TAMPA, Fla. — When comparing quarterbacks in Super Bowl XLIII, Ben Roethlisberger is the apple and Kurt Warner is the orange.
Or is Warner the apple and Roethlisberger the orange? Either way, Roethlisberger and Warner are apples and oranges of NFL quarterbacks.
“To a huge degree, he’s so much more athletic than me,” Warner said of Roethlisberger during Super Bowl media day at Raymond James Stadium. “He’s got a big strong arm. Can make those throws, and has an ability to make plays in and out of the pocket that’s so different from me. I’m obviously a pocket passer. Not that Ben can’t do that, but he’s got great strengths outside of that, which obviously I don’t.”
Warner, the Arizona Cardinals’ quarterback, is a pure passer with mobility only a pigeon could love. Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback, is at his best when he’s improvising.
Each style has proven effective — Warner won a Super Bowl while playing for the St. Louis Rams after the 1999 season and Roethlisberger’s Steelers won the Super Bowl from the 2005 season.
Out of position.
As the story goes, the NFL’s most exciting offensive player was a high school linebacker until his sophomore season. The team’s star receiver got hurt and the high school coach asked if anybody wanted to play receiver.
Larry Fitzgerald raised his hand. And the rest . . .
“It started off as a fluke,” the Cardinals’ star said.. “I was a linebacker, I liked playing linebacker.”
Could Fitzgerald have made it to the NFL as a linebacker?
“No, my mentality has changed now,” he said. “I try to avoid the contact more so than try to find it.”
The next T.D.
Former Broncos great Terrell Davis watched Denver go through seven tailbacks during the 2008 season. Was there one that impressed him?
“The one that I heard, and I talked to a number of guys on that team, is Torain,” Davis said. “Ryan Torain. They say he’s the guy. And I’ve only got three looks at him.”
Torain suffered two major injuries last season, a dislocated elbow in training camp and a torn ACL in his only start.
Mike Klis, The Denver Post
