Kovacevic: Behind Ben in the building he owns, playmakers come to play taken in Cleveland (DK's 10 Takes)

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Ben Roethlisberger waves as he walks off the field Sunday at FirstEnergy Stadium in Cleveland.

DK's 10 Takes

Kovacevic: Behind Ben in the building he owns, playmakers come to play

Nov 1, 2021 • 9:00 am

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CLEVELAND -- One child kept cracking and slamming a door to tease the other.

"Mooooooooooooooth!" Najee Harris would exaggeratedly exclaim with each crack of that door, in the process preventing Pat Freiermuth's press conference from getting going and, of course, cracking everyone up. "Moooo-moooo-mooooooooooth!"

Rookies will be rookies:

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Awesome.

A few minutes later, another child entered that same door. This one was 39 years old.

Ben Roethlisberger had just gotten done beating the Browns. And that's the proper phrasing, by the way. Because when it's him on one side and that particular opponent on the other, as two decades of singular dominance will assert, there's never a need for the plural.

It's Ben 15, Browns 10.

That's what should've been up on the big FirstEnergy Stadium scoreboard on this Halloween Sunday. Just like that.

And as if to accentuate precisely that point, starting with the split-second that the scoreboard's clock showed all zeroes, right after a willful incompletion to run it down, the child that still very much courses through this Ohio-born, Canton-bound kid swung to his right to face the Steelers' sideline and thrust both fists triumphantly upward in a way that -- if I'm being honest -- I hadn't seen in a long time.

I asked about it, that one moment:

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"No, I control my emotions," he began, before breaking into a broad smile and adding, "No, I just told those guys, I told Najee and I told the offensive line, 'Don’t ever, ever take a win against these guys in this stadium for granted. Ever. It’s always hard-fought and special.' I’ve played a lot of games here, and I don’t take any of them for granted."

Imagine that.

Imagine being 12-2-1 in someone else's stadium.

Imagine owning more wins in that 22-year-old stadium than any quarterback ever employed by that stadium's team until a year ago, when Baker Mayfield finally overtook him, and even he's still only got 16.

Imagine meeting up after this one on the field with Myles Garrett, who'd earlier in the week showed on social media a row of play tombstones in his yard commemorating all the quarterbacks he's sacked, and joking with Garrett, per Ben's recollection: "You can have the tombstone. I'll take the W."

Imagine having achieved so much in this sport, far beyond anything Cleveland-based, and yet following up all the postgame hugs and handshakes with a long, slow walk around that field, looking up at the now-nearly-empty sea of orange and waving to the few still on hand.

Again, awesome.

And now, imagine all of the above representing little more than a subtext within why the visitors prevailed on this day.

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Wonderful as it was to witness, maybe for the final time, it wasn't Ben's legacy that won the game. Nor, in isolation, was it Ben's plenty-adequate performance in completing 22 of 34 passes for 266 yards, a touchdown and no interceptions. Nor was it the adjustments inherent in losing one's placekicker just before halftime. Nor was it the ill-advised fake field goal that set up that misfortune. Nor was it this individual or that one, this sequence or that one.

I'll instead identify two broader circumstances:

1. This group's gritty as hell.

If that comes across as gruff, so be it. Because so are they.

These guys opened up by spilling the Bills up in Orchard Park, an outcome no one foresaw, then slogged through three straight losses, lowlighted by being embarrassed at home by the Bengals. They were 1-3. If they weren't left for dead in the public's eyes, they surely ranged somewhere between barely breathing and bottoming out for a high draft pick.

Then, they gutted out victories over the Broncos and Seahawks, and now this. By eight points, three points and now five.

"I’m just really appreciative of the efforts of the guys in that locker room there," Mike Tomlin would say, gesturing in that direction. "Everybody just played a selfless game. They put the collective in front of personal agendas. We fought. That’s the only way you get out of those environments, particularly with some of the adversity we faced today, some of which was created by us, some of which was created by me."

