Ben Roethlisberger isn’t done yet. Barring a Chargers-Raiders tie (which isn’t out of the realm of possibility), the Pittsburgh Steelers are going to the playoffs. This means the odds are very, very good we’ll get to see Big Ben play at least one more time next weekend on Wild Card Weekend.
Ben Roethlisberger puts Steelers on verge of postseason
But no matter what happens here on out, Roethlisberger will always have this moment — leading your team down the field against your most hated rival, the Baltimore Ravens, with everything at stake. It’s the stuff of dreams.
Roethlisberger directed a 15-play, 65-yard game-winning drive in overtime to set up a 36-yard Chris Boswell field goal that kept alive the Steelers’ playoff hopes and ended the Ravens’.
“QB1,” said Steelers coach Mike Tomlin, who has swept John Harbaugh and the Ravens in each of the last two years. “He’s been smiling in the face of adversity for 18 years. Even though it wasn’t surprising, it was appreciated.”
Big Ben’s game-winning drive vs. Baltimore
They say journalism is the first draft of history, so we’ll do our best to record it. Because what the Steelers did Sunday was historic.
Roethlisberger on Sunday directed his seventh game-winning drive of the season — the most in any season in his career — and 11th against the Ravens. Only two players have more fourth-quarter or OT game-winning drives — Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
Roethlisberger was a smooth operator in overtime
Roethlisberger made three clutch throws during that final possession when failure on any of them probably would have ended his career.
The first was on third-and-7 when he connected with a tightly covered tight end Pat Freiermuth for 14 yards. Three plays later, he moved the chains again, combining with receiver Diontae Johnson for 11 yards when 9 was needed.
That would be Ben’s final regular-season third-down conversion of his career because Johnson dropped a catchable ball on third-and-8 from the Ravens’ 41. That left Tomlin with a decision — kick a 59-yard field goal (a low percentage play), punt back to the Ravens (which would have made it very unlikely they would have gotten the ball back), or let Ben make one last throw. He opened Door No. 3, and Ben rewarded that confidence.
He hooked up with Ray-Ray McCloud across the middle for 10 yards on fourth down, and all that remained was a Boswell kick.
“It was crazy,” Roethlisberger said, “because my dad texted me last night, asking how I was doing. I said fine. It didn’t feel like this was it. Last week was so much more emotional. … [Sunday was,] ‘Let’s go play. At no point during this game did I think, ‘This is it, it’s almost over.'”
It’s good he didn’t. Turns out, that would have been wasted energy.