He waited until the end of the article to present his verdict, but the Reoethlisberger family and the entire city of Pittsburgh can rest easily now.
Mike Lupica likes Ben Reoethlisberger:
"I like Roethlisberger, by the way. He got on some run in the playoffs. He is the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl."
"He likes me! He really likes me! I'm going to Disneyworld!
You know, you start off in training camp doing two-a-days and through all the sweat and blood and tears, you keep your eyes on the prize. You keep hoping that Mike Lupica will praise you in his column.
It means more to me than 100 Lombardi trophies! Nobody can ever take this away from me!"
But with friends like Mike Lupica, you really don't need enemies:
"The officials didn't have as bad a game as Ben Roethlisberger, because no winning quarterback ever had as bad a game as Roethlisberger did, just when everybody had him on a fast track to Canton." Key word being "winning." Super Bowl titles actually help players get into Canton. I'm just saying ...
"Roethlisberger was 9-for-21, 123 yards, no touchdown passes, two picks. Statistically, he was about as good as Eli Manning was against the Panthers." You compared Ben Roethlisberger to Eli Manning? But I thought you liked Ben Roethlisberger?
"If he doesn't complete one third-and-forever pass to Hines Ward, a 37-yard prayer to the Seahawks' 3-yard line, he would have had 86 passing yards in the Super Bowl and an even lower quarterback rating than the 22 he had." But he did complete the pass, and it was quite an amazing play. The kind of play Eli Manning would have never, ever made. The kind of play where Eli Manning gets sacked.
"If the Seahawks had ever come back, he would have been remembered for one of the worst throws since Garo Yepremian, that volleyball that Kelly Herndon picked off when the Steelers had a chance to go ahead 21-3." But the Seahawks didn't come back.
Besides, I still remember the bad throw. Ben Roethlisberger made a very bad throw that was intercepted and almost cost his team the game. I can remember that play even though the Seahawks did not come back to win the game. It's not too hard since I have a multi-faceted human brain.
Also, if he hadn't thrown that interception at the goal line, then he'd have thrown for one TD and only one interception and his QB rating would have been better. Since Lupica is taking away Roethlisberger's best play of the game, I'm taking away his worst play of the game.
"But maybe we can hold off now on making him the next Montana or Aikman or Brady. The Steelers didn't win because of him Sunday, they won despite him. Hasselbeck, even with the late pick he threw, outplayed Roethlisberger all day." Fair enough. Roethlisberger is no Montana or Aikman or Brady. (Come on, did any person in the entire Universe really compare Roethlisberger to Montana? No, of course not.)
Perhaps Hasselbeck outplayed Roethlisberger slightly in the Super Bowl, though Pittsburgh also spent a good chunk of the game trying to run out the clock. That's cool.
But please don't you ever compare a Super Bowl winning QB to Eli Manning ever again. It's an insult to every QB who ever won the Super Bowl.
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