Steelers’ hopes ride on Big Ben’s arm

Pittsburgh needs strong play from their quarterback if they are to advance past Jacksonville.

PITTSBURGH (AP) — Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ MVP in the eyes of almost everyone except his teammates, couldn’t be more irritated.

Everywhere he goes in the Steelers’ practice complex, he can’t get away from the Jaguars — much like he couldn’t while being sacked five times during Jacksonville’s 29-22 victory in Pittsburgh three weeks ago.

The tape of the Steelers’ only home loss this season is being looped constantly in their meeting rooms, the players’ lounge, the team offices. It’s all Jaguars all the time as the Steelers prepare for Saturday night’s rematch in the AFC playoffs, and Roethlisberger has seen enough.

Flipping the channel doesn’t help. No matter what TV he turns on, Roethlisberger keeps seeing Fred Taylor’s decisive TD run in the final two minutes and his 147 yards rushing. David Garrard’s three TD passes. The sacks. Maurice Jones-Drew’s 69 yards rushing.

“It’s annoying, honestly,” Roethlisberger said Wednesday. “You get tired. You want to watch ‘SportsCenter’ or see something else, CNN, I don’t know, something. The Cooking Channel, something.”

Roethlisberger suspects this is coach Mike Tomlin’s brainwashing plot to get the Steelers so upset, so riled up, they take out their frustrations on the Jaguars.

However, the Steelers, losers of three of four as they limp into the playoffs with a patchwork lineup, know it will take more than hostility and a hijacked TV signal to beat Jacksonville.

They almost certainly need a big game from Big Ben, whose fourth NFL season has been easily his best, even if linebacker James Harrison unexpectedly beat him out for the players’ MVP award.

Despite being sacked 46 times, second most in team history, Roethlisberger has a 65.3 completion percentage while throwing a team-record 32 touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. His 104.1 passer rating was second in the league only to Tom Brady’s 117.2.

He would seem too young at 25 for any comeback awards, yet it was a major bounce-back year for Roethlisberger following his post-Super Bowl and motorcycle crash miseries of 2006: an 8-8 record, a league-high 23 interceptions, a 75.4 passer rating.

Roethlisberger did a lot of growing up while carrying the Steelers to a 10-6 record and their first AFC North title and home playoff game in three years.

“I think the whole year, he’s been kind of handed the offense a little bit more to kind of put it more on his shoulders,” Pro Bowl guard Alan Faneca said.

With 1,316-yard rusher Willie Parker out with a broken leg and the Steelers down to their No. 3 left tackle in Trai Essex, Roethlisberger’s throwing and his proven ability to win likely represent their biggest and best hope of beating Jacksonville. Roethlisberger is 44-17 as an NFL starter, 5-1 in the playoffs.

The Steelers, throwing to win in the postseason? How that’s for a personality change?

“It would be nice, but we’ll see what happens,” Roethlisberger said. “I don’t think we will just abandon the running game. I know we won’t. We’ve thrown the ball when we need to and we’ve proven we can win the game when we have to throw it.”