Take a guess.

"The fake field goal was a bad call because we poorly executed it, so I take responsibility for that. I appreciate the guys backing my play, fighting for 60 minutes, and delivering a victory and making it a side note. Awesome win. Hopefully, we grow from this. Every time you step into stadiums, you do. It’s good to grow when you’re doing so with a victory."

T.J. Watt had a different way to word that: "We know that the wins aren’t always going to be pretty. But a win is a win, especially in the AFC North, and we just have to keep stacking these chips."

Yep. The only chips that count are the Steelers being 4-3 and sixth in the conference's seven-team playoff picture. And that's doubly true when weighing their .611 adjusted strength of schedule, by far the toughest in the entire NFL so far.

2. The playmakers made plays.

Hey, you don't say!

Not all columns will hit like the one I filed Sunday morning leading into this game, but I've never let go of the feeling that this roster's got more game-breaking talent than it'd displayed to date. As in, a lot more, if measuring such a thing through just 11 offensive plays of 25-plus yards and just five defensive takeaways, both figures being third-lowest in the league.

Inexperience was hurting the offensive line, injuries the defensive line, but that couldn't serve forever as a viable excuse for playmakers to not come up with at least occasional splash, which is why I called out the several people I did and, in turn, expressed hope that this day, this pivotal point in the young season would bring about ... well, exactly what it did.

To cite a handful of compelling examples, all of which occurred in the game's final quarter and change:

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Najee's been making plays all season, of course. Still, this was a cut above.

He'd needed 26 carries to run for 91 yards on this day, most of that via the grind. So when the Cleveland defense spread itself a bit wide on this second-and-6 at the 8, becoming the first opponent to respect the Steelers' passing game to any degree, and when the offensive line got big interior blocks from Trai Turner, Kendrick Green, Kevin Dotson and Freiermuth, the Browns had only strong safety Ronnie Harrison Jr. in place to prevent Najee.

The solution: Take off.

"It was a power play," Najee recalled. "Pat came around and gave a good block, helped me get inside and be one-on-one with the safety. From there, it was just me finishing out the run."

Yeah, just a 4-yard aerial leap and landing.

"I hate when Najee jumps. I tell him all the time, 'Stop jumping,' " Ben observed. "But that was a pretty good play."

Big one, too.

" "

This is fourth-and-goal at the 2 with no Chris Boswell. It's touchdown or bust.

Everything about the formation screamed run, just as the one above screamed the opposite. The Browns were aligned accordingly. But Freiermuth always was the target, as all concerned would affirm.

The throw that followed was pure perfection, and the catch was ... what's purer than pure perfection?

Harrison's victimized here, as well. And, like before, he didn't do much wrong, if anything. Rather, Freiermuth just does what he's been doing since the introductory day of rookie camp this summer.

"Hell of a throw and a hell of a catch" was what the Browns' Garrett called it.

"Spectacular" was what Ben called it.

"Yeah, he told me before the play what to run," Freiermuth said of Ben. "It was kind of weird, with the leverage the defender was playing. But knew I had to get outside, looked back at the pylon, saw the ball in there, and made a play."

Big one, too.

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The Browns wound up with a couple cracks inside Pittsburgh territory, and this would be the defense's turn.

That's Joe Schobert up there punching the ball away from Jarvis Landry, then T.J. recovering. Schobert was once a big deal in these parts, known most for his takeaways, but he'd been borderline invisible in that regard since joining the Steelers just before this season.

The inside linebackers -- all of them, including Devin Bush and Robert Spillane -- have been the team's deepest disappointment as a positional group, from my perspective, so they might have been more due than anyone. But leaving it at that wouldn't do it justice.

"It's something he's known for doing," Landry said of Schobert. "I really wasn't trying to fight for extra yards. I was trying to get down. He made a great play."

Well, hang on. Landry absolutely was going for extra yards even after he'd already beaten the sticks. But yeah, the other assessment's accurate.

