3. Clutch
Even though Roethlisberger has not always put up the biggest stats, he comes through when it counts. The Steelers’ 2008 championship happened after the quarterback threw the game-winning touchdown pass to Santonio Holmes after the Cardinals turned a 20-7 deficit into a 23-20 lead.
Roethlisberger led the Steelers to five fourth-quarter comebacks in each of his Super Bowl-winning seasons, and he has 23 over the course of his career.
2. Elevates players around him
This is a trait that the NFL’s elite four quarterbacks share, and Roethlisberger has the ability as well. Receivers such as Santonio Holmes and Mike Wallace were once considered to be toward the top at their position, but they eventually left the Steelers. Neither of them were able to maintain their production outside of Pittsburgh.
Wallace has been a free-agent bust with the Dolphins, and Holmes’ production went way down after having 1,248 receiving yards in 2009. Now he is out of the NFL, although this is partly due to character concerns. While there have been great receivers in Roethlisberger’s time such as Hines Ward and Plaxico Burress, he makes anyone he throws the ball to better. He has also done all of this with an average-at-best offensive line throughout his career.
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