Posts tagged BenRoethlisberger at FanHouse - AOL Sports Blog

There are a lot of things that ESPN can be rightfully slammed for--Who's Now will live in our nightmares for years to come. But there is one summer series worthy of praise. Not only is the My Wish series good TV, it's also a great experience for the kids who get to fulfill their dreams..

If you're a Steelers fan and you haven't seen the story of paralyzed teenager Akeem Havens' day as a Steeler, it's well worth checking out. After watching him score a touchdown, maybe Willie Parker should be worried.

The Dallas Morning News' Tim MacMahon must've known the poopstorm this would cause, but I give him credit for running with it anyway. He goes about the task of ranking the quarterbacks and has the audacity to put Tony Romo fifth behind Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Ben Roethlisberger, and Drew Brees.

Predictably, some Cowboys fans thought Romo was ranked way too low (oddly, nobody thought he was ranked too high), and proceeded to tell us as much. While I have no problems with MacMahon's list, the most intriguing piece of news comes courtesy of commenter Gigante who points to this link and asks, "And this is supposed to make me feel good?"

"You're Phil Mickelson before he won his first major." - Cowboys coach Wade Wilson to quarterback Tony Romo, who has yet to win a playoff game.

First, when I saw "Wade", I just figured it was Phillips and he had confused "Phil Mickelson" with "Brett Favre when he was in Atlanta." It's definitely plausible.

But Wade Wilson? Was he trying to motivate Romo? I mean, it would've been less insulting to say, "If Dr. Frankenstein found a way to combine the worst qualities of Drew Bledsoe, Vinny Testaverde and Quincy Carter, it would be you."

That Romo even made it into MacMahon's top 5 is a testament to his perseverance. In retrospect, maybe Roger Goodell's suspension wasn't harsh enough.

There are very few cases of NFL quarterbacks having much success as rookies. Ben Roethlisberger is the obvious exception, and Vince Young played surprisingly well after replacing the irreplaceable Kerry Collins. More often, though, these players struggle with the speed of the games, the voluminous playbooks and the defensive schemes devised to confuse them.

Kyle Boller is the perfect example, which explains why, after five less-than-spectacular seasons, the Ravens have drafted the next franchise quarterback, Joe Flacco. But unlike Boller, who, in retrospect, never had a chance with Brian Billick serving as his career counselor, Flacco will be mentored by Cam Cameron.

Cameron was rightfully canned after a forgettable 2007 season in Miami; although he may not be head-coaching material, he's a proven offensive coordinator, and has a solid track record in developing quarterbacks.

As Flacco continues his crash course in Baltimore's offense, the chance that he finds his way onto the field this season increases.

After cracking down on identity thieves targeting the big-named professional athletes, it looks these criminals have been more realistic in their expectations; instead of going after Ben Roethlisberger or Curtis Martin, they're focusing on the smaller fish. Like Justin Leonard. No, really.

A 30-year-old Texas man has been indicted on identify theft charges for allegedly opening credit cards and a cell phone account in the name of pro golfer Justin Leonard, a prosecutor said Thursday. ... [Joel Keith] Bridger's alleged scam last year unraveled only by happenstance...

He went to a post office to pick up mail in Leonard's name and flashed his ID, which had Leonard's information but Bridger's photo ... "The clerk said, `I know the Leonard family, and you're not Justin Leonard,' ... To use it where somebody knows you, that's unusual," said assistant DA David Lobingler.

Ah, yes, the justice system's best crime-fighting weapon: stupid criminals. I wonder how a dude arrested on four occasions, everything from drug possession to jumping bail, settled on the 1997 British Open champ.

Whatever, Bridger learned the same lesson as the '99 European Ryder Cup team: don't [mess] with Justin Leonard; he's much tougher than he looks.

Next up, John Daly takes a cue and blames his bizarre behavior on being the victim of identity thieves ... from outer space.

This post is part of a series of posts that try to figure out who's to blame for the Steelers sack problems. The first story in the series listed how many sacks each lineman was responsible for. Now we're looking at how much of the blame can be put on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Click here for all the posts in the series. To get this data, I went back and rewatched all 53 sacks from the Steelers' 2007 season including the playoff game, logging the type of rush, the time it took for the defender to get to Roethlisberger, who was responsible and any mitigating factors.

If Sean Mahan has gotten the majority of the blame for the Steelers' sack problems from Steelers fans and media members, Ben Roethlisberger hasn't been far behind. The logic is that the Steelers' guarterback holds onto the ball so long that he turns incomplete passes into sacks.

It's hard to argue the point. We all have seen numerous plays where Roethlisberger has slipped out of a blitzing linebacker's grasp, scrambled to the outside and then found Hines Ward or others downfield. But we've also seen plays where he spotted a blitzing cornerback, figured he could break the tackle, and went down on the initial hit. There are plays where Roethlisberger hangs on to the ball, gets hit and taken down when a quarterback who's less of a gambler would have simply thrown the ball into the stands.

