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Can Big Ben traverse that playoff two-by-four? You better believe it

Sporting News, The, Jan 21, 2005 by Troy Aikman

Some folks are discounting the Steelers' chances of reaching the Super Bowl because their quarterback is a rookie. Not me.

Ben Roethlisberger is as ready to win in the playoffs as anyone. He's playing very well and has the confidence of his teammates, which wasn't entirely the case when he was launching that 13-0 run as Pittsburgh's starter. Remember what guard Alan Faneca said before Roethlisberger's first start: "Do you want to go to work with some little young kid who's just out of college?" There was trepidation then, but the Steelers couldn't imagine taking the field with anyone other than Big Ben now.

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Some say the pressure of the playoffs will get to him. It's true the intensity level of the playoffs is greater than the regular season's. That's natural when you know a loss means your season is over. But if pressure were a big issue with Roethlisberger, it would have manifested itself by now because each win he accumulated raised the bar for him that much higher. And all he did was keep winning.

Nor should his lack of playoff experience be an issue. I think back to the 1992 season, when Dallas had the youngest team in the league and I was a playoff starter for the first time. We advanced to the Super Bowl, where we faced Buffalo, a veteran-laden team that had played in--and lost--the previous two Super Bowls.

I'll never forget what Jimmy Johnson did to help us prepare for that game. He gathered the team and said, "If I laid a 10-foot two-by-four on the floor, how many people think they could walk across it without falling off?" Everybody's hand went up. Then he said, "OK, let's say I take that same two-by-four and put it between two buildings 20 stories high. Could you walk across it then?" We had to chew on that for a while.

Jimmy's point: The only difference between that piece of wood on the ground and in the air was the perception of the task. Same thing with the Super Bowl. Despite the hype, it was the same game we'd been playing all season. All we had to do was go out and play it again. Which we did, winning, 52-17.

The thing about playoff football is you're never sure how players will react to the enormity of each game. Will you choke in the spotlight? Or will you rise to the occasion?

Something tells me Ben Roethlisberger will be quite comfortable crossing that two-by-four--wherever it might be suspended.

The Troy Aikman show airs at 5 p.m. ET every Thursday through the Super Bowl on Sporting News Radio. Listen online at radio.sportingnews.com.

Can Big Ben traverse that playoff two-by-four? You better believe it

Sporting News, The, Jan 21, 2005 by Troy Aikman

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