By Sean Geddes
So after 4 weeks of exile, Steeler Nation welcomes back our quarterback this week. I think we surprised the football world, and most likely some members of our own fan base, with the way we played weeks one through four. I also think it’s a safe statement to make that this team will only get better with Ben under center, and I think it will be interesting to see just how well Ben rebounds from his time away.
Ben worked with quarterbacking coach Greg Whitfield in his time away from Steelers’ headquarters, as well as former NFL wide out Devard Darling. He’s been passing to area high schoolers, in an effort to both stay fresh and rehab his image a little in the area.
Since I was not writing here when the Georgia incident transpired, I thought I’d provide a brief once-over of what my impression of this incident was, without rehashing too much of the incident itself.
It’s fairly common knowledge now what Ben was accused of. He was rumored to have had sexual contact with an area college student which may or may not have been consensual. No criminal charges were ever officially filed against Ben, despite the local district attorney taking him to task in a public forum.
Right from day one, I assumed there would be some form of punishment for this. At first, I thought a two game suspension would be handed down, when taking into account the active civil suit in Nevada. Ben could not afford any more interactions with the law, flat out. The way I saw it, if you have one pending legal claim against you for something, and you’re accused of it again while the first one is up in the air, there is no way Commissioner Goodell would tolerate this sort of thing, especially from the quarterback of one of the league’s flagship franchises. While I didn’t think punishing a man who was not found guilty of any crime was necessarily the most ethical thing to do, I still thought it would be done, based on the severity of the alleged crimes.
As we all know, Ben was indeed suspended, but for what was originally six games with a possibility of lowering his abeyance to just four games. “Just four?” I thought. Four games is a quarter of a season, and that’s an awful long time. This was after it was found out no charges would be filed in Georgia, and that the incident in question had so many variables of uncertainty, that no one would even be pressing charges, much less facing charges. I thought this penalty was a little steep at first, especially since the organization and Rooney family were so deeply involved in the league’s handling of the situation.
In absolute fairness, I thought Ben was in the wrong in Georgia. I didn’t believe however, based on what I read, that a crime was committed. I thought it was just terrible, absolutely terrible, decision making by Ben. When you’re a franchise quarterback in the NFL, a man with a 100 million dollar contract (not to mention a man who had prior legal troubles stemming from female interactions), why would you go to a college bar in Milledgeville, GA to celebrate your birthday? There must have been some high end nightclubs with actual security guarding classy V.I.P. rooms somewhere in Atlanta or Macon even… why not there?
Then, to legitimize to yourself, that you can take a girl (who was underage to drink, though I fault her and the bar owners 100% on that detail, and don’t blame Ben) who was as intoxicated as she was into a bathroom while having your security keep her friends at bay (also, I don’t blame Ben entirely for that, as they’re doing their jobs, and I don’t think you can prove he “ordered” them to do it), is fairly telling of personality.
Before I lose too much ground on this with the reader, I have to say, that if Ben wants to do these things, that’s fine. Go to a college town for your birthday, have relations with women anywhere you want. It’s your life, and I would never tell him how to live his life. But at the same time, recognize that you, as a multi-million dollar, championship caliber athlete should, by the age of 28, be above the antics of a 20 year old. Do as you wish, but beware of the dangerous consequences that could potentially be brought about by your choice (consequences potentially far worse than what ended up coming out of this incident).
This is where my past impressions of Ben come into play with the unfortunate situation at hand. I had heard many a story about Ben acting like, well to put it simply, a total jerk to some people in and around the city of Pittsburgh. I heard former players, namely Mike Logan and Najeh Davenport come out and say that Ben thought he was above the team. Former Steeler center Chukky Okobi once said he thought his friend Ben had been “big-timing” him once his celebrity grew. Roethlisberger himself took a Steelers PR person to task for not stepping in when a TV interview ran over the agreed-upon five minutes. Jerome Bettis told a reporter that the Steelers “have some young guys who don’t know what it means to be a Pittsburgh Steeler” while looking squarely at Ben early on in his tenure as a Steeler. These were all documented instances of a bad attitude, not just rumor (like when Ben had apparently given local hero Arnold Palmer a hard time while golfing one of Arnie’s area courses, which I don’t believe was ever verified to be fact).
Then suddenly, it struck me. Perhaps Ben’s suspension was as serious as it was because of the hands on assistance of the Rooney Family. Admittedly, I have no proof of this, but this is my impression and opinion, gathered from statements made by the Rooney Family, Steelers staff, and Ben himself.
Is it possible that the Rooney’s saw their largest ever single player investment going down a dangerous path? Did they think that Ben had himself grown too large of an ego, as a result of the absolutely fantastic displays of athletic prowess he had performed? Did they see an awful situation brewing, and do their best for both their organization, and more importantly Ben Roethlisberger, in an attempt to make the ultimate lemons to lemonade story out of this?
Ben has been through a lot as a result of his actions (and alleged actions) that night in Georgia. He has himself said he needed to do some growing up, and that his ego had grown too large for his own good. He said that “Big Ben” had overtaken Benjamin Roethlisberger. I heard an interview where Ben mentioned that his father had said that he wanted his son back; alluding to the fact Ben had become a different person than he once was.
I think the only thing that anyone involved could have hoped for with this, was that somehow, someway, some good would come of it. And if that good wasn’t Ben Roethlisberger taking the steps to become a better person, then I don’t know what else could have come to fruition. I can only hope for Ben’s sake that this “new Ben” is for real and here to stay.
Sorry for opening up what was once a long healed wound for some, but with Ben due for his first appearance in a Steeler uniform since his suspension, I thought I’d take a moment to both state my opinions on the situation, and wish Ben the very best of luck in this upcoming game, and more importantly his personal life. Ben is a great player, always has been, but hopefully this was a potentially terrible situation that resulted in some good for the main focal point of the media’s intense scrutiny.
By all accounts that I’ve read, Ben has looked sharp in his practices with Mr. Whitfield, and even better in practices back with his team mates, reportedly not letting a ball hit the ground in his very first practice back. He came in to training camp in better shape than he has any year since he was a rookie. He was noticeably thinner, and more trimmed than he had looked in the years prior. I am hopeful the Ben Roethlisberger we will see this Sunday is the Ben Roethlisberger we have come to expect every Sunday afternoon, if not better. I don’t expect him to be as crisp and sharp as he would be with four weeks of play under his belt, but I do expect Ben to be Ben, and be the quarterback that won us two championships when it matters most.
I am hopeful Ben’s return will show an improvement in Mike Wallace’s all around receiver play. I think with Ben we will see more of Hines Ward and Heath Miller, two players who we need to be more involved in the offense. I would also love to see some glimpses into the future talent we have in Antonio Brown and Emmanuel Sanders. Imagine Rashard Mendenhall with more space to run, as a result of Ben’s passing threat, not allowing defenses to stack 8 in the box. If we can couple a defense like ours has been playing with an offense that meets the potential I see, we will be a force with deep playoff potential in our future.
Welcome back Ben, it’s time to put this whole thing behind us as best we all can individually, and get back to business.
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