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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Put him in the octagon with Chuck Liddell. Or maybe in the ring with Mike Tyson. Hey, throw him in a tiger cage for that matter. Maybe even a shark tank.
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| When it comes to choosing between pain and playing, it's an easy choice for QB Ben Roethlisberger. (US Presswire) |
Doubt it?
Then you didn't see him play Sunday night in the Pittsburgh Steelers' 26-21 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium.
Roethlisberger didn't practice all last week because of a bum shoulder. So with little work, and without his top two running backs, all he did was throw for 309 yards and three touchdowns and lead his team on a game-winning, 80-yard touchdown drive.
That drive included two amazing plays when he shook off defenders to make key completions down the field, one time shaking free of 330-pound John Henderson.
He's strong for sure. But it's that toughness that makes him special, a Terry Bradshaw-type toughness, the kind that Steelers fans eat up.
I asked Roethlisberger after the game if at any time last week he thought he might sit this one out.
"Last week?" Roethlisberger said. "How about this morning?"
That's how much he was hurting. Some guys might have checked out, especially after getting sacked 15 times in four games and having the Philadelphia Eagles and Baltimore Ravens throw him around like a rag doll the previous two games.
On the game-winning drive, Roethlisberger was playing behind a line minus a starting guard who is out for the season and without his left tackle, Marvel Smith, who left the game with cramps.
He was handing off to Mewelde Moore, mostly a third-down back in his previous time with the Minnesota Vikings.
Some teams might come into a game with a gimpy quarterback and try and protect him. That's not the Roethlisberger way. If he's in, he's gunning. And he gunned right from the start of this one.
