Lastly, Big Ben had been holding onto the ball for too long in an attempt to make something out of nothing. As he has been quoted as saying, "I think that I can avoid the sack and make a play." [Note: I must iterate that I do not fault Ben for holding onto the ball, because nine times out of ten, Ben will indeed make the play. As for that tenth time, as the adage says, "If you want to make an omelet..."]
Simply, Ben has been being sacked at a record pace, leaving him with a bevy of injuries: separated shoulder, swollen hand, and a sore knee.
The beginning of this past Sunday night's game against Jacksonville, things appeared to be no different, because on the fifth play from scrimmage, Ben threw an interception to Rashean Mathis...which was returned for a touchdown. For those of you who think that this sounds familiar, that would be because Ben has now thrown five interceptions to Mathis, two of which have been returned for touchdowns.
While the blame for this most recent interception (and touchdown) is mostly on the shoulders of Santonio Holmes, who slipped while running his route (and then did not tackle Mathis), the feeling was the same: it appeared to be the beginning of another long night, where Ben Roethlisberger would be running for his life.
But then...Ben decided to stop running.
Instead, he looked right into the teeth of the Jacksonville defense, and without an inkling of fear, Ben led his team down the field time and time again. The Jaguars were attacking, but Ben simply eluded the pass rush, moved around in the pocket, and completed pass after pass to his receivers, tight ends, and running backs. Even when John Henderson (who is six foot, seven inches tall and three-hundred & seventy pounds) would grab hold of him, Big Ben would simply break free... and complete a pass.
The best example of this occurred on Pittsburgh's final drive of the game. It was third-and-eight from the Jacksonville thirty-one yard line. The Steelers could have settled for running the ball up the middle, and then attempting a long field goal. Instead, they put the ball into the hands of their best player (Big Ben). After the snap of the ball, the pass rush came, and just as two Jaguars were about to destroy him, Big Ben mustered all of his strength into a throw to Hines Ward... which gained eighteen yards, and a first down at the Jacksonville thirteen yard line. [Note: the ensuing game-winning touchdown pass to Ward was a textbook example of the "corner fade" route.]
Throughout the game, watching Ben's complete lack of fear and his determination to succeed, reminded me of a scene from "Apocalypto." In that movie, a young Mayan named Jaguar's Paw is captured and taken to a temple to be sacrificed. After an escape, the lead executioner and his gang of muscle-bound sentries chase Jaguar's Paw through the forest for hours upon hours. Jaguar's Paw runs and runs and runs... until he decides that he is through with running, through with being beaten, and through with living in fear. Thus, he turns to face his adversaries. [Note: I will not ruin the ending for you, but if you have any deductive reasoning skills at all, Big Ben's victory is an obvious clue as to the outcome of this movie.]
In summation, the look on Jaguar's Paw's face (when he turned towards his pursuers) was the same look that Ben wore all night against the Jaguars: determination... without fear. Furthermore, in a few years, we all might look back at this game as the very moment when Ben Roethlisberger transformed himself from being a good quarterback to an elite quarterback.
I certainly know that I will.