“Footbahlin’ with Ben Roethlisberger”, Episode 127
Then Max Starks steps into the basement and the stories go deep fast. We talk the 2004 draft class, the phone call from Bill Cowher, and what it’s like to land in Pittsburgh when you thought you were headed somewhere else. Max takes us back through Super Bowl XL and Super Bowl XLIII with the details only an offensive lineman can give, from snow football memories to the final-drive reality of stress, leverage, and trust. If you’ve ever wondered how a quarterback scramble changes protection or why holding calls aren’t always on the blocker, Max explains it in plain language.
We also connect it to today: Steelers team-building priorities, whether trading up makes sense, how the Aaron Rodgers situation could be more than a simple yes or no, and why building the trenches still matters most. We even zoom out into NIL and the transfer portal to talk about how it’s reshaping college football development and what that means for the NFL pipeline. Subscribe, share this with a Steelers fan, and leave a review if you want more conversations like this. Which draft pick or Super Bowl moment do you still argue about?
22 Years Ago Today
“I was in New York. I had my mom and dad with me, my sister was there and my agent. My college coach at the time and his wife were there. Everyone kind of had their speculations of ‘what number’ and what team. The teams we thought were going to take me didn’t, but it ended up working out perfectly for me.” — Ben, from the video, “Recalling Draft Day”.
Pittsburgh Steelers Legends at the NFL Draft
“It’s an honor to be asked to do this. To be considered, to get a call from (Steelers vice president) Dan Rooney to ask me to do that means a lot. With the rich tradition and history of the players that have come before me, and I’ve gotten the pleasure to play with, to be included in that group is just humbling and it’s such an honor.
“It’s cool and on a couple of fronts. To be there at the Draft, to be on the North Shore, to be around Steelers Nation. It’s always something special, whether it’s in Ireland, here, wherever it is, it is always great to be where the black and gold faithful are. But the other cool part is to go back up onto a Draft stage. It has been since 2004 since I’ve been on a Draft stage like that and that environment. It is kind of nostalgic.” — Ben, from his interview with Teresa Varley.
1️⃣2️⃣ ✖️ 7️⃣ pic.twitter.com/dndSCSIN8Q
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 24, 2026
#HereWeGo
12 & 7 (& 7Jr)
Photo: Mike Marchinsky (with Ben’s phone 📱😊)
A lot of rings in two pics 💍 pic.twitter.com/GF3R001Zlh
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) April 23, 2026
It’s Draft Day in Da Burgh!
Pittsburgh's time to shine is here as the NFL Draft starts today! The Wyndham has been lit up with a huge projection screen that will show the picks as they come in. The city was absolutely buzzing last night. I hope everyone visiting from out of town has a great time here!… pic.twitter.com/4ZWmB4UnFZ
— Dustin McGrew (@dmcgrew) April 23, 2026
A love letter to the Steel City and its football 🟡⚫️
The Football Town streams 7pm tonight on the @PatMcAfeeShow, and all weekend long on YouTube pic.twitter.com/T4S6HMzNEa
— NFL Films (@NFLFilms) April 23, 2026
Labriola: “Asked & Answered, April 23”
From Bob Labriola, at Steelers.com:
Samuel Hartman, from Keyser, WV: Ben Roethlisberger was famous for getting out of sacks to continue the play. And he was elite with his pump fakes. Is there a stat that shows exactly how many sacks he avoided where the defender actually had a chance to take him down? And has any other QB been better at it?
Mr. Labriola: I’m not aware of any statistical measurement of a quarterback escaping sacks in the manner you describe, and even if one existed I would imagine the “escapes” would have to be put in different categories. Did the QB escape the sack ultimately because of speed and/or quickness, or was it because of strength, which is how Ben Roethlisberger often managed it. I have heard defensive players interviewed who described the difficulty in wrestling Roethlisberger to the ground, and his ability to keep fighting to prevent that from happening never was more evident than in a Dec. 5, 2010, game vs. the Ravens in Baltimore.
The Ravens were protecting a 10-6 lead, and on a second-and-5 from the Baltimore 43-yard line with 3:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, Troy Polamalu strip-sacked Joe Flacco, and LaMarr Woodley recovered and ran 19 yards to the 9-yard line. On first-and-goal from the 9-yard line, Roethlisberger threw incomplete on first down. On second down, he dropped back to pass again, and he was wrapped up by Terrell Suggs, who would finish the game with 5 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and 5 hits on the quarterback. Roethlisberger refused to go to the ground, and as he kept fighting he managed to free his right arm from Suggs’ grasp sufficiently to be able to throw the ball in the direction of Hines Ward for an incomplete pass and avoid the sack. A sack there would’ve had the Steelers facing a third-and-goal from outside the 15-yard line and needing a touchdown against a Ravens defense that ended up allowing less than 300 yards of total offense that day. On the next play, Roethlisberger threw a touchdown pass to RB Isaac Redman, the Steelers ended up winning the game, 13-10, and the AFC North Division, which meant that the inevitable meeting in the playoffs between these teams would be played in Pittsburgh. The Steelers won that game, then defeated the New York Jets the following week […]
Dulac: Behind the Pick
His college coach, Terry Heppner, was frustrated that his former star quarterback was still waiting. He had already thrown a water bottle across the room when the New York Giants passed on Roethlisberger with the fourth overall pick.
“That was because he thought he had the inside scoop, that he talked to [the Giants] and thought I was going fourth to New York,” Roethlisberger said. “When it didn’t happen, he was kind of mad.”
At that point, Roethlisberger thought he might have to wait until the 13th overall pick, where the Buffalo Bills were looking for a quarterback. He did not think he would be drafted by the Steelers at No. 11, even though the Steelers were the only team he visited before the draft.
That tackle was Shawn Andrews, who was high on the Steelers’ draft board.
But, depending on which story you want to believe, something happened that changed their mind. With a little nudge from team chairman Dan Rooney, who remembered the time the Steelers passed on Dan Marino, Cowher and Colbert decided to take Roethlisberger.
“When the phone rang, we were like, ‘What is this?’ ” Roethlisberger said. “It was [agent] Leigh Steinberg who answered the phone, and I remember when he handed me the phone he looked at me and said, ‘It’s going to happen.’ And I remember Cowher saying, ‘Would you like to be a Steeler?’”
But it almost didn’t work out that way…