Rivers, Roethlisberger finally match up
He strode to the podium, shook hands with commissioner Paul Tagliabue and then pulled on the hat of the team for which he would never play.
His agent didn't have to tell him a trade was in the works. Philip Rivers could have figured that out after speaking to the talking heads at ESPN before he did any member of the organization that made him the fourth overall pick of the 2004 NFL Draft.
More than two years later, Rivers recalled his draft experience as "kind of awkward." Ben Roethlisberger remembers the day a little differently, and he still uses the belief that he got passed over because he went to school at the wrong Miami as motivation.
Sunday, the quarterbacks will duel for the first time since they were forever linked by that draft, giving the folks at NBC an intriguing subplot for the nationally televised game.
True, Rivers and Roethlisberger aren't playing against one another in a literal sense. However, since the two (along with Eli Manning) were the top quarterbacks in the 2004 draft, they are very much going head to head .
"I wouldn't say we're best friends, but I know (Rivers) pretty well, and I know a lot of what he's gone through," Roethlisberger said Wednesday at the Steelers' South Side practice facility. "We talked about it last year when I was out there about (Rivers) being behind Drew (Brees) and this and that, so I'll be interested to talk to him and see how everything is going with him."
Despite the rapid ascent he has made -- Roethlisberger is the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl -- the Miami (Ohio) product knows what it is like to wait.
He watched Manning go first in the draft to the Chargers and Rivers go three picks later to the New York Giants.
The two quarterbacks were swapped in a blockbuster trade, all before the Steelers selected Roethlisberger with the 11th pick of the first round.
While Roethlisberger became a starter almost immediately with the Steelers because of an injury, a holdout cost Rivers any chance of winning the starting job as a rookie.
He had to again serve as an understudy to Brees in 2005.
Rivers threw just 30 passes his first two seasons, but he became the starter when Brees signed with the Saints during the offseason.
The Chargers are 2-1 with Rivers at the helm, and they are using him much the same way the Steelers employed Roethlisberger his rookie season.
Rivers is running the offense, but he is not being asked to carry it, as evidenced by the 68 passes he has thrown in three games.
He has completed almost 68 percent of his attempts and has been intercepted just one time.
"He has exceeded my expectations," Chargers coach Marty Schottenheimer said. "I think we have had one turnover, we have been sacked one time, and the fact that he has been able to do things with the offense has been very, very encouraging."
As efficient as Rivers has been, it would be understandable if he were getting a little impatient, especially since the Chargers appear to be bringing him along slowly.
"The last two years were tough at times, but I am honestly thankful for them," said Rivers, who started for four years at North Carolina State and is the most prolific passer in ACC history. "I'm not performing to the level that I want to at this point. I feel confident that I'm getting better every week."
The same goes for Roethlisberger.
He has not played well in the two starts he has made this season. But, Roethlisberger said, "We're almost clicking, and when we do start to click and those wheels start turning together, I think we can be pretty good and pretty dangerous. I don't think we're as far off as people think."
One thing that certainly won't hurt Roethlisberger as he tries to snap out of a funk is the mere presence of the Chargers.
Roethlisberger said he feels like he slipped in the 2004 draft because he went to a Mid-American Conference school instead of one in a major conference.
The Chargers not only passed on Roethlisberger, but they took another quarterback instead of him.
"I don't have anything against (Rivers), but I like playing against San Diego," Roethlisberger said. "Anybody that was in the top 10 (of the draft), I kind of like to play against."
That draft could have turned out quite different.
At one point, Rivers said, he felt the Steelers would take him if the Chargers picked someone else.
There was strong sentiment among Steelers brass for three players in that draft: Roethlisberger, Rivers and mammoth offensive lineman Shawn Andrews, who went to the Eagles with the 16th pick.
Steelers coach Bill Cowher said the team met with Rivers before the draft at the NFL