PITTSBURGH — When he first met Ben Roethlisberger, John Harbaugh was taken aback. The Philadelphia Eagles special teams coach at the time, Harbaugh was back at his alma mater to work out a punter, and was happy to hear that Miami (Ohio) had a strapping sophomore quarterback poised to lead the team to new heights in the Mid-American Conference.
"I saw him throw and was just like 'oh my gosh.' I was so happy we had a quarterback at Miami," Harbaugh recalled the other day. "Little did I know how this was going to factor into my own life."
Of course, Harbaugh went on to become the head coach of Roethlisberger's chief rival in the NFL, the Baltimore Ravens. He wasn't there for the first four years of Roethlisberger's Steelers career, but once he got to the AFC North, Harbaugh quickly learned how difficult it was to compete against the 11th overall pick in 2004.
Actually, Harbaugh learned that rather slowly. In fact, it took him until his seventh try to beat No. 7, who holds an 18-10 record against the Ravens as a starter, including 15-8 against Harbaugh.
"I'm not sure it's going to be his final time," Ravens defensive coordinator Don Martindale said of Sunday's meeting in Baltimore. "Who knows with Ben, because he's like 'The Terminator.' You think about the history of this game, of this rivalry, how many times he's been hit, and you can picture him. ... It's unbelievable, his resiliency and his toughness."
Indeed, the Ravens have observed those qualities in Roethlisberger as often as any opponent through the years, but they aren't the only ones. Even beyond the scope of knock-down, drag-out fights in the division, opponents discovered that Roethlisberger was hard to bring down — often quite literally — especially in the grandest moments.
"He's been the straw that's stirred the drink there for almost two decades," Harbaugh said. "It's been 14 years for me trying to figure out a way to stop him and slow him down."
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Before they even stepped foot on the turf at Ford Field to compete for a championship, Ben Roethlisberger bested Matt Hasselbeck. The two quarterbacks of the big game were set for a "Got Milk?" photoshoot and the balding veteran thought about covering his head, but decided not to, assuming his counterpart would do the same.
"And then Ben, of course, wears the backwards hat," Hasselbeck recalled this week. "So right before the biggest game of our lives, that's the conversation. 'Dude, you did me dirty.' "
The two had a jovial relationship since then, despite being permanently connected by that 21-10 win for the Steelers over the Seahawks in Detroit. "Lucky me," Hasselbeck quips to this day.
Though he was on the wrong end of Roethlisberger's second-year success, and never made it back to the Super Bowl, Hasselbeck will forever respect the way the winningest quarterback in Steelers history played the position — a theme among those who have had their hearts trampled on by the 6-foot-5, 240-pound gunslinger throughout this stellar NFL career.
"He was a young player, and I think no one really gave them a chance that entire playoff run," Hasselbeck remembered. "They were a wild-card team that had to go on the road. Even the game they beat Cincinnati, it was like, 'Oh, well, it's because Carson Palmer got hurt.' ... I don't think any of the teams that were getting ready to play the Steelers that year really felt like, 'We're getting ready to play the best team in football.' But they kept winning games. They did it all the way through. I would even put us in that category a little bit."
You don't have to remind Hasselbeck that Roethlisberger's numbers that season weren't particularly impressive. But all these years later, he still doesn't care. As the Steelers made their historic run from the No. 6 seed in the AFC, he saw a 23-year-old who knew how to play quarterback, whether it was checking into a run play at the line of scrimmage, or recognizing a coverage scheme and making the throw to beat it.
And in that Super Bowl, Roethlisberger had his worst statistical performance of any postseason game he'd ever play in, but Hasselbeck just thinks back to two plays. There was the third-and-28, when Roethlisberger scrambled left and could've tried to pick up more yardage with his legs, but then whipped his hips around and heaved the ball nearly 40 yards across his body to Hines Ward just short of the end zone. Then, three snaps later, one of the most controversial plays in Super Bowl history, Roethlisberger's 1-yard touchdown run on which the nose of the ball just barely broke the plane of the goal line.
On the opposite sideline that night, Hasselbeck was the epitome of a quarterback who worked his way up the ranks, from sixth-round pick to practice squad afterthought to Brett Favre's backup. Eventually, he became the full-time starter in Seattle, but it wasn't easy. For Roethlisberger, he was a star almost from Day 1, and Hasselbeck — who was tuned in Monday night for the Heinz Field swan song — will always remember the playmaker, especially in the early days.
"I think of quarterbacking like a sales job," Hasselbeck said. "It doesn't matter, and I don't care how many hours you put in. I don't care how hard you work. Did you get the job done? Did your sales numbers come through? ... It's a results-oriented business, playing quarterback in the NFL, and Ben Roethlisberger got results, consistently, year after year after year."
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For a long time, Betrand Berry struggled to let it go. The leading pass-rusher for the 2008 Cardinals would focus on all that went wrong that could've gone right. He could've beaten Steelers left tackle Max Starks off the line of scrimmage. Cornerback Ralph Webb could've jumped an inch higher. Safety Aaron Francisco could've closed on Santonio Holmes a split-second faster.
But in reality, Ben Roethlisberger was too good, too clutch, and Berry's Cardinals would suffer a gut-punch loss because of one of the best throws in NFL history. Roethlisberger to Holmes from 6 yards out, back right corner of the end zone, with 35 seconds left. And the Steelers came back to beat Arizona, 27-23, to be world champions.
"That's the play everyone always harps on, because it was the game-winner, and rightfully so, everybody talks about it," Berry, a veteran defensive end at the time, said a few days ago. "But I know for myself, there was a play I had an opportunity to get him down. I knew what kind of quarterback he was already, and I knew what kind of athlete he was, so there were really no surprises, but it was in the red zone, I beat Max Starks around the corner to get my hands on Ben, and somehow, some way, he was able to get his arm free and just launch the ball out of bounds."
It was right then that Berry realized the extent of Roethlisberger's refusal to give up any play. That quarterback hit would turn out to be Berry's only statistics of the night, and unfortunately for him — and the Cardinals — he didn't get his money's worth. A strip-sack would've been a game-changer.
On the biggest stage, Berry witnessed first-hand what all of Roethlisberger's fiercest defensive rivals revered most about him, a hallmark of his NFL legacy. If you were fortunate enough to sack him, it wouldn't come without a fight.
"He's going to fight and scratch for every single down and every single yard," Berry said. "It was frustrating, but it was also something you admired from afar."
Berry retired one season later, and when asked if he's surprised that the guy who crushed his dreams with one of the greatest plays of all time never won another Lombardi Trophy, he gave an answer that surely speaks for any of his peers from a defensive perspective.
"I'm surprised he's still playing, to be honest with you," Berry said. "Ben has taken some shots over the years. He's been extremely durable. He's been able to go out and play even among some injuries that may have kept other quarterbacks out, or situations where it may have been advised he sit this one out, and he wasn't going to do that. For him to have taken the shots he's taken being a big target, I'm surprised he lasted 18 years. That's just a credit to him, his determination, his work ethic, and his overall will to just show up for his team."
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Which brings us back to this week's game, likely the last page in Roethlisberger's book — at least until the Hall of Fame comes calling. If the Ravens win, sending out Roethlisberger on a sour note, Harbaugh will tie Bill Belichick for the most head-coaching wins against him.
Knowing the competitor that is Roethlisberger — his fire in everything from passing drills to darts to locker-room shuffleboard is the stuff of legend around the Steelers — it won't matter that a win is meaningless for the playoffs if the Jaguars don't shock the Colts 750 miles away. Roethlisberger might hate losing even more than he loves winning.
"Right now, I really don't want to go down memory lane," Harbaugh said, though he couldn't quite help himself. "There were a lot of plays where you feel like you'd been gut-punched. He'd scramble out to the left, usually in the red zone, and find somebody open. I remember those plays. Or he'd hit somebody on the sideline 22 yards downfield, tippy-toeing out of bounds for a huge first-down completion.
"He's a great guy, an iconic player, a Hall of Famer. A worthy rival, to say the least. That goes without saying. I'm kind of honored to have even had the chance to compete against him as a coach."
