Heading into the Thursday night game against the Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger needed three touchdown passes in order to break the all-time franchise record of 212 held by Terry Bradshaw. While Roethlisberger didn’t get three in the 22-20 loss, his one-yard toss to Jerricho Cotchery late in the game managed to tie the record.
Roethlisberger always plays down any talk about records, but you can bet he will want to keep the football that breaks the record. That is nearly guaranteed to happen a week from Sunday at Heinz Field when the Steelers host the Miami Dolphins.
With two touchdown passes against the Dolphins, Roethlisberger will pass John Brodie on the all-time regular season career touchdown pass list.
Bradshaw’s final regular season touchdown pass of his career came in his 168th game played. It was a 10-yard pass to wide receiver Calvin Sweeney in the second quarter of the December, 1983 win over the New York Jets.
Should Roethlisberger indeed break it against the Dolphins, Bradshaw’s record would have stood for almost 30 years exactly.