"I’ve seen Joe has been doing that for years, especially when he was playing here in Cleveland," T.J. said. "That’s his play. Falling on the football isn’t really a big play."

Sure it is, but ...

"Great play by Schobert," Tomlin said. "Just steeped in fundamentals. He did a great job ball-searching, linebacker vs. wide receiver. We fought and fought and came out of there with it. Obviously, a big-time play."

Obviously.

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This is the ensuing Cleveland drive, fourth-and-12, basically a last gasp. And there'd have been more if Landry hadn't added his fourth unofficial drop of the day, one that made him the instant focus of the region's reporters afterward and the ire of the Browns' faithful.

"We had opportunities to make plays and extend drives, myself included," Landry would say of this one. "Those two times were the reasons we didn't score."

Right.

Wait. Take another look.

See, there's no discussion about the Steelers lacking big plays without mentioning Minkah Fitzpatrick, the takeaway artist still stuck at zero in that category. And I'm here to suggest this might be the biggest play of all, as Cam Sutton releases Landry as he darts to the inside only to have Minkah elegantly make that read and rabidly pursue Landry from behind while cautiously making legal contact to help force the incompletion.

Take it from someone who's watched that one now dozens of times: That's big and bold and beautiful.

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The offense still had a couple minutes of clock to eat up, and the way that was accomplished was a mini-triumph unto itself in that it exemplified what might've been the Steelers' best run/pass balance of the season.

Here again, everyone's thinking run. And not just because it's second-and-9 at the Pittsburgh 28 with a five-point lead and 1:48 left. But it's Matt Canada, according to Ben, who pulls a play from the team's list of potential two-point conversions -- of all things! -- and opts to expose the Cleveland defense being fully committed to the run.

Fifty yards later, the Factory of Sadness was christened anew.

"We'd talked about it on the sideline," Ben recalled. "Like, 'Hey, listen. If we get in this situation, let’s try something.' We put our personnel in, and and it was just, 'Boy, I hope this thing works.' I watched the coverage and, as soon as it came out of my hand, I knew he had it. It's an unbelievable feeling at the end of a game when your guys are running with the ball and you know it’s probably over."

No probably about how big that was.

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This is now the 18th consecutive year where the biggest thing about the Steelers has been Big Ben, where everything begins and ends. So I'll bookend here in the same way.

After the Najee touchdown, with Boswell out, a two-point try was all that was available. And when the Steelers sent the house over to the left, with Najee stacked behind a trio of wide receivers, the play at hand couldn't have been clearer. Wing it over to the back, and wedge on through.

But when it comes to winging it, Ben's had few peers in NFL history, so it undoubtedly surprised no one associated with the team that he'd instead attempt this after the snap:

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Alas, a holding flag on Green nullified the score.

"We’re playing to win," Tomlin would explain when asked about Ben's keeper. "The calculated risk taken associated with the pursuit of victory, we do not run away from, we run to. Ben is the ultimate competitor. I think we all kind of mirror him in that regard."

"I was maybe the fourth or fifth option on that," Ben recalled. "They had a bunch of guys over to the left, so that option was out. Chase Claypool was the next option, and I was still going to force it to him and ... I don’t know, I’m just crazy, I guess. I wish it would've counted. Would've been a great story."

Still kinda is, right?

I mean, look, I don't know where this season's headed. I can see the Bears and Lions next on the schedule, but I also can see what's after that. I can see the impact the rookies are making, but I also can see they've never been tasked with a 17-game professional gauntlet. I can see the plays that were made here, but I also saw the ones that weren't beforehand. And for that matter, I can see what Ben did here, but I've also seen what we've all seen and why we more casually than ever talk about his career as if it's in the closing chapter.

If all of this somehow morphs into something at the team level that matches the chemistry, the vitality and the select talent ... wow.

If it doesn't, hey, there's always comfort in knowing that a Pittsburgh icon's become the personal bogeyman of this poor soul: