Then came Pittsbugh's first touchdown. Whether you think Roethlisberger broke the plane of the goal line seems to depend on which team you were rooting for. The odd part was the line judge seemed to have determined that Big Ben had come up short as he ran in from the sideline. Since Roethlisberger had been pushed back well short of the goal line I don't know what he could have seen as he got closer to the pile that would have made him change his mind.
You must have been watching a different game. There was no replay that showed the ball clearly breaking the plane. If there was, the call wouldn't be an issue.
Agreed. Roethlisberger had the tip of the ball over the front edge of the end-zone line - and that's all that's needed.
Not "clearly" - my own exhaustive TiVo review concluded that was his shirt sleeve, not the ball.