BEN ROETHLISBERGER (PHOTO COURTESY PITTSBURGH STEELERS)
by Aubrey Bruce, For New Pittsburgh Courier
I have covered professional football for more than four decades and one of the primary elements that stands out to me besides the competition of the game itself is the marketing of players, coaches and even the control and manipulation of entire demographics.
There are fans and media that, from the day he was hired, have refused and continue to rebel as far as referring to Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin as, “Coach.” A fellow scribe from Baltimore has said to me on more than one occasion that the “Mason-Dixon line” has been extended into Western Pennsylvania to annex Pittsburgh to be part of the United States’ southern boundary.
Let’s switch gears for a minute. As of now, NFL “quarter-Blacks” are redefining the position of professional football signal-callers. When White QBs escape the pocket by running they are called opportunistic and taking advantage of what the opposing defense gives them. Most of the time when Black quarterbacks escape the pocket, it is because they are supposedly a bit slower in reading and deciphering defenses and they are less cerebral and less likely to absorb and implement the “more finer and subtle nuances of the game,” as it’s said.
When the Pittsburgh Steelers hired Tomlin as their head coach there was little and oftentimes no credit given to his coaching genius. His hiring was viewed by many as a result of the “Rooney Rule,” a hastily manufactured mandate that would give otherwise “unqualified” minority applicants access to at least be considered for “available” NFL head coaching opportunities.
Prior to being hired as the defensive coordinator for the Minnesota Vikings and head coach of the Steelers, Tomlin coached the defensive secondary for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. When the Buccaneers won Super Bowl XXXVII in January 2003, the team recorded five interceptions, three of which were returned for touchdowns.
On the flip side, was Urban Meyer hired by the Jacksonville Jaguars as part of an ongoing unspoken “confirmative action” mandate created by professional football ownership and maintained by the same to insure that White NFL coaching candidates will always be at the head of the coaching employment line? His hiring seemed like a cementing and maintaining of the status quo: strengthening the core of the blatant and overt hiring practices that have been employed by most of professional football ownership franchises and groups for more than a century (Meyer, who had no NFL head coaching experience, was fired in his first season with the Jaguars).
These sports ownership “fraternities” overtly forced the media and fans alike to accept these undiluted, racially prejudiced hiring practices, or as my grandmother would tell my mother when they came to an irresolvable disagreement, “let the door knob hit you where the good Lord split you.”
BEN ROETHLISBERGER, MIKE TOMLIN
There are now calls to allow Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger to finish his career on Sunday, Jan. 9, in a blaze of glory by calling his own plays, thereby ignoring the direction of Coach Tomlin, which Roethlisberger seems to have done many times without much prompting. Ben Roethlisberger has competed in three NFL championship games. One was lost because of him and two were won despite him and only because of miraculous plays and performances by his teammates, including a 100-yard interception in the final seconds of the first half by former Steelers linebacker James Harrison and an other-worldly touchdown reception by ex-Steelers wide receiver Santonio Holmes as the game was nearing its conclusion.
On Monday night against the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field, the often-beleaguered Steelers defense appeared to play inspired defense for much of the game. The Steelers defeated the Browns, 26-14, on Jan. 3. I can’t speculate whether the fiery and passionate performance of the Steelers defense was fueled by the possible final curtain call for Roethlisberger or just playing hard for Tomlin. I would also be remiss not to acknowledge the career accomplishments and achievements of Ben Roethlisberger. I would also be less than honest not to profile his shortcomings as well.
Like it or not, for more than a decade, the Pittsburgh Steelers have mostly been defined by the production, performance or non-performance of Roethlisberger. As his time on the field expires, will Big Ben sail off into a tranquil and forgiving NFL sunset, or have the Steelers been shipwrecked for at least the near future because of his play?
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