Ben Roethlisberger Pays Tribute To Maurkice Pouncey

Since crashing out of the playoffs, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has cut an increasingly mournful figure.

It started on the field in the immediate aftermath of their Wild Card loss to the Cleveland Browns. Pittsburgh’s 14 -2 regular season record was one of the franchise’s best in living memory. 

The embarrassing defeat to Cleveland was an anticlimax that left Ben Rothelisberger and teammate Maurkice Pouncey devastated.

“I’m sorry, brother. You’re the only reason I wanted to do this, man,” an emotional Ben Roethlisberger told Pouncey. “Oh, I feel worse for you than me. I hate it, man.”

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Big Ben’s future with the Steelers is still undecided, as is so much for the franchise this offseason. If he decides to play another year in Pittsburgh next season, he’ll be doing it without his best friend after Maurkice Pouncey’s retirement.

“I hate to say he’s the greatest teammate and competitor I’ve ever been around, but at the end of the day that’s what it is — he’s the greatest teammate and competitor I’ve been around,” Roethlisberger said.

“And that’s no slight to anybody else.”

Roethlisberger and Pouncey’s partnership spanned 11 of Big Ben’s 17 NFL seasons. With the end of his career in sight, losing Pouncey will be a pivotal moment.

“I’d love to ask other quarterbacks who have played with one guy for a long time how close they were with their center,” he said. “I’m sure they’d say he’s one of their best friends.”

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“There’s something different about it. The quarterback-center relationship is unlike any other in sports. The relationship and communication you want to have with the one guy in front of you, you genuinely need him more than anything else. That’s what makes the center position so special.”