When it comes to the NFL, every advantage matters. Anything you can learn about your opponent, good or bad, might be the difference between winning and losing the game. Ahead of the Super Bowl, everyone’s on edge. Making sure every detail is addressed, every base covered, and that no one is giving away information to the other team.
Former Pittsburgh Steelers QB Coach Ken Anderson remembers slipping up before one of the biggest games of his career. Appearing on the In The Trenches podcast with Dave Lapham, Anderson shared the story of accidentally leaking information about Ben Roethlisberger’s rib injury ahead of Super Bowl XLIII.
“I do remember one thing that happened in Pittsburgh. The only coaches that talked to the media were the head coach and the coordinators,” Anderson told the show. “I remember we go to Friday’s practice and Andrea Kremer was going to be the sideline reporter. And I knew her for a long time. She comes up, ‘Kenny, what’s the deal on Ben’s rib? He got it X-rayed last night.’ I go, ‘I don’t know anything about it.’ He was fine during the week. I never heard him complaining.”
Though largely forgotten 15 years later, Roethlisberger would reveal after the Super Bowl win he that he played the game with two fractured ribs. The X-ray he had prior to the game didn’t reveal the injury, which only appeared on an MRI after the Steelers had beaten the Cardinals.
“But I knew all along there was something wrong,” Roethlisberger would later say of the injury. “There wouldn’t have been anything that could have been done about fractured ribs anyway. It was just suck it up and play.”
So it’s fair to say even the Steelers didn’t understand how the extent of Roethlisberger’s injury he was. Hours before kickoff, Anderson was again greeted by a reporter looking for the scoop.
“So now it’s Sunday morning of the game. That’s the longest day in the world. So I’m out taking a walk. And we’re at our undisclosed hotel but unfortunately there were three satellite trucks outside our hotel. So I’m walking and one of the reporters runs up and says, ‘Kenny, how’s Ben?’ He’s fine. So I go back. I turn on the broadcast, let’s go to Ron Jaworski we’ve got the live report from Miami that Ken Anderson says that Ben Roethlisberger is fine. I’ve known Kenny a long time and if he says Roethlisberger is fine, he’s fine.
“I’m going, ‘Oh my God.’ Now I’m nervous to death to go down to the pregame meal. Ben’s going to be pissed, the head coach is going to be pissed. I’m a wreck. Luckily, no one said anything about anything.”
To avoid fans and attention, the location of team hotels are supposed to be private. But major media companies like ESPN often find out through back channels where the players and coaches stay. Clearly, Anderson never meant to offer an official report to the media, trying to brush the story off and make it a non-issue.
Fortunately, either the players and coaches didn’t see the news or didn’t care it was reported. And all that matters is the result, which Pittsburgh came out on top, Roethlisberger throwing the game-winning pass in the perfect place to WR Santonio Holmes in the back right corner of the end zone, the injury not holding him back.
Anderson would serve as the Steelers’ quarterbacks coach one more season before retiring, capping a great football career as a player and coach. Catch the whole interview here.
