“I Didn’t Want You to Succeed”: ‘Selfish’ Ben Roethlisberger Comes Clean About Wanting Kenny Pickett to Struggle on the Field

Neha Joshi | 23/05/2023
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It is always a hard pill to swallow for all veterans when a new candidate threatens to replace them. This has been the case with many quarterbacks who saw their younger counterparts take their place on the team. Something exactly like that transpired when the Pittsburgh Steelers replaced Ben Roethlisberger with Kenny Pickett. As expected, when they took the call, Big Ben was not pleased.

Reflecting on the same during an episode of his podcast, ‘Footbahlin‘, the former NFL quarterback admitted that initially he was not happy with the team’s decision and didn’t want the then-rookie to have immediate success in the league.

Ben Roethlisberger admits that he wanted Kenny Pickett to not taste success

Watching someone else play quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers was a hard thing for the QB, who had done the job for nearly two decades. When Kenny Pickett appeared as a guest on his podcast, the two-time Super Bowl winner conveyed his true and innermost thoughts about him.

He said, “I’ll be completely honest, I’ll be super transparent here, and I’m gonna get blasted. I probably shouldn’t say this, but who cares at this point. I wouldn’t say that I wanted Kenny to necessarily fail, but when someone comes to replace you, I still feel like I had it, I hope he doesn’t come ball out. Because then it’s like, ‘Ben who?’ Early on, I didn’t want you to succeed because you followed me up — I didn’t want it to happen. I think that’s probably the selfishness of me, and I feel bad for it,”

Pickett was chosen by the Steelers in the first round of the previous year’s draft, and he made his debut in Week 4 before earning the starting position in the following week. Under his leadership, the Steelers managed to improve their record to 9-8 after a disappointing start of 2-6.

“As you started playing, I found myself rooting more and more for you,” Roethlisberger said. “I wanted you to succeed, I wanted you to win games, I wanted you to go in the playoffs. I feel bad that I felt that early on, but I’m glad I transitioned to loving and rooting for you.”

Roethlisberger then apologized for feeling that way and accepted that after seeing Pickett’s game, his attitude changed. He enjoyed watching the 24-year-old play for the Steelers.

Big Ben’s two Super Bowl victories – Which win does the legendary QB cherish more?

The Pittsburgh Steelers drafted Big Ben in 2004 and put him right into the starting quarterback position because of unimpressive performances from Tommy Maddox. In the 2004 season, the Steelers won 13-0 and played in the AFC championship, where they lost against the eventual Super Bowl winners, the New England Patriots.

However, in the next season, in 2005, Ben led the way, and the team went 11-5 before heading into the play-offs. In the divisional round, they defeated the Cincinnati Bengals, the Indianapolis Colts, and then the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship to secure their place in the Super Bowl.

Though the QB’s performance in the Super Bowl was one of the worst in Super Bowl history, the team lodged an impressive win against the Seattle Seahawks, which allowed them to win their first Super Bowl title under Ben Roethlisberger.

Then, after three seasons in 2008, the Steelers posted a 12-4 record and eventually reached the Super Bowl to face the Arizona Cardinals. Unlike the previous Super Bowl, XLIII panned out differently for Roethlisberger. Despite facing a strong Cardinals defense, he churned out an impressive performance by completing 21 out of 30 passes for 377 yards, 1 touchdown, and 1 interception. His passer rating stood at 93.2.

So clearly, Big Ben’s performance was much better in the 2009 finale. However, he probably cherishes both the championship wins equally.

Post Edited By: Shubham Bhargav
Ben Roethlisberger Kenny Pickett Pittsburgh Steelers

About the author

Neha Joshi

Neha Joshi started following NFL as a way to pass time. Soon it became her passion and ended up writing about the sport. Her favorite player is Aaron Rodgers because he is wayward and unpredictable. Apart from football, she loves reading Thomas Hardy, Vladimir Nabokov, and Michel Foucault.

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