All eyes will be on Big Ben’s arm
Analysts weigh in on what to look for
In March 2009, one month after he quarterbacked the Arizona Cardinals to Super Bowl XLIII, Kurt Warner had hip surgery. He was 38 and rehabbed with the intent of coming back strong and finishing his career with a bang.
Later that fall, Warner threw 26 touchdown passes and led the Cardinals to another playoff berth in his final NFL season, the exclamation point to a Hall of Fame career.
“I was probably in better shape because I had gone through that rehab process,” Warner said. “It forced me to work and focus on little things that maybe I took for granted for a while.”
Now Warner is watching another 38- year old quarterback attempt a comeback after surgery. Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who beat Warner in Super Bowl XLIII, had reconstructive elbow surgery last fall and will play for the first time in one year when the Steelers visit the Giants for their opener on Monday night.
Warner thinks the grueling rehab Roethlisberger endured will ultimately help him.
“I’ve heard he’s in great shape, maybe better shape than he’s been in for a while,” said Warner, who is now an analyst for NFL Network. “That could be a fascinating part of it. He could have been doing some things that he had never done before if he didn’t suffer the injury. And maybe that helps to prolong
some things moving forward. And maybe that helps him bounce back quicker than he would otherwise.”
Roethlisberger’s comeback will be great theater because the reality is no one knows how things will unfold. In his last full season, Roethlisberger threw for more than 5,000 yards and made the Pro Bowl, but now he’s throwing with three surgically repaired ligaments after they tore off the bone in a game against the Seahawks at Heinz Field last Sept. 15. Roethlisberger has described his surgery as unique. The fact is there have only been a couple of quarterbacks that have tried to come back after elbow surgery.
So how will we know that Roethlisberger is back to his old self? We might get an idea fairly early against the Giants.
Louis Riddick, who played six seasons in the NFL as a safety, will be watching how Roethlisberger looks physically, but he’ll also be paying close attention to what types of throws he’s willing to try.
“In those tight- window throws, when I’ve got good coverage, is he still one of those guys who will try and fit that ball in there because he has confidence in his ability to put enough RPMs on that football to put it in there?” said Riddick, a member of ESPN’s new “Monday Night Football” broadcasting team. “And then from a safety perspective in particular, will he make me back up? Will he be able to put the ball over my head? Because if he can’t do it, or he’s not willing to do it, or he’s not willing to do it over the entire course of a game or in successive games ... if he’s not able to do that, then as a safety and as a defender, we’re just going to continue to squeeze down on that offense.
“We’re just going to continue to take the air out of the offense and come closer and closer and closer to him, and then when that happens you understand what that does to offenses. It just puts them in a box and they can’t do anything. So I think as long as he gains the respect of the defenders and says, ‘ Hey, look, I can make the tight- window throws. I’ve got the RPMs left. And hey, safeties: If you start cheating on me I’ll go up over the top to JuJu [ Smith- Schuster] or Diontae Johnson so you’d better back up.”
Go back 4 ½ years, and there might be a hint as to how Roethlisberger and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner plan to respond Monday night. On the first play of the AFC divisional round game against the Broncos in January 2016, one week after he separated his shoulder in the wild card win in Cincinnati, Roethlisberger’s first pass attempt was a deep ball to Markus Wheaton.
It was incomplete, but Roethlisberger’s willingness to go deep showed the Broncos they had to respect his arm.
It doesn’t have to be on the first play of the season, but Roethlisberger is going to have to prove that he is capable of making throws expected of NFL quarterbacks.
“As a former quarterback who has had issues with my throwing arm, the thing that you look for right off the bat is the velocity,” said Brian Griese, who is part of ESPN’s three- man Monday night booth, along with play- by- play man Steve Levy. “As long as he maintains that velocity, I think we should expect the same Ben we’ve seen.”
Roethlisberger’s velocity has been evident in camp. Coach Mike Tomlin said that his spiral has been “tighter” and coaches and teammates have marveled at his throws.
But those were only practices. Roethlisberger said he would have liked to have played a preseason this year if for no other reason than to acclimate to the speed of an NFL game again. Now he’s going to have to get up to speed when the games count.
“You just want to see him make the plays he has in the past,” Warner said. “When you start to see him doing similar things to what he was doing a year ago, that’s when you take a sigh of relief and say, ‘ OK he’s back. He’s the guy we expect him to be.’ The question becomes: How long does that take? I’ve said numerous times that every season I enjoyed parts of the preseason games — to get acclimated, to be able to slow the game down, you can feel the pressure and say, ‘ OK, I’m ready for the season.’
“Now with no preseason, a different training camp plan, that’s what I’m watching for. I’m going to assume for him, early on, the game is going to be a little fast for him. I think you’ll see it slow down for him, make some of those special plays. If he’s reading and making the throws he normally makes it’ll be safe to say he’s just fine. I expect him to have a good year and play really, really well. It’s just a matter of how long it will take because of the time off and the odd offseason we’ve had. How long will it take him to settle those nerves and be back to normal?”