Roethlisberger vs. Brady A marquee matchup of quarterbacks
Ben Roethlisberger throws a pass during the first half of an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Kansas City Chiefs Jan. 15.
Tom Brady celebrates his touchdown pass to Dion Lewis during the first half of the game against the Houston Texans Jan. 14 in Foxborough, Mass.
When it comes to New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger has never been shy about making his feelings known.
Roethlisberger, one of just 12 quarterbacks in NFL history to lead his team to multiple Super Bowl wins, puts Brady at the pinnacle of them all.
“I consider him one, if not the best of all-time,” Roethlisberger said last week as the Steelers prepared to travel to New England to face the Patriots and Brady in the AFC Championship.
Roethlisberger is 3-6 in his career against the Patriots. One of those victories came in 2008 when Brady was injured in the regular-season opener and Matt Cassell was starting for the Patriots.
But in many of those games, Roethlisberger has played well.
His career passer rating in regular-season games against New England is 95.4. He’s thrown 17 touchdown passes against six interceptions in those contests, averaging 285 passing yards.
Playing against Brady seemingly brings out the best in Roethlisberger.
But for Brady, playing the Steelers seems to bring out the best in him, as well.
He’s completed nearly 70 percent of his passes with 24 touchdown passes and just three interceptions. He’s averaged 314 passing yards per game.
For years, the narrative in the AFC was Brady versus Peyton Manning – and for good reason. Since Brady appeared on the scene in 2001, Brady or Manning was the starting quarterback for the teams representing the AFC in 10 Super Bowls, winning six.
But Roethlisberger is no stranger to the big game, either. Sunday’s appearance will mark his fifth career AFC Championship game. He’s won three of the previous four, helping the Steelers bring home the Lombardi Trophy in two of those three appearances.
All told, the Brady-Manning-Roethlisberger triumvirate has represented the AFC in the Super Bowl 13 times in the past 15 years, with only Oakland’s Rich Gannon and Baltimore’s Joe Flacco crashing that party.
Despite that, the Brady-Roethlisberger narrative never really developed – at least until now – because Manning and Brady seemed to meet every year in the playoffs.
With Manning retired, Roethlisberger knows that Sunday’s game will be billed as he against Brady, but that doesn’t bother him.
“At the quarterback position, you get used to that,” Roethlisberger said. “You play games, whether it’s the AFC Championship Game or not, you hear a lot of talk about quarterback versus quarterback, because that’s the ‘sexy’ way to talk about a game, I guess. I know, and I am sure if you ask him, he knows it’s way bigger than just the two of us.”
But, sometimes, it isn’t.
This is the first time in league history that two quarterbacks who have won multiple Super Bowls will meet in a conference championship game. Manning didn’t win his second Super Bowl until last year, after beating Brady in the conference championship game.
Brady, Roethlisberger and Eli Manning are the only active quarterbacks who have won more than one Super Bowl.
Roethlisberger enters the AFC Championship 0-1 against Brady in the playoffs. That loss came in the AFC Championship in 2004, Roethlisberger’s rookie season. He threw for 223 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in that game, including one interception that was returned for a touchdown by Rodney Harrison.
“They got after me. They made me make some mistakes,” Roethlisberger said of his memories of that game. “I just realized kind of what it was going to take to get over that hump. Obviously, I was blessed to win a Super Bowl the next year, and that helps kind of put that behind you a little bit.”
That it did, indeed.
It also helped him gain the respect of Brady, who owns a 4-2 record in the Super Bowl and will be making his record 11th appearance in the AFC Championship.
“Ben’s an incredible player and he’s been that way since 2004,” Brady said. “I’ve always loved the way he plays, very tough, hard-nosed. He’s great for the city of Pittsburgh, a very tough, hard-nosed city. He’s just been a very great player and the respect is very mutual. To play at his level with his style play for as long as he has is very remarkable.”
Despite not playing in the previous meeting between these two teams this season in Week 7, a 27-16 New England victory, Roethlisberger asked Brady after that game if he could have his game jersey.
The two have a mutual respect for the other’s game and accomplishments.
“I think it’s two old guys that have been playing in this game for a long time,” Roethlisberger joked about today’s matchup. “I think that’s what a lot of the talk is. He deserves all the credit that he gets. It’s obviously bigger than the two of us. I know he is used to it, with the Peyton Manning and Tom thing. This is two football teams that have won championships. Us going against each other is more than just one man. We aren’t playing tennis. We are going out there to play a football games with 11 guys at a time.”
And Roethlisberger doesn’t care who his opportunity to get back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2010 season comes against. He’s seen the Steelers rebuild on the fly around him, going four seasons without a playoff win and missing the playoffs in 2012 and 2013.
He’s just relishing the journey of being one step away from another Super Bowl.
“I’m going to be honest, I don’t care who we had to play in the AFC Championship game,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s the championship game. You have one game to get to the Super Bowl. Like I said, you are going up to the lion’s den, the dragon’s lair. They are the dragon. We are trying to slay them. It doesn’t matter who it is, but they are the ‘gold standard.'”