Throughout his 18-year career, which will see him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Pittsburgh Steelers’ all-time great quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had some memorable moments.
In fact, some of those memorable moments came against the rival Baltimore Ravens throughout his historic career. However, those memorable moments more often than not went in favor of Roethlisberger.
But his Welcome to the NFL moment? Well, that also came against the Baltimore Ravens and still sticks with Roethlisberger to this day. Appearing on the latest episode of the “Footbahlin” podcast, Roethlisberger recalled his Welcome to the NFL moment, which came in Week 2 of the 2004 season when he took over for the injured Tommy Maddox.
That moment?
The 51-yard pick-6 by Ravens’ standout cornerback Chris McAlister. That pick-6 occurred due to a Roethlisberger mistake on a check at the line of scrimmage late in the comeback attempt.
“I do remember my first game playing against Baltimore in Baltimore when Tommy [Maddox] got hurt and we actually had a, I think I told the story, but I’ll tell it again. We’re at the end of the game; we had a two-minute drill. I have the ball, we’re getting ready to drive down the field, and we actually might talk about it with [Bill] Cowher. At the time, our two-minute package was made up of 10 plays,” Roethlisberger recalls of his welcoming moment to the NFL, according to video via the show’s YouTube page. “And so you’d be like, you know, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and then you’d have to go like six. It was weird when you got to the sixes and 7, 8, 9. So you’d be like, you’d tell the guys like, ‘Hey, 9, 9, 9.’ And everyone would know where to line up, what the play was.
“Yeah, real complex-type stuff. And then instead of 10, ’cause that’s what, five five, right? It was this 10, 10, 10, 10. Well, I did 10, 10, 10, 10, and so I threw a 10, told ’em a five play, and it got intercepted for a touchdown, so…”
Roethlisberger recalls it correctly. Here’s that play.
On the play, Roethlisberger targeted wide receiver Plaxico Burress up the sideline. He was seemingly expecting Burress to run a stop route, but both receivers on that side — Burress and Antwaan Randle El — ran go routes. McAlister saw the throw and cut it off, diving and intercepting the pass before getting to his feet and racing down the sideline, evading offensive tackle Marvel Smith and diving over Roethlisberger for the score, stretching the lead to 30-13 for the Ravens in what would hold up as the final score.
Prior to that mistake, Roethlisberger had the Steelers back in the game.
Trailing 20-0 entering the fourth quarter, Roethlisberger led the comeback, hitting Randle El on a 3-yard touchdown and later finding Hines Ward on a 12-yard touchdown to make it a 20-13 game after the 2-point try failed.
But after a quick stop by the Steelers’ defense, Roethlisberger and the offense couldn’t capitalize, resulting in McAlister’s back-breaking pick-6, which gave Roethlisberger his Welcome to the NFL moment.
Fortunately for Roethlisberger and the Steelers, that failed comeback attempt wouldn’t be the norm for the future Hall of Fame quarterback as he went on to lead 41 fourth-quarter comebacks and 53 game-winning drives in his career.
Check out the full episode of “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger” below.
