With it being the middle of the offseason and all of us missing football, I’ve decided to turn back the clock. I always find it fun to go back and look at some of the Pittsburgh Steelers star players’ first big games. So that’s what we are going to do. We have previously hit on T.J. Watt, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell, so I figure it is time to hop in the time machine, go back to 2004 and take a look at the most important “Killer B,” Ben Roethlisberger, and his breakout game against the Patriots on Halloween.
Breakout Player: Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger
Breakout Game: 2004 vs New England Patriots (18/24, 196 yards, two touchdowns, passer rating of 126.4)
Ben Roethlisberger took the NFL world by storm as a rookie. He won every regular-season game he started and turned a 6-10 team into a 15-1 team. His play in 2004 is one the best we will ever see from a rookie quarterback. Despite going 4-0 in his first four games, his biggest test was yet to come as Pittsburgh was facing off against Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots. The Patriots were coming off their second Super Bowl win in three seasons and were undefeated entering the Week Seven matchup on Halloween. In fact, New England had a 21-game win streak entering the game, making the task of defeating the Patriots even more difficult.
The vaunted Patriots’ defense was supposed to cool down Roethlisberger, the red-hot rookie, but that didn’t happen. Roethlisberger first showed off that he was going to outplay Brady late in the first quarter when he connected on a 47-yard bomb to Plaxico Burress to give Pittsburgh a 7-3 lead.
And the Roethlisberger-to-Burress connection was only just getting underway. The two connected again for six just a couple of minutes later. After the Steelers defense forced a Brady fumble, Pittsburgh took over with great field position. After four strong runs by running back Duce Staley that gave the Steelers a second and goal from the 4-yard line, Roethlisberger once again went to Burress, this time on a fade route to put Pittsburgh up 14-3.
Roethlisberger did a great job on this play to put the ball only where Burress could get to it. on his outside shoulder and way out of reach of the Patriots’ defensive back.
After giving the ball back, Brady threw a pick-six to Deshea Townsend, which made the first quarter end 21-3. While Roethlisberger didn’t throw any more touchdowns in this game — the Steelers kind of just sat on the ball the rest of the way — he still played really well making timely throws when needed.
A good example of this came late in the second quarter after a, wait for it, Ike Taylor interception. Roethlisberger drove the team down the field and made a huge pass, which eventually led to an easy field goal by Jeff Reed.
Early in the third quarter, Roethlisberger once again turned to Burress to set up a first and goal. Up 24-10 one more touchdown at this stage in the game would more than likely ice it with the way the 2004 Steelers played, so a conversion on third and seven was huge. Roethlisberger rifled a pass into Burress’ arms, which gave Pittsburgh a first down inside the 3-yard line.
Jerome Bettis would quickly score and turn the score into an insurmountable 31-10 lead with 13 minutes to go in the third quarter.
Pittsburgh ended up winning the game 34-20 in large part due to the great play by Roethlisberger. Obviously the Steelers defense played great, forcing four turnovers and scoring a touchdown themselves, but Roethlisberger’s play against one of the best defenses in the league was eye opening. He outplayed Brady, who at the time was one of the best quarterbacks in the league and already had two Super Bowl rings.
For Roethlisberger this was only the beginning. He would knock off another undefeated team in the Philadelphia Eagles the next week and win a Super Bowl the next season. Roethlisberger finished his career after the 2021 season, retiring after playing 18 seasons, all with the Steelers. He is a lock for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, but it wasn’t really until Halloween night of 2004 that many knew Roethlisberger would be a star.
If you would like to rewatch the highlights of this game in all their glory, the YouTube channel NFL Throwback posted a 16-minute highlight video of it.
