Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger managed to beat Tom Brady and the New England Patriots three times in Pittsburgh during his career.
This weekend, the future Hall of Famer saw his soon-to-be Canton counterpart lose to the Steelers in a different capacity.
Brady was quarterbacking the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. And Roethlisberger was watching the 20-18 Steelers win from the seats and not from the opposing sideline.
“It was weird seeing him there and not be across the field from him,” Roethlisberger said on his recent “Footbahlin’ with Ben” podcast.
That said, the 40-year-old Roethlisberger didn’t have any sparks to get back into football for one last run at the 45-year-old Brady.
“Nope, I was up there happy as I could be watching the game,” Roethlisberger told his co-host, “Spence.”
Roethlisberger did advance one opinion about Brady. Roethlisberger didn’t seem to notice the same fiery passion for the game that is normally on display whenever the seven-time Super Bowl winner takes the field.
“Tom is the greatest. The Super Bowl rings show it,” Roethlisberger said. “It didn’t look like he wanted to be out there. Maybe it was the pressure. He was getting hit. Whatever was going on… (I was saying) there is no way he is enjoying this. No way.”
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Roethlisberger made it sound as if there was no way he’d feel like swapping spots with Brady right now.
“I was just enjoying being up there watching the game. It didn’t look fun to him,” Roethlisberger reiterated.
Roethlisberger suggested that the Steelers defense may have had something to do with Brady’s enjoyment level as well.
“When a defense gets after you, sometimes your anger and your disgust for things happens because the team is affecting it. Not just because it’s you. It just looked like a different Tom,” Roethlisberger said.
Maybe that can explain Brady’s sideline tirade on his offensive linemen. Roethlisberger stayed away from the tabloid angle and didn’t directly reference Brady’s well-documented, public marital problems. He merely said that Brady “has a lot going on.”
And to Roethlisberger’s point, Brady did not look himself. The former MVP missed some open receivers, bounced a few balls and rarely seemed willing to test a group of banged-up Steelers defensive backs.
On the day, Brady was just 25 of 40 for 243 yards against a Steelers secondary that played without Minkah Fitzpatrick, Levi Wallace, Cameron Sutton and Ahkello Witherspoon. Brady had one touchdown pass and was sacked twice.
