Handoff: Steelers still in good hands
As Big Ben says farewell, Watt, Harris ready to lead franchise
PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger clasped hands with his wife Ashley, surrounded himself with the couple’s three children and disappeared into the inner recesses of Heinz Field.
There’s still at least one game left in the Steelers quarterback’s career. And with a little luck, maybe a 12th visit to the playoffs.
Yet the outpouring of emotion in what became a three-plus-hour retirement party during a 26-14 victory over the Browns on Monday night left very little doubt that this is the end for Roethlisberger.
The tears were real. The hugs and the chants and the tributes from the players he’s shared a locker room with through the years — some of them still early in their NFL journey, some long-since retired — too.
For nearly two decades Roethlisberger helped provide the Steelers (8-7-1) the kind of stability and success the vast majority of the league’s other 31 franchises have long craved but rarely — very rarely — enjoyed.
Maybe that’s what made facing the Browns such a fitting sendoff. The Browns famously passed on the Ohio native in the 2004 draft, opting to take tight end Kellen Winslow with the sixth overall pick, letting the Steelers grab Roethlisberger at 11.
Nearly 20 years later, the Browns are still searching for a long-term solution at game’s the most important position. Baker Mayfield’s prospects appear to be dimming with his left shoulder in shreds and his future with the Browns murky at best.
It’s a murkiness the Steelers will fling themselves into over the coming months for the first time in a generation. Maybe they’ll splurge in free agency on a high-priced veteran. Maybe they’ll swing a trade. Maybe they’ll use their first-round pick on someone such as Pitt’s Kenny Pickett. Maybe they’ll turn to backup Mason Rudolph, currently the only quarterback on the roster under contract for 2022.
And while the quarterback situation is unclear, outside linebacker T.J. Watt and rookie running back Najee Harris give the Steelers two worthy heirs to the “face of the franchise” moniker Roethlisberger shouldered for so long.
Watt’s four sacks against the Browns pushed his total to 21 ½ on the season, one short of the NFL record set by Michael Strahan in 2001. Harris broke Franco Harris’ club mark for yards rushing as a rookie after piling up a season-best 188 yards Monday night, including the clinching touchdown in the last minute.
Power rankings
The Associated Press Pro32, as voted by a 12-member panel, with first-place votes in parentheses, records through Monday, total points based on 32 points for a first-place vote through one point for a 32nd-place vote, and previous ranking: