As a rookie, Ben Roethlisberger was in a unique situation. The fact he was playing, let alone playing well, was unexpected. Despite his first round status, Bill Cowher and the Pittsburgh Steeler’s intent was to allow him to sit his rookie year. Learn from Charlie Batch and Tommy Maddox.
By Week Two, Roethlisberger had replaced both of them. Batch went down with an injury in the summer and Maddox was lost to an elbow injury mid-game against the Baltimore Ravens. Roethlisberger stepped in and stepped up, the Steelers going 15-1 on an incredible regular season run. While the good times were rolling, Cowher knew he couldn’t let the success be the team’s downfall. Appearing on Bruce Gradkowski’s Alpha 5 Method podcast Tuesday, Roethlisberger says Cowher coached him hard.
“He treated me like a crappy rookie,” Roethlisberger said of Cowher. “And he’s admitted it, and we’ve talked about it. He’s like, ‘Ben, I could have treated you like the greatest thing since sliced bread and put you up there. You were winning games. Or I could have treated you like I did. I chose that route because I felt like that was what was best for you.”
Roethlisberger was the hot-shot rookie on a veteran team. One that openly bemoaned having to put their season in a rookie’s hands, though Pittsburgh’s running game and defense were the pillars of the team. Cowher, an old-school and hard-edged coach, didn’t want to put Roethlisberger on too large a pedestal and place him above veterans like Alan Faneca, Hines Ward, or Aaron Smith.
Cowher’s commented on their relationship over the years, once noting he’d call run plays if Roethlisberger was playing too reckless. And that his “streetball” play would sometimes drive Cowher nuts, though it became a staple of Roethlisberger’s early days.
Roethlisberger contrasted Cowher’s coaching style and relationship with Mike Tomlin.
“It wasn’t like you were with Tomlin. Where you were kind of buddies, you could go talk whenever. The old open door policy, I never went into the open door. I didn’t want to go and talk to Coach Cowher. That was the last thing I wanted to do.”
Of course, the dynamics were different when Tomlin became the Steelers’ head coach in 2007. Roethlisberger was no longer a rookie making rookie mistakes. He was a Super Bowl champion with the offense beginning to run through him instead of around. Tomlin’s style is just different than Cowher’s, more suited for the modern era than Cowher’s time. Neither is inherently right or wrong. They’re just what the era and the situation called for.
While difficult at the time, reminiscent of Chuck Noll and Terry Bradshaw, Roethlisberger believes Cowher’s hard coaching was the best thing for him and the health of the team.
“He handled it like he probably should have with a young guy and a veteran group. Because if he would’ve tried to put me up on a pedestal, this young quarterback. I think that the guys probably would’ve been like, ‘Why are you doing this to this guy? We had to earn our stripes, right?’ It was Coach Cowher, you had to earn your stripes. I’m glad I was able to do that.”
Cowher would coach Roethlisberger for his first three seasons, winning Super Bowl XL together. It was a game that helped cement Cowher’s legacy as a future Hall of Famer and began Roethlisberger’s road to Canton, where he’ll wind up the first year he’s eligible. Today, Roethlisberger and Cowher seem to have a strong relationship,with Cowher joining Roethlisberger’s podcast last May.
Check out the full episode between Gradkowski and Roethlisberger below.
