What if?

The Steelers beat the Broncos 34-17 yesterday. Statistically, Ben Roethlisberger had a fantastic day (21-29/275/2/0) while Jake Plummer struggled (18-30/223/1/2). Imagine if Champ Bailey had intercepted the pass Roethlisberger threw off his back foot, behind receiver Hines Ward. At worst, Denver would have had the ball near mid-field. It's entirely possible that Bailey would have ended up in the end zone, staking the Broncos to an early lead. Luckily for Roethlisberger, his pass was so bad that Bailey was unable to adjust to it (it was behind Hines Ward, so Bailey overran it slightly) and it bounced off him up in the air, with the end result being a completion to Ward. Then, later that drive, Roethlisberger threw a ball up for grabs on third down that was nearly intercepted, the ball was knocked out of the defenders hands by the receiver before he was able to come down with it. The end result of all of this, as well as the reversal of the Parker fumble, was the Steelers going up 3-0 and the Broncos receiving a kickoff, starting with average field position.

Jake Plummer did make some bad throws, although the Larry Foote interception was as good a defensive play as it was a bad decision by Plummer. Plummer also fumbled twice, although once was while he was being sacked on 4th down, so it was inconsequential. Big Ben was fortunate on a number of ill-advised throws, while Plummer wasn't. Sometimes, that's just the way it goes. However, don't look at the final score, or the stat lines and say that Plummer choked and Roethlisberger was amazing. It's not that simple in this case, and it rarely is, although Jake Delhomme was pretty bad, and Matt Hasselbeck was pretty good, in the Seahawks win over the Panthers.