Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is 34 years old. This will be his 13th season. His body has been smashed around on and off the field. He’s the old man now, worried about proper body maintenance, entrenched in career leader lists.
When he comes to FedEx Field for Monday night’s opener against the Washington Redskins, he will be 13th in career passing yards and fourth among active quarterbacks. He has set a litany of NFL records, most centered on wins and accuracy. After starting out as a sandlot slinger, Roethlisberger has mechanized the game to accompany the difficult task of taking him down. The combination makes him one of the most dangerous quarterbacks on the field.
His current focus for maintaining his body after after 186 NFL games played, is simplistic.
“Try not to get hit,” Roethlisberger said Wednesday on a conference call.
He laughs at the statement, but throwing the ball quickly is important to his survival. Roethlisberger also summons the chiropractor and masseuse. A specific set of hands outside of the Steelers’ organization is called in to rub his shoulder.
“Diet is important as you get older,” Roethlisberger said. “I’ve gone to a lot of extents. I think every year, you kind of take another step toward [preservation].”
The Steelers have never paid a player more. No other player has led them to as many fourth-quarter comeback wins, 23 in total, a season-and-a-half worth of delirious rallies for wins. This group of Steelers has dynamic offensive parts for him to throw to. Antonio Brown and his high-rise mohawk leads the group. Brown has increased his receptions and receiving yards in each of the last four seasons, becoming one of the high-end threats in the NFL.
Monday, the chatty Brown will be opposed, at times, by equally boisterous Redskins cornerback Josh Norman. One of the subplots of the game will be if the Redskins have Norman work only the right side of the field, no matter where Brown is aligned, or if he will follow the four-time Pro-Bowl receiver.
“We don’t care because we don’t have any control over that,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Tomlin said. “We try not to waste time worrying about things that are outside of our control. They’ll determine how they utilize Josh and his talents and we will adjust.”
Like so much now, seeing a talkative cornerback on the outside leaves Roethlisberger unemotional. He has faced the Seattle Seahawks’ Richard Sherman multiple times. He’s dealt with various chatterboxes in the playoffs and Super Bowl coming at him from different positions. When he encounters someone like Norman, Roethlisberger steps around the bait instead of trying to prove his mettle against that specific defender.
“You know, you can’t get sucked into that game,” Roethlisberger said. “If you try to do that, that’s when they … when the game falls apart or the defender gets you. That’s what they want. This is the ultimate team sport. I’ve been playing this long enough not to fall into that trap of — whether it’s a corner, whether it’s a linebacker, a trash-talker, I’ve just got to keep about my business. I’m not going to worry about trying to beat Josh. He’s one of the best in the business. Him and AB will I’m sure have plenty of talking matches and jabbering back-and-forth. For me, it’s about trying to go out and just beat the Redskins.”
Norman has played a single side and tracked a particular player in the past. Wednesday, he was on board with whatever way the Redskins choose to dispatch him.
“I want to do what the coach asks me to do,” Norman said. “That’s the main thing, you know. Coming in you want to be a (cerebral) assassin and get your assignment and indulge and dig down into it, and see the opponent and who you’re facing, and once you get your assignment you want to go through the week and train on that and regurgitate it and once you get into the game you want to execute as flawlessly as you can and [defensive coordinator] Joe [Barry] and [defensive backs coach] Perry Fewell do a great job of giving us our execution.”
Whatever that is, Roethlisberger will have seen it before.
• Todd Dybas can be reached at tdybas@washingtontimes.com.
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