Drama queen? No, Big Ben is royally tough
Early in the season a player in the AFC told me he thought Ben Roethlisberger was a drama queen.
Then, later in the season, Monday Night Football's Tony Kornheiser said during a broadcast he was told that some in the Pittsburgh media believed Roethlisberger was a drama queen. That was followed by Matt Hasselbeck's exchange during a visit to a middle school in the Seattle area. He jokingly called Roethlisberger a girl.
|
|
| Ben Roethlisberger suffered a spinal cord concussion vs. Cleveland, but he's still going strong. (Getty Images) |
Recently former receiver Keyshawn Johnson said Roethlisberger was a "bit of a drama queen." And Key knows drama queens.
All this evidence in hand, I was prepared to bury Roethlisberger as a preening debutante, the Susan Lucci of football.
Then I came to my senses and am posing this question:
Why do so many people outside of Steelersville seem to hate Roethlisberger so much?
He might be one of the more disliked players in football and much of the venom is coming from other players (or former players).
Players almost always defend other players, particularly when it comes to the notion of toughness. I'm not sure if some realize how big a deal it is for a player to basically call another one the "P" word.
Indeed, I was prepared to bury Roethlisberger. Then came news from a Pittsburgh newspaper about the injury Roethlisberger suffered in the regular season finale. When he was hit by two Cleveland defenders simultaneously, Roethlisberger suffered a spinal cord concussion.
The diagnosis sounded familiar. I've covered players who suffered from those injuries before and they've told me it's extremely frightening and dangerous. One mentioned he lost the sensation in his extremities for hours.
As the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wrote, players who've had this injury in the past have been severely debilitated. In 2002 former Pittsburgh quarterback Tommy Maddox also had a spinal cord concussion and he temporarily lost all feeling in his hands and legs and missed two games.
In September, Baltimore safety Dawan Landry suffered the same injury as Roethlisberger. He was put on injured reserve and missed the season.
Roethlisberger had the injury and came back strong, yet he's called a drama queen.
The injury Roethlisberger sustained is a big deal and the notion that he's dramatic is growing a tad nonsensical and tiresome.
"Ben's a damn tough guy," defensive end Brett Keisel told the Post-Gazette. "He's one of the biggest competitors in this locker room. Anytime anyone goes down and someone's poking their fingers and they can't feel it, that's scary. Anytime you get numbness and things like that you have to take every precaution ..."
Here's an interesting stat: Roethlisberger has been sacked a startling 139 times over three regular seasons, which is almost three sacks a game. While some of that is Roethlisberger's fault because he holds on to the football for extended seconds, he's still missed just two starts in some three seasons, with one coming in a meaningless season finale and the other a season opener following an appendectomy. So, in effect, he's really only missed one start.
|
|
|
PHILLY FLY BOY: This kid has physical toughness. His line has broken down on him more than your 1986 Ford pickup, but mental toughness? Not as much.
Ben Roethlisberger makes too many rookie mistakes. He rarely throws multiple touchdowns in a game, and his passing yards are always low. This is because his own team does not trust him to throw the ball 30-40 times a game. He will go down as the youngest person to win a super bowl, but other than that he is a rookie quarterback with an amazing defense... same as Flacco. Should be a good game |
|
|
| Mike Freeman: He makes mistakes because he's still young. They don't throw the ball 40 times a game because they're the Steelers. The Steelers mostly don't play that kind of football. Big Ben is just fine mentally. The only thing he needs to do is stay away from motorcycles. |
| Click here for more Community reaction |
There are a lot of quarterbacks who'd sign up for that sort of queen-ness.
In fact Carson Palmer should call Roethlisberger "Your Majesty."
Yet his drama queen reputation isn't solely the fault of media members or players. Part of the blame falls on the Steelers themselves. The reputation actually began when former coach Bill Cowher contradicted Roethlisberger's statement that he had broken toes after losing to New England in the AFC title game during Roethlisberger's rookie year.
The fact he really isn't a drama queen doesn't mean Roethlisberger is easy to like. He's cocky and arrogant. He's Captain Smirk. Roethlisberger is always the first one in the locker room to tell the media, "I told you so."
His occasional obnoxiousness, and lack of motorcycle expertise aside, Roethlisberger is the AFC equivalent of Donovan McNabb. We might not appreciate how good he is until his career is long over.
Roethlisberger is tied with Tom Brady for the most victories by a starting quarterback in his first five seasons with 57. He's on the verge of a second Super Bowl appearance. That's not too shabby.
He's a bigger version of Terry Bradshaw, except you don't have to spot him the "C" and the "A."
And you don't have to spot him the 'D' and the 'R' for drama, either.
