Long time Pittsburgh Steelers Quarterback “Big” Ben Roethlisberger retired on January 27th following a legendary 18 year career. Roethlisberger was selected 11th overall in the 2004 NFL draft by the Steelers and played with them for his entire career. He would go on to win 2 Super Bowls and leads the team in many quarterback records. He is 5th in pass completions, 5th in passing yards, and 8th in passing touchdowns in NFL history. He has played the most games in a Steeler uniform at 249 and has the 5th most career wins in NFL history with 165. 

One of the most famous plays in superbowl history was the throw and catch to win superbowl XLIII. With a little over 35 seconds left, Ben dropped back and delivered a perfect pass over three Cardinals defenders towards the back corner of the endzone to wide receiver Santonio Holmes, to win the Steelers their (still to this day) record 6th superbowl and Big Ben’s second. 

Big Ben was known for being a tough and gritty quarterback and is even the most sacked quarterback ever. He was great at extending broken plays and while being the most sacked qb, great at breaking tackles. A play that exemplifies all this was actually not a broken tackle, but a tackle he made. In the Steelers vs Colts AFC divisional game in 2005, running back Jerome Bettis took a handoff from the 2 yard line to likely seal the game for the Steelers and take them one step closer to going to the superbowl. Bettis ended up fumbling and the Colts defender who recovered the fumble had only one man to beat, Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger made a shoe-string tackle and somehow saved the game and season. The Steelers would go on to beat the Colts, then the Broncos in the AFC championship game, and finally the Seahawks to earn Ben his first superbowl ring.  

“Yet the time has come to clean out my locker, hang up my cleats and continue to be all I can be to my wife and children. I retire from football a truly grateful man” – Ben Roethlisberger in his farewell video.