Not many people have been given the opportunity to coach a guy of Ben Roethlisberger's caliber. The 2-time Super Bowl Champion has worked and played with some influential football minds who have had a positive impact on his career. Starting his career off under Hall of Fame head coach, Bill Cowher and has worked with some great offensive minds that have gone onto become head coaches in the NFL. Being around for as long as Ben has, you're bound to find some of your old coaches across the sidelines at one point or another. Although unfortunately not opposite us this Sunday, Ben finds himself watching former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator, Bruce Arians coaching in his first Super-Bowl appearance as a head coach.
There are many Steelers ties to this Sunday's Super Bowl, mostly on the Tampa Bay Buccaneers side of things. Obviously, Arians is now the head coach running the show, but we also see former Pittsburgh QB Bryon Leftwich calling the plays as the offensive coordinator as well as a few other former Steelers players on the coaching staff. Naturally, what comes to winning the championship games and making it to the Super Bowl is, the always fun, media day. This event gives the media an opportunity to ask questions about each coach/player's path to reaching this accomplishment, amongst other various things.
With that being said, Arians was asked a question during media day regarding the quarterbacks that he has helped develop throughout his coaching years. Coach Arians has an impressive list of quality quarterbacks on his resume. To name a few, he has worked with Hall Of Fame caliber players his coaching career such as Peyton Manning, Andrew Luck, Roethlisberger himself, and now of course, Tom Brady. In conversation, Arians discussed how those previous quarterbacks compare to each other specifically in the regard to preparation for each game.
In response, Arians replied with this:
Bruce Arians talking about what he's learned about QBs he's working with, says of Ben Roethlisberger, there wasn't the same kind of learning/prep style as Brady/Manning/Luck
— Brooke Pryor (@bepryor) February 3, 2021
"Ben, he didn't want that. Didn't want to overload him. He just wanted to go play."
Breaking down this quote, Arians is pretty much saying that most of the quarterbacks that he has coached in the past have been more focused on the preparation side of things when it comes to opposing defenses. As we know, Ben's style of play is one that is unusual, but one that fits him. Ben's style of play has been regarded as "backyard football". Not to say preparation is not needed, it's obviously highly regarded in the league, preparation is something that can't be taken lightly.
Obviously, you don't win 2 Super Bowl rings by not preparing for your opponents at all. Now, Arians did not say this, but he did seem to imply that Ben was not into the whole "preparation" aspect of things. Arians had Roethlisberger under his belt in his early years, where Ben himself had admitted to not being the best leader in his early days, and it might be safe to say that this is one area where he has improved. Since then, Ben has put together some of the best passing seasons a QB could have. It's safe to say that even if this was the case back then, it fit Roethlisberger's style of play back then. Now, preparation is one of Roethlisberger's strong suits. His ability to make plays outside of the pocket has dwindled, and studying defenses is now the one thing that gives Roethlisberger an advantage.
Do you think Arians was taking a shot at Ben with this quote? Comment below!
#SteelerNation
