Editor's note: Tony Grossi covers the Cleveland Browns for ESPN 850 WKNR.
Big Ben: No one person symbolizes the squandered opportunities of the expansion era Cleveland Browns more than Ben Roethlisberger.
The Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback crosses every failed Browns regime since Butch Davis passed him in the 2004 draft ostensibly because he played for the wrong Miami university – the one in southern Ohio and not south Florida.
Forever amply motivated, Roethlisberger has defeated 12 different Browns quarterbacks, winning 19 of 21 starts against the home-state team that snubbed him. He is 10-0 against the Browns in Pittsburgh and 9-2 in Cleveland. He also came off the bench unexpectedly while mending an injury to produce another victory in the 2015 season in Pittsburgh.
To put it in sobering perspective, Roethlisberger’s nine victories in FirstEnergy Stadium are more than any of 26 Browns starting quarterbacks except Derek Anderson, who has 10. Tim Couch is third with eight.
Which means on Sunday, when the Steelers make their annual visit, Roethlisberger can match Anderson for most wins by a quarterback on the Browns’ home field.
The fact he has done it wearing black and gold instead of orange and brown explains, in simplest terms, why the Steelers are 130-71 with eight playoff appearances, three AFC Championships and two Super Bowl titles since Roethlisberger was bequeathed them, while the Browns are 61-141 with 12 losing seasons in 13 years and no playoffs.
“This is still a huge rival for me, especially me personally,” Roethlisberger, of Findlay, OH, said in a visceral conference call interview. “It is Ohio. It is the Browns. I thought I was going to go to the Browns. I am kind of over that, but for me, this is AFC North football. Like I said, it is the Browns. This is a huge rivalry for us.”
What were they thinking?: Davis’ decision to pass on Roethlisberger, of course, changed the fortunes of two bitter rivals.
At the time, Davis had seized the power vacuum in the building created by the death of owner Al Lerner in 2002. Heir Randy Lerner wanted to forge his own path with the franchise and club President Carmen Policy was given a $40 million ticket to wine country in Napa, CA.
Six weeks before the draft, Davis and Randy Lerner rode out of the Browns facility in a luxury SUV high-fiving each other the night they won a $25 million bidding war against themselves for the rights to 34-year-old free agent quarterback Jeff Garcia.
By the time the draft rolled around, Davis was fixated on corralling one of two jewels of his last University of Miami recruiting class – safety Sean Taylor or tight end Kellen Winslow. A last-minute visit to Oxford, OH, by Davis produced merely a yawn from the singularly-minded Browns coach.
“I am almost positive I did a workout for them, like a private workout,” Roethlisberger said. “I thought I did really good, by the way, but I guess not.”
Davis was devastated when Washington chose Taylor with the fifth overall pick. Owning the No. 8 pick, Davis traded a second-round pick to Detroit to move up one spot and take Winsow. Roethlisberger went 11th to the Steelers.
The 6-5, 240-pound Roethlisberger became the prototype quarterback for winning in the rough-and-tumble, rust belt-based AFC North division, where unforgiving winds, cold temperatures and punishing defenses separate men from boys.
“I have seen Ben so many times and I have great respect for him as a quarterback,” Browns coach Hue Jackson said. “He is a guy that is hard to bring down, and he makes a lot of uncommon plays in a lot different ways, running around with the ball and throwing the ball down the field. He has been very good at what he has done for a long time. Tremendous player.”
Yes, Ben’s size spawned his Big Ben nickname, but there was much more to him that Davis never bothered to discover.
“Man, he’s a competitor,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “If you had to define him in one word, it would be that. He plays, and plays to win.”
It gets worse: Roethlisberger has the same agent as Carson Wentz, who was hailed in some quarters as the next Ben prior to the 2016 draft. Like Ben, Wentz played against perceived inferior college competition and, like Ben, Wentz is a strapping, physical specimen, 6-5 and 237 pounds.
Repeating history, the latest Browns regime passed on Wentz and grasped for the fool’s gold of future draft picks in a trade with Philadelphia, another move that steered two franchises in opposite directions. Wentz beat the Browns in the season opener, 29-10, and was even better two weeks later when he slaughtered the Steelers, 34-3.
“I thought for sure he was going to Cleveland,” Roethlisberger said. “There was not a doubt in my mind that he wasn’t a perfect AFC North quarterback, a great fit for you guys and everything. Then when everything transpired, I was blown away by it, but you never know. It is early in his career. You hate to jump to conclusions and call him the same thing as me, who has been in the league for 13 years, but only time will tell if that same thing kind of happened there, too.”
It was at this point in the conference call that I lost it.
“Most of us in this room have reported on every one of your games against the Browns," I said. "Do you at all feel for what we and their fans continue to go through?”
“Yes and no,” Ben answered. “I obviously have a lot of friends there. I grew up not far from there. I know all about that town, and I know how passionate they are about their sports. I tell guys on this team that don’t know any better, and I could be completely wrong but I think I am pretty accurate when I say – they talk about how Cleveland is a Cavs town and this and that – I say, ‘I promise you that the Browns still rule in Cleveland and I think the Indians are second.’
“I understand that when it comes to wins, obviously, the Indians going to the World Series this year, the Cavs winning last year, like that means a lot to the city, but the city – in my opinion and the people I talk to and know – would do anything for a Browns Super Bowl.
“I have a lot of respect for the fans because of their passion for their team.”
It’s no consolation, but he seemed to feel our pain.