Mad World
Ben Sabotages Steelers' System
By Mark Madden

Everyone is justifiably gaga over the hot beginning Ben Roethlisberger has had in the NFL. Mike Kruczek, for example, won his first six starts as a Steeler QB, and we all know how that turned out.

OK, bad example.

When the smoke clears, however, and the rookie season of Roethlisberger is truly and definitively evaluated, here's what will have become obvious: Boy, has this kid screwed things up.

No knock on Big Ben. He is doing what any enthusiastic young athlete would do, namely playing to the best of his ability. But the last thing the Steelers want is a star quarterback on their hands.

The Steelers want a systems guy. Ever since Terry Bradshaw retired, the Steelers have preferred quarterbacks in the mold of Neil O'Donnell. A QB who executes the offense in competent and organized fashion while hopefully adding the occasional big play at crunch time.

Quarterbacks like that, you don't have to pay big money. You just let 'em go to the Jets.

Quarterbacks like that, you don't have to design your offense around. You just give 'em generic weapons and concentrate on building the defense.

Preference for that sort of quarterback is why the Steelers would have taken Philip Rivers over Roethlisberger given the chance. Rivers, in a best-case scenario, will wind up being O'Donnell.

Roethlisberger is different. It's obvious that he has star potential. That means you have to build the offense around him. Which is exactly what the Steelers don't want to do.

You don't let Roethlisberger become a latter-day Daryle 'Mad Bomber' Lamonica at the expense of the running attack. Au contraire. Right now, Roethlisberger's biggest weapon is the ground game. It takes pressure off him and allows the Steelers to pick the rookie QB's spots.

But like ESPN's John Clayton said on my radio show recently, you can't afford to lose weapons when you have a blue-chip QB like Roethlisberger. The Steelers thusly are forced to retain Plaxico Burress for next season. That was a good idea even when Tommy Maddox was starting. With Roethlisberger prematurely put at the helm, keeping Plax is now an absolute necessity.

If the Steelers can't sign Plax, they can franchise him for about $8 million. That's a big chunk of change, especially for a guy who can't be bothered with mini-camp.

But if the Steelers let Burress walk, they let Roethlisberger's most talented target walk. The problem trickles down to Hines Ward, who wouldn't be as good without Plax to draw all those double-teams. Suddenly Roethlisberger is left with a receiving corps about half as good as he started with.

How is Roethlisberger then supposed to keep improving? He can't.

Once Big Ben is the franchise, and Plax gets franchised, the spending doesn't stop there. Gotta extend Ward, too. Gotta have a great offensive line to protect your investment. Sooner or later, you gotta pay Roethlisberger that big-time quarterback cash, which goes way beyond even first-round rookie quarterback cash.

When you spend all that money on offense, you can't spend it on defense. Suddenly the vaunted 'Steeler way' is sabotaged because Roethlisberger got too good, and too quick. Damn him.

But like Peter Marshall used to say on 'Hollywood Squares' when some dork chose the wrong square, this may yet work out.

If Roethlisberger does keep getting better, we should remember that the Steelers' four Super Bowl victories were all earned by a superstar quarterback. True, there were no cap concerns then. But I'll take my chances with a great QB even if you have to use the occasional jobroni at a traditional position of strength like linebacker. You can win games with a scrub linebacker (see Foote, Larry).

Can you win a Super Bowl without a star quarterback?

Well, the Steelers haven't.

A few things worry me about Roethlisberger. He recently did a Chunky Soup TV ad. The guys who do those usually get hurt, including Jerome Bettis. Bettis also got chunky, ironically.

Dallas Coach Bill Parcells called Roethlisberger the best quarterback prospect to enter the NFL in 10-15 years, comparing him favorably to Dan Marino. ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski said that Roethlisberger is better than Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Brett Favre at the same stage of their respective careers. It's easy to worry that the hype could swell Big Ben's head.

That said, toning down the buzz for Roethlisberger's big start wouldn't be much fun. Everyone says, in hushed, funereal tones, that sooner or later, he's going to play like a rookie. Sooner or later, he's going to have a bad day.

Well, sooner or later, Roethlisberger is going to throw for 400 yards and four touchdowns. I would prefer to anticipate that day, thanks very much.

Let's see Roethlisberger for what he really is: A young man with one foot in Canton, and the other in Paris Hilton's bedroom. Let's dream big, because Big Ben is worthy of such dreams.

Mark Madden hosts a sports talk show 3-7 p.m. weekdays on ESPN Radio 1250.