NFL players prepare for the upcoming season in different ways: innovative workouts, acting, dancing, and if you're Ben Roethlisberger, serving as a Las Vegas Police Department crash test dummy.



Weird. I thought only Chris Henry wore his game jersey off-duty.

Just in case it isn't obvious, that's not really Roethlisberger getting repeatedly pancaked buy a LVPD cruiser, but it's hilarious that somebody thought that the training would be more realistic if the dummy was dressed up as the Steelers quarterback.

Many, many thanks to Mondesi's House

The Dayton Daily News' Chick Ludwig is concerned. The Cincinnati Bengals are in bad shape, training camp is less than two months off, and there's no indication things will improve anytime soon.

Four of the five issues troubling Ludwig are on offense, and No. 1 on the list: the center position. Apparently, there is much gnashing of teeth about the prospect of the Browns' defensive tackles Corey Williams and Shaun Rogers manhandling Eric Ghiaciuc twice a season. If it's any consolation, Steelers center Sean Mahan suffered a similar fate on 17 occasions last season and Ben Roethlisberger was only sacked 600 times.

Compounding the problem: Cincy offensive tackles Levi Jones and Willie Anderson have both struggled to stay healthy in recent seasons. The club franchised backup Stacy Andrews, so he could see some time at right tackle, but ideally, Jones and Anderson would be the starters.

Running back Rudi Johnson is also coming off an injury-plagued 2007, a season that saw him average just a whopping 2.9 yards per carry. And behind him, 2004 first-round pick Chris Perry and 2007 second-rounder Kenny Irons are trying to bounce back from nicks, bruises, blown up ACLs, etc...

No examination of the 2008 Bengals would be complete without a Chad Johnson mention. So here it is: Ocho Cinco is angry, plans on pouting about it, but not to the point that it costs him money. Shocking, I know. The 2008 season should be a barrel of monkeys.

It's been way too long since the Steelers-Cowboys rivalry has had any bite. But Ben Roethlisberger may be trying to change that.

On the Mike Tirico radio show, Roethlisberger poked some fun at Tony Romo and his girlfriend, Jessica Simpson. The Dallas Morning News has the transcript.

"I got to play at Dallas, I think it was my rookie year," Roethlisberger said. "I'm glad they're coming up here to play us. I'm thinking about sending an all-expenses paid trip for Tony (Romo) to go to Mexico."

Michelle Tafoya shot back, "I thought you were going to bring Jessica to you."

And Roethlisberger played along. "We could do that too," Big Ben said. "I might just fly her in."

As trash talk goes, it's not much, but this is Dallas, so it will be blown out over the next six months. And hey, that's good. There was a time when the Steelers and Cowboys were one of the best rivalries in football. It's time to get some of the fun old hate back. If Big Ben calling out Romo's girlfriend will do it, then lets have six months of RomoJessica talk.

Of course, Roethlisberger knows something about having celebrity girlfriends. He used to date LPGA golfer Natalie Gulbis and he's been linked to actress Missy Peregrym for over a year.

By now, most of us have heard Randy Pausch's story. He's a former Carnegie Mellon computer science professor who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer last fall and given six months to live. Last week, he was featured on ABC, and during the interview we learned that he's a huge Steelers fan. After some phone calls, an ABC producer informed Pausch that he would get the chance to visit the team's South Side facilities.

Not only did he do the usual meet-and-greet, he also got to play catch with Hines Ward, successfully convert a field goal (maybe the Chiefs should think about signing him), and spend time with Ben Roethlisberger and the Rooneys.

For all the cynicism and vitriol that sometimes pervades the internets, particularly the blogosphere, Pausch's message helps keep things in perspective.

I'm dating myself, but in the late '90s, "Loveline" was a popular radio show before MTV eventually ruined it. Anyway, Dr. Drew often referred to the Law of Inverse Worth, which basically posited that bad things happen to good people. I'd say Pausch certainly qualifies.

His ABC interview after the jump.

Ben Roethlisberger gets $102 million for his 26th birthday. When I turned 26 I got the Mallrats collector's edition DVD. Seems fitting on both counts.

Big Ben cleans up nice to talk about his new contract, but like every other press conference that doesn't involve a shirtless T.O. doing sit-ups in his front yard, we didn't learn much. Well, other than it looks like Roethlisberger has fully recovered from his 2006 motorcycle accident. And when I say "fully recovered" I mean "fully recovered his cherubic features." Look at this from the '06 ESPY's, and then watch the video again.

To be fair, Big Ben needs to put on as much weight as he can; if the Steelers don't fix the offensive line, currently labeled "Gaping Hole" on the team depth chart, he'll be taking plenty of hits next year. In fact, there's a good chance he'll set some kind of sack record if Pittsburgh doesn't completely overhaul the front five. Maybe that's an overreaction, but I'd settle for Sean Mahan getting demoted to back-up long snapper.

That would be a good start. And then the Steelers should figure out how to make this happen.

Hat tip: Hashmarks