Earlier today on The Pat McAfee Show, McAfee talked about his time with Ben Roethlisberger at the Steelers-Colts Week 4 matchup in Indianapolis and said Roethlisberger admitted he missed football when the Steelers got the ball back down by three with over two minutes to go.
On the latest episode of his Footbahlin’ podcast, Roethlisberger explained those emotions and said it took him back to practice with the Steelers and working in two-minute scenarios.
“I thought of Garrett Giemont who was our strength and conditioning coach with the Steelers, loved that man dearly. He was the one who set up the two-minute drill in practice, so I didn’t know what the scenario was going to be,” Roethlisberger said. “And all I could think about at that moment when we got the ball back, I think it was 2:39. I don’t even know exactly what it was. It was over two minutes, and we had one timeout and the two-minute timeout, and all I could think about was [Giemont] being like, ‘Ben, you got an eternity.'”
Roethlisberger said that was the only part he wanted to be out there for.
“That part of it had the juices going a little bit. I was like, oh, this is the only part I want to be out there for.”
Roethlisberger did admit when he saw the Colts come out of the tunnel he thought they looked “bigger, faster, stronger” than he remembered and thought that he wasn’t sure if he could play anymore.
It’s natural for someone who played the game for so long to miss playing in the weighty moments. Roethlisberger was clutch, leading 41 career fourth-quarter comebacks and 53 game-winning drives in his career with the Steelers, so when the Steelers got the ball back down by three with time left, it’s a scenario that he looked at and saw where he could’ve thrived.
Roethlisberger has now been retired for three seasons, and it doesn’t seem as if he misses pretty much anything else that goes into playing every week. But players of his caliber who succeeded for so long at a high level will always miss some aspect of football, and for a quarterback, it’s usually the moment when the ball is in your hand, and you need to make a play to help your team win.
Unfortunately for the Steelers on Sunday, their comeback fell short as a botched snap essentially ended the game for Pittsburgh, who turned the ball over on downs with 37 seconds left on their own 41. It was a disappointing end to what had been an exciting second half as the Steelers clawed their way back into the game. Maybe back in the day under Roethlisberger, things would’ve ended differently. But the Steelers are still 3-1 with a lot of season ahead of them, so it’s important to wipe that game and move on to the Cowboys on Sunday.
