Madden Monday: Ben Roethlisberger 'was the power and the glory'
Once the Steelers blew a goal-to-go sequence in the third quarter of Sunday’s game against the Indianapolis Colts, one thought went racing through my mind.
“So, how is Tristan Jarry going to do as the Penguins full-time goaltender this year?”
Why not? Time to start thinking about hockey, right? The Steelers are about to lose a fourth straight. The Cleveland Browns will eventually come back against the New York Jets. The Steelers will barely make the playoffs as just a wild card. And they’ll be cooked after the first week of the postseason.
Let’s brush up on those Pens line charts, eh?
Based on what Mark Madden told me on this week’s “Madden Monday” podcast, he was of a similar mind.
“I thought the game was over for Pittsburgh. I thought the season was over for Pittsburgh,” Madden said. “I thought that after a month of playing poorly, they had reached a low point that they could not bounce back from. A hole so deep they couldn’t climb out of it.”
But a funny thing happened on the trip to my therapist’s couch. The Steelers thundered back from a 24-7 deficit and won 28-24. That sealed the AFC North. Then the Browns lost to the lousy New York Jets just for good measure.
And our amusement.
Now it looks like the Steelers may be able to gain some of their momentum back going into the playoffs, instead of limping in with little hope of advancing beyond the first game.
“I never saw it coming,” Madden said. “But they just kept playing. And playing better. And that especially applies to Ben Roethlisberger.”
That’s true. The Steelers quarterback went from 11 of 20 for 98 yards in the first half to 34 of 49 for 342 yards and three touchdowns overall.
“He did it out of nowhere. He was awful in the first half. He was just pushing the ball,” Madden said.
Then things changed in the final 30 minutes.
“It was quite a turnaround by Ben and the Steelers,” Madden continued. “But mostly by Ben. If Ben doesn’t do what he did, then nothing else falls into place. He was the power and the glory. He was everything the Steelers needed him to be. And then some.”
Tim Benz is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Tim at tbenz@triblive.com or via X. All tweets could be reposted. All emails are subject to publication unless specified otherwise.
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