The Pittsburgh Steelers are a franchise known for continuity. With only three head coaches since 1969, stability is something that the entire organization thrives on. When future Hall of Fame quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger retired, there was worry that the continuity would hit a snag after nearly two decades with Roethlisberger under center. Kenny Pickett has picked up that mantle and turned worry to hope, but on Roethlisberger's podcast, Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, he was laughing about another dynamic quarterback's ability to score in strange ways.
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Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Kenny Pickett is the centerpiece for their 2023 campaign
Steelers Roethlisberger Laughs At Mahomes' 'Cheap Touchdowns'
Former Steelers quarterbacks, Roethlisberger and Charlie Batch were on the Footbahlin podcast Friday, talking about the impressive 2023 preseason that the team had put together when the subject changed quite quickly. Roethlisberger brought up the Kansas City Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, in regard to the more interesting ways that Mahomes ends up scoring touchdowns.
"How many cheap touchdowns does Patrick Mahomes get, by the way?"
The comment was said with a big grin on the former quarterback's face. With Head Coach, Andy Reid, the Chiefs are certainly known for finding unorthodox ways to move the ball on offense. Roethlisberger was a part of a very creative Pittsburgh offense that helped them win Super Bowl XL, so when he sees the different strategies and plays that Mahomes uses to score, he is speaking from experience.
"He gets more cheap touchdowns. The little flips, the little shovels, like, the fun stuff."
After 18 seasons with the Steelers, Roethlisberger saw pretty much everything the NFL had to offer, and yet he still seems to be both amused and impressed by what he is seeing from the Chiefs quarterback.
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Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger rushed for 20 touchdowns in his storied career
Steelers Greats Batch and Roethlisberger Agree That They'd Take The Cheap Stuff
Over the course of his storied career, Roethlisberger had 20 rushing touchdowns in his 18 seasons. In comparison, Mahomes is now in his seventh professional season and already has 12 rushing touchdowns. The styles that the two play are very different, with Roethlisberger using his massive size to throw off defenders and Mahomes avoiding them altogether with his speedy legs.
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Steelers longtime backup quarterback Charlie Batch would take a passing touchdown over a rushing touchdown everyday
There is no doubt that Roethlisberger and Batch are both very proud of the careers they respectively had. However, when asked whether they would take the fun stuff and flips that Roethlisberger was talking about with Mahomes, they both agreed that they would be perfectly fine benefiting from the more strange scoring plays the Chiefs end up making.
"I mean, yeah, you'll take that all the time," Roethlisberger said.
Roethlisberger kept the subject going by bringing up different times during both his and Batch's playing careers. He said that there would be moments in a game when a bootleg would work so well that it would pretty much be open grass between the quarterback and end zone, but also lead to a wide open player in the end zone. In those situations, he said that he would always take the throw to the player rather than running it in himself.
"Chuck [Charlie Batch] and I used to laugh. If we were rolling out, say we do a little bootleg on the goalline and you're rolling out and you fake everybody out, and you have like a tight end, a running back, a receiver, so it's just you two. No one else around. You could walk in or you could throw the ball to him. What are you doing, Chuck?"
Without hesitation, Batch said he would throw to the receiver, and Roethlisberger quickly agreed. Batch laughed and said that he would throw it every single time because it would end up impacting his passer rating, something that brought a fresh wave of laughter to the podcast. Batch admitted, though, that if he found himself in that bootleg situation earlier in his career, the rushing part of it may have been more of a factor.
"Early on in your career, you're like, yeah, I'm running it in! They're looking at you like, come on, throw the ball."
Cheap or not, it seems like both Roethlisberger and Batch wouldn't have much of a problem scoring like Mahomes tends to do. With the 2023 season about to kick off for the Steelers, we will see whether Pickett feels the same way. If so, we could be in for a very creative 2023 in Pittsburgh!
Do you want to see Kenny Pickett use his legs more in 2023?
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