86WARD
12-11-2011, 08:24 AM
We'll call it Ben's Magnificent 7 — one man's take on the seven most-memorable regular-season games of Roethlisberger's career:
7. Steelers 33, Giants 30, Dec. 18, 2004, Giants Stadium. Roethlisberger out-dueled fellow rookie Eli Manning, drafted 10 spots ahead of him. Won it on a 36-yard pass to Antwaan Randle El.
6. Steelers 13, Ravens 10, Dec. 5, 2010, M&T Bank Stadium. Roethlisberger started with a broken foot. He soon added a broken nose, courtesy of Haloti Ngata's left hook. His best play was fending off Terrell Suggs to shovel the ball out of bounds. He then threw the winning pass. "It hurt a lot," Roethlisberger said of his foot. "But the broken nose took some of the pain away."
5. Steelers 24, Browns 20, Nov. 19, 2006, Cleveland Browns Stadium. After three lame quarters, Roethlisberger delivered a dead-on Jim Kelly impression, shrugging off a barrage of hits to direct fourth-quarter TD drives of 87, 79 and 77 yards. The winning play was an ad-lib flip to Willie Parker as Kamerion Wimbley tried to rip Roethlisberger's left arm off.
4. Steelers 31, Browns 28, Nov. 11, 2007, Heinz Field. Twice, Roethlisberger rallied the Steelers from fourth-quarter deficits with heart-stopping drives that included third-down conversions of 10, 6, 18 and 9 yards. He finished the first with a 30-yard TD run on third-and-10 and kept the second alive by stiff-arming Willie McGinest to convert a third-and-9.
3. Steelers 37, Packers 36, Dec. 20, 2009, Heinz Field. The decisive, 86-yard drive included a 32-yard pass to Santonio Holmes on fourth-and-7. Down to his last play, Roethlisberger found Mike Wallace with a 19-yard laser beam in the corner of the end zone. He finished with a franchise-record 503 yards.
2. Steelers 14, Browns 3, Dec. 8, 2011, Heinz Field. This was NFL Network's Rich Eisen at halftime, as footage of Ben on a golf cart ran in the background: "If that's a high-ankle sprain, he's not playing in the second half." Guess again, Rich. Roethlisberger's mere presence in the second half inspired his teammates — win one for the gimper? — and made this a vintage performance. "We know half of Ben is good," safety Ryan Clark said. "We can win with that."
1. Steelers 13, Ravens 9, Dec. 14, 2008, M&T Bank Stadium. With the ball on the Steelers' 8-yard line and 3:36 on the clock, Roethlisberger led an epic march against a Raven-ous defense, capping it with a classic move-move-move-and-fire pass to Holmes at the goal line.
Read more: Starkey: Big Ben’s Magnificent Seven - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_771457.html#ixzz1gEha0189) http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_771457.html#ixzz1gEha0189
7. Steelers 33, Giants 30, Dec. 18, 2004, Giants Stadium. Roethlisberger out-dueled fellow rookie Eli Manning, drafted 10 spots ahead of him. Won it on a 36-yard pass to Antwaan Randle El.
6. Steelers 13, Ravens 10, Dec. 5, 2010, M&T Bank Stadium. Roethlisberger started with a broken foot. He soon added a broken nose, courtesy of Haloti Ngata's left hook. His best play was fending off Terrell Suggs to shovel the ball out of bounds. He then threw the winning pass. "It hurt a lot," Roethlisberger said of his foot. "But the broken nose took some of the pain away."
5. Steelers 24, Browns 20, Nov. 19, 2006, Cleveland Browns Stadium. After three lame quarters, Roethlisberger delivered a dead-on Jim Kelly impression, shrugging off a barrage of hits to direct fourth-quarter TD drives of 87, 79 and 77 yards. The winning play was an ad-lib flip to Willie Parker as Kamerion Wimbley tried to rip Roethlisberger's left arm off.
4. Steelers 31, Browns 28, Nov. 11, 2007, Heinz Field. Twice, Roethlisberger rallied the Steelers from fourth-quarter deficits with heart-stopping drives that included third-down conversions of 10, 6, 18 and 9 yards. He finished the first with a 30-yard TD run on third-and-10 and kept the second alive by stiff-arming Willie McGinest to convert a third-and-9.
3. Steelers 37, Packers 36, Dec. 20, 2009, Heinz Field. The decisive, 86-yard drive included a 32-yard pass to Santonio Holmes on fourth-and-7. Down to his last play, Roethlisberger found Mike Wallace with a 19-yard laser beam in the corner of the end zone. He finished with a franchise-record 503 yards.
2. Steelers 14, Browns 3, Dec. 8, 2011, Heinz Field. This was NFL Network's Rich Eisen at halftime, as footage of Ben on a golf cart ran in the background: "If that's a high-ankle sprain, he's not playing in the second half." Guess again, Rich. Roethlisberger's mere presence in the second half inspired his teammates — win one for the gimper? — and made this a vintage performance. "We know half of Ben is good," safety Ryan Clark said. "We can win with that."
1. Steelers 13, Ravens 9, Dec. 14, 2008, M&T Bank Stadium. With the ball on the Steelers' 8-yard line and 3:36 on the clock, Roethlisberger led an epic march against a Raven-ous defense, capping it with a classic move-move-move-and-fire pass to Holmes at the goal line.
Read more: Starkey: Big Ben’s Magnificent Seven - Pittsburgh Tribune-Review (http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_771457.html#ixzz1gEha0189) http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/steelers/s_771457.html#ixzz1gEha0189