2. Washed Up
“He’s washed up,” said Pittsburgh fan, Juan Johnson. “That’s not hating. His deep ball had been falling off for years. Ball has no zip on it. Defenses don’t have to fear the deep pass so they can stop the run and short passing game. Nice franchise player, I appreciate what he did but Ben is done.” After Pittsburgh suffered a historic loss to the Cleveland Browns in 2021, their fanbase turned on ‘Big Ben.’
The general consensus was that he was too old. In sum, a combination of injuries and age had damaged his ability as a starter at the highest level. Roethlisberger threw four interceptions with three picks in the first 20 minutes of game time. It was a shambolic start for the veteran but things didn’t improve. Cleveland forced him into a very active game but he was incredibly wasteful throughout.