CUP OF JOE: Starkey on sports in 350 words or less (or more, in this case)
His unqualified coordinator had never called an NFL play.
His top receiver sometimes ran backwards and would be run straight out of the league by his late 20s.
His No. 2 receiver would be run out of the NFL by his mid-20s.
His No. 3 receiver was Ray-Ray McCloud, and his No. 4 receiver would be out of football by age 26.
His starting center was an undersized rookie guard out of Illinois who did not want to play center and would often get pushed straight into the backfield.
His lead back would finish his Steelers career averaging 3.9 yards a carry with a long of 37 yards — or shorter than the longest runs by the likes of ex-Steelers Frank Pollard, Jonathan Dwyer, Richard Huntley, Najeh Davenport, Walter Abercrombie, Rodney Carter and Chris Fuamatu-Ma’afala.
I’m telling you, they should make a “30 for 30” on Ben Roethlisberger’s final season here.
How did he do it?
That’s an honest question. It arises because somebody mentioned Chase Claypool on the radio recently, and I got to thinking: How did Roethlisberger, with diminishing skills, make a borderline star of an incompetent such as Claypool and throw for 55 touchdowns over his final two seasons?
I know Roethlisberger has become a punching bag for ex-teammates lately, but the man performed a bloody miracle in 2021, his final season, when he threw for 22 touchdowns and took a cast of misfits (including a lousy defense) to the playoffs at age 39.
I’m only half joking when I say it might have been the most unlikely individual Pittsburgh sports achievement since the turn of the century, when Mario Lemieux came out of retirement to put up 91 points in 67 games.
First of all, how are you supposed to play quarterback when your rookie center (Kendrick Green) is getting shoved into your lap all game and your tackles are (rookie) Dan Moore and Chuks Okorafor?
Second, what are you supposed to do when your playbook makes Dr. Seuss look intricate?
Often drawing plays in the dirt — for real, because Matt Canada’s playbook was so worthless — Ben turned “Wrong Way” Diontae Johnson into a player with 107 catches in 2021. Johnson, currently unemployed at age 29, has 84 total catches since Roethlisberger retired.
Claypool averaged over 14 yards per catch with 11 TDs over his first two years, which were Roethlisberger’s final two years. He has four total touchdowns since and now plays in the CFL.
Najee Harris was Roethlisberger’s plodding lead runner — and he has never equaled his numbers from 2021, either, including those 74 catches.
I’m not sure I mentioned Joe Hague and John LeGlue. They started in front of Roethlisberger, along with J.C. Hassenauer, when he beat the Ravens to make the playoffs.
And did I mention James Washington? He somehow caught seven TDs from Roethlisberger over the 2020-21 seasons. He would never catch another one. He was out of the league at 26.
I’m telling you, it was a bloody miracle.