The Whipple effect

09:09 AM EST on Wednesday, January 19, 2005

Being quarterback coach for Ben Roethlisberger is like being the music teacher for a young Mozart. Or the driver's ed instructor for a 15-year-old Dale Earnhardt Jr. Take your pick.

UPI photo

Steelers rookie quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, left, has proved to be an apt pupil for Pittsburgh quarterbacks coach Mark Whipple, the former head coach at Brown University.

Although he was only the 11th pick in the 2004 draft, the kid has proved to be a prodigy. His talent is in proportion to his size -- 6-foot-5, 241 pounds. His arm is strong, his feet quick, his mind sharp, his composure unruffled, his potential prodigious.

"Some people have gifts," said Mark Whipple, former head coach at Brown and UMass, and now QBs coach for the Steelers. "Jerome Bettis can run. . . . Ben can quarterback. He's very comfortable on a football field."

It's Whipple's job to help Roethlisberger find his comfort zone, to prepare him for what he will see from opposing defenses, and enable him to pick them apart with ease and confidence.

How spectacularly both have succeeded is evidenced by the fact that the Steelers, despite having to insert the rookie Roethlisberger into the lineup when veteran Tommy Maddox was injured the second game of the season, will be hosting the AFC Championship Game Sunday against the defending NFL champion Patriots.

If, as future Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells likes to say, "you are what your record says you are," then Roethlisberger is just about perfect. He was 13-0 as a starter in the regular season, then led the Steelers to a 20-17, overtime victory over the Jets last weekend in the conference semifinal playoff game.

Sort of.

"Big Ben," as he's admiringly known in Pittsburgh, didn't exactly perform with clockwork precision against the Jets.

Indeed, he almost cost his team the game by throwing an interception in the third quarter that was returned 86 yards for a go-ahead touchdown, and then, in the closing minutes, he had another pass picked off when he overthrew his receiver, providing New York with a chance at what could have been a game-winning field goal.

Fortunately for Roethlisberger and the Steelers, Doug Brien, who had just hit the crossbar from 47 yards, this time hooked his kick left from 43 yards as regulation time expired.

"Ben had some rough moments," Whipple said. "He had a couple of ill-advised throws. But he knows we have confidence in him."

Having Whipple to turn to for advice and guidance certainly can instill confidence in a quarterback. That's particularly important when the quarterback in question is only 22 years old and moving from the Mid-American Conference to the NFL.

Whipple, a former QB at Brown, coached at his alma mater from 1994 through '97 and never had a losing season. He moved to UMass in 1998 and led the Minutemen to the Division I-AA national championship that year. Also highly successful at the University of New Haven before coming to Brown, Whipple has built a reputation for offensive creativity and innovation, particularly in the passing game.

"I can't say enough about what he's done for my game," Roethlisberger said after playing the Patriots in Pittsburgh on Halloween, when he completed 18-of-24 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns, without an interception, as the Steelers emphatically ended New England's NFL-record, 21-game winning streak, 34-20.

In turn, Whipple can't say enough good things about his talented young quarterback.

"Ben's a pleasure to work with," he said by phone from his office at the Steelers practice facilities in Pittsburgh. "He's smart. He stays cool. He's unflappable. He carries himself with confidence."

Roethlisberger has had a remarkable season. Overshadowed on draft day by the hype surrounding Eli Manning and the trade that sent Manning from San Diego to the Giants for Philip Rivers, Roethlisberger has developed into the NFL Rookie of the Year, completing 66.4 percent of his passes while throwing for 17 TDs and winning every one of his starts.

"I see him every single day," said Whipple, "and he works hard every day to get better. He's very mild-mannered but, like all the great ones, he's a tremendous competitor. He doesn't like to fail. He doesn't like to look bad."

The Patriots can make even the best veteran quarterbacks look bad.

Peyton Manning won his second straight MVP award after setting a league record by throwing for 49 touchdowns, and the Colts led the NFL in scoring with the fifth-highest point total in league history, but could manage only a mere field goal in Sunday's snowy playoff loss to the Pats in Foxboro, 20-3.

"The weather was a factor, and the Patriots did a great job of controlling the ball," said Whipple, when asked why Manning and the Colts struggled once again at New England.

"The Patriots also have a great system that the players believe in and execute exceptionally well. They're very physical. When guys catch the ball against them, they hit them.

"They lost Ty Law, and they were without Richard Seymour, but they still have some great leaders on defense in guys like Tedy Bruschi and Rodney Harrison. They just have a lot of good football players who make plays at the right time.

"I have even greater respect for the Patriots now," Whipple said, "then when we played them in October. Up to that point, I don't think we always were getting everybody's best shot. But after we beat the Patriots and the Eagles back-to-back, everybody's really been coming after us. The Patriots have been getting that for three years and always answer the challenge."

Although he's beaten them once, it will be a huge challenge for Roethlisberger to face the Patriots again, this time with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line, and after having struggled against the Jets in his first playoff start.

"He knows he didn't play well," Whipple said. "But now he has another week to show what he's made of. He knows he's got to respond."

Roethlisberger has responded well all year to every challenge.

"Before we went to Denver for our first preseason game," Whipple said, "I wanted to see what he'd be like. He wasn't fazed. Before we played the Patriots, he wasn't fazed."

Nor has Roethlisberger been fazed by the attention he's been getting, which seems to increase exponentially with each victory, or the excitement building to a fever pitch in pigskin-crazed Pittsburgh.

"This city is going absolutely crazy," Whipple said. "This isn't like New England, which also is crazy about the Red Sox. Here, it's Steelers first, and Steelers second, too."

Roethlisberger kept his cool despite throwing those two interceptions against the Jets, taking the Steelers 72 yards to the game-winning field goal in overtime.

"He stays level-headed. He came right back and went after them," Whipple said. "When he first played, people were amazed he could even complete one pass. Then they said: 'Gee, two in a row.' Now, if he misses one, they start to worry."

Whipple says there's no need for Pittsburgh fans to be concerned about their kid QB.

"I know my pupil can play a lot better," he said, "and I know I can help him with that."