Ben Roethlisberger didn’t deliver a vintage performance in his final game at Heinz Field. But there was one classic pump fake.
And the Manning brothers gave Roethlisberger his proper due.
Peyton and Eli were handling the ManningCast duties Monday during the Steelers’ 26-14 win over the Browns. They interviewed Bill Cowher and reminisced about Roethlisberger all night long. But their best tribute came midway through the second quarter, when Roethlisberger pump faked before completing a pass to Pat Freiermuth. In true Big Ben fashion, he looked to his right, before yanking the ball to his left and finding his open man.
The completion propelled Peyton to sit back in his seat and just marvel at one of the greatest of all-time. “Pump right. Take a look at the pass rushers. He takes a look at ‘em, watch this: he pumps, and he looks at Garrett,” Peyton said excitedly.
Eli followed up with his own analysis. “He looks behind him, he knows he’s free, lookie there, there’s Garrett. I love it,” he said. “I think it’s different with Ben. It’s not a pump fake. He wants to throw it, and he’s strong enough that he pulls it back. It’s like Tiger and the swing, and he stops his swing. He’s strong enough where he pulls the ball back, and then reacts. It’s not like, “I’m going to pump this and look left.” It’s a reaction thing.”
The 12-yard completion set up a first down for the Steelers, who kicked a field goal to cap off the drive. Roethlisberger faking out Myles Garrett made the play even sweeter. The cocky defensive end said he wanted to send Roethlisberger home with a loss.
Instead, he got played.
“You see right there. He’s looking to his right. This is not a pump to eventually look left,” said Eli Manning. “He’s ready to throw right there, and he’s still looking, wants to throw it, and now it’s his reaction, where can I find someone else open? But when you do that long pump, you get everybody to move—safeties, linebackers. Even if you’re in man to man, you see someone throwing that hard, you’re going to leave your guy. It’s a way to leave guys open.”
At 6-foot-5 and 240 pounds, Roethlisberger possesses the kind of strength that other quarterbacks can only dream about. As Peyton Manning explained, it allows him to have full control of the football whenever he’s trying to fake out defenders.
“Most of the time when those guys pump, a lot of those quarterbacks, that ball falls out of their hands. It’s an incompletion,” Manning said. “Ben literally almost let’s it go. Only he can pull it back.”
Both selected in the 2004 NFL Draft, Eli Manning and Roethlisberger are direct peers, and Peyton Manning clashed with Big Ben in several big games as well. Great rivals show great respect for each other. Peyton and Eli did Roethlisberger right.