As magical as Ben Roethlisberger’s rookie season was, Jayden Daniels is putting it to shame. That might sound sacrilegious in Pittsburgh but even Roethlisberger’s coach, Bill Cowher, agrees that what Daniels is doing this season is more impressive than Roethlisberger in 2004.
Joining Rich Eisen on The Rich Eisen Show Thursday, Cowher would take what Daniels has done over Roethlisberger.
“Yeah, I agree,” Cowher said when Eisen suggested Daniels’ performance is more impressive. “I think Jayden Daniels has had a lot more put on his plate than Ben did. Ben eased into it as the season went along. We gave him more and more as he became more comfortable with what he was doing.”
Roethlisberger was part of an era where rookies weren’t expected to play out of the gate. Pittsburgh’s intention was to have him serve as the Steeler’s third-string quarterback, watching and learning from the bench instead of being thrown onto the field. But injuries to Charlie Batch and Tommy Maddox forced the team’s hand. Roethlisberger responded by going undefeated in the regular season and winning 14 total games his first year, a feat unmatched until Daniels did so with his Divisional Round win over the Detroit Lions.
As pointed out by Eisen earlier in the show, Roethlisberger rarely had to throw in high volume. In 13 regular-season starts, he averaged just 21.2 attempts. Compare that to Daniels’ 28.2 which doesn’t even factor in his high-end rushing ability, making him a threat out of the pocket. Roethlisberger was a playmaker beyond the structure of the play too, his Backyard Ben style a headache and rarely seen by NFL defenses, but he wasn’t the threat to run away from defenders like Daniels is.
Also, Daniels entered the season as Washington’s starter for a rebuilding roster picking second overall in 2024. A complete rebuild and culture change making the Commanders competitive for the first time in years. They won 12 regular-season games for the first time since 1991. It’s also the last time they made it to the NFC Championship Game, winning it and going on to capture their last Super Bowl. Daniels is one game away from bringing them all the way back.
Though Bill Cowher is giving the edge to Daniels, he sees plenty of similarities between his and Roethlisberger’s early years.
“In 2005, Ben’s second year, we started off 7-2. So did Washington. We lost three in a row to go to 7-5. So did Washington. We won out the rest of that season and entered the playoffs as a number six seed. So did Washington,” he told Eisen. “And we had a quarterback who was 23 years old in his second year. Jayden Daniels is 24 in his first year. I’ve kind of seen this story unfold before.”
Roethlisberger and the Steelers got hot in 2005, becoming the first six seed to win the Super Bowl. Daniels and the Commanders hope to write the same story. Another win will officially break Roethlisberger’s mark and make Daniels the first rookie quarterback to ever start a Super Bowl, something Roethlisberger fell one game shy of accomplishing. That would cement Daniels’ season as the greatest one by a rookie quarterback.
