WaPo/Mike Wilbon: "Big Ben, Already Like Clockwork"

[Penndems]

By Michael Wilbon

Monday, January 23, 2006; Page E01

DENVER

Ben Roethlisberger woke up earlier than usual. Maybe it was the transition from Eastern to Mountain time. Perhaps it was simply the sense of anticipation of playing such an enormous game in the same city in which his idol, John Elway, worked his magic for so many years. After all, Roethlisberger wears No. 7 because Elway wore No. 7. Whatever it was, Roethlisberger was in a contemplative mood as he walked to the little lake behind the hotel the Steelers were staying in. "The lake was right there, the mountains were behind me," he said. "I thought, 'Man, Colorado is beautiful. I could live here.' "

Roethlisberger went out and played like he was at home -- like Elway -- against Elway's old team in Sunday's AFC championship game. The Pittsburgh Steelers' quarterback found seven receivers, completed 21 of 29 passes for 275 yards, and finished with an absurdly efficient passer rating of 124.9. He helped the Steelers convert eight of the team's first nine third-down plays and controlled the game the way Elway -- or for that matter, Pittsburgh's Terry Bradshaw -- once did.

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Roethlisberger, still only 23 years old, played like the best quarterback in the NFL this side of Tom Brady. The kid may not be the purest passer -- though he's plenty proficient at that -- but after two seasons he has mastered many elements of playing quarterback, despite saying emphatically after the game, "I'm a long way from mastering anything."

What he has mastered in these playoffs was not turning over the football. So far, he has thrown seven touchdown passes to one measly interception in the postseason, that one last week while he was being tackled by the Colts' Dwight Freeney. Roethlisberger's decision making, in just two seasons, has become Brady-like.

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Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/01/22/AR2006012201255.html