On April 22, I had the privilege of sitting down for an interview with former Dallas Cowboys and Denver Broncos star DeMarcus Ware. The Hall of Fame pass rusher talked about his partnership with Crown Royal's Hall of Heroes and the NFL Draft, but he also gave some praise to a few legendary Pittsburgh Steelers.
Ware noted that we are living in a talented era of edge rushers and advocated for the Steelers to move T.J. Watt around the defense to put him in advantageous situations. But when I asked Ware to tell me the hardest quarterback he's ever had to bring down, he gave the ultimate pat on the back to a Steelers legend.
"I think the hardest quarterback to get down was Ben Roethlisberger," Ware said. "If we're talking about a quarterback that was really hard to get down, it was Big Ben. I mean, big quarterback, big arm. He could run. People are like, 'He's not that fast.' He was; he was fast enough."
Ware continued his praise for Roethlisberger's toughness to bring down, claiming defenders needed to treat him like a running back to get him on the ground.
"He was a terror back there, and when you hit him, you had to hit him like he was a running back," Ware continued. "You couldn't hit him like, 'Okay, well, I'm just going to take him down'. No, you had to take him down like you were hitting a running back."
DeMarcus Ware's praise for Pittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger says it all
DeMarcus Ware is a sincere personality, and I give him a lot of credit for his honesty. Because he spent most of his career with the Dallas Cowboys, Ware only played against Ben Roethlisberger three times (twice with the Cowboys and once with the Broncos). But that three-game sample was more than enough to crown Big Ben the king of the hill.
At 6'5'' and 241 pounds, Roethlisberger had a powerful frame. Yet somehow, he was still sneaky-difficult to bring down. Some of his miraculous play-extensions came against Ware and the Cowboys, as he effortlessly shrugged off would-be tacklers and kept the defense guessing with unreal pumpfakes.
Ware's comments about Big Ben will have fans reminiscing about the good old days in Pittsburgh, back when this team had a quarterback they felt gave them a legitimate chance to compete every year. Those days seem like ages ago, as the Steelers are about to have a new starting quarterback for the fifth season in a row.
In addition to praising Roethlisberger, Ware talked about life after football, shared his favorite pass rusher to watch, talked about the hardest offensive tackle he's ever faced, and discussed how the game has changed for pass rushers from when he was playing until now.
