Actually, if Tom E. Curran of NBC Sports would care to check the record more carefully Big Ben was 14-0 as a rookie during the regular season, and if Curran would make more than a superficial effort he might observe that in the previous 14 games the Steeler team record was 5-9 even with those "great players". It wasn't a matter of staying out of the way, rather Big Ben proved to be a major force right out of the box. He was just what the Rooney franchise needed. As a result the Steelers now hoist more Lombardis than any other NFL franchise.
Check the record. the Steelers don't lose games when they have a lead of 11 points or more. They were 142-1-1 in regular season, and 10-0 in playoffs going into SB XLIII. Uncharacteristically having blown a 13 point lead, the Steelers found themselves 1st and 20 to go at their own 12 with only 2:24 remaining in regulation. No panic. Big Ben cooly led a "drive for the ages" (to paraphrase NFL commissioner Roger Goodell) culminated with an absolutely perfect thread-the-needle pass to Santonio Holmes against triple coverage in the corner of the endzone for the championship winning TD with 35 seconds remaining. No QB could have done it better, absolutely none.
The Brothers Manning don't even rate a mention. Update: Make that 59-22 total and 8-2 postseason now with 2-0 in the Super Bowl.
I’m glad somebody else posted to this thread after the Superbowl. He really deserved MVP but once again was short-shrifted. I’ll never forget the realization I had in the fall of 2004 that we had a really, really good quarterback for the first time in 25 years. Unbelievable. He was great. God was good. Pittsburgh is lucky.