn’t play for the then-San Diego Chargers. He would end up as a member of the New York Giants and Philip Rivers would eventually find his way to the Chargers. The 11th pick of that draft was a guy from the MAC conference. He played his college football at the University of Miami (Ohio) named Ben Roethlisberger. He fell into the lap of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first round. The announcers even had trouble pronouncing his last name which was to be expected. After 18 years in this league, the veteran quarterback has officially announced his retirement. Something we all expected was coming after hearing all of the reports back in December.
The first thing you always noticed when seeing him was how massive he was. Ben was playing quarterback standing tall at 6’5 and 240 pounds. To be realistic, that’s the size of some linebackers or even defensive ends and here he was under center taking snaps at quarterback. Just the other day, I joked around on the radio and said it took the entire village to sack him and bring him down because of how big he was. Ben played with tremendous strength. Each time I saw a pass rusher had a clear path to bring him down, he would have just enough quickness to elude pressure. One part of his game was being an escape artist. Ben was one of the best I saw when it came to extending the play. The footwork was always top-notch. One thing that always stood out was the arm strength. He could squeeze the football into the tightest of windows. His passes always had touch to them. Within the first ten years of his career, Ben was known for holding the ball longer than five seconds. He always found ways to hurt a defense with a lethal pump fake. I always said he played “backyard football” because of how he primarily played outside of the pocket. As he got older, he changed his game up as most quarterbacks do. After holding the ball for so long, Ben got rid of the ball quicker. I still remember that historic rookie year. He started in week three that year and never looked back. As a rookie, Ben won all 13 games he started and helped lead the Steelers to a 15-1 record.
He’s one of the most efficient passers in the history of this game. Ben is currently ranked eighth all-time in passing touchdowns, seventh all-time in career passing yards, and fifth all-time in passing yards and passing completions. To this day, he’s still the youngest quarterback ever to win a Super Bowl which he accomplished in just his second season in the league. He retires with two Super Bowl rings. What a career he had. The next place we’ll see him in five years from now is in Canton, Ohio receiving his gold jacket. Well done, Ben, and congratulations on a great career.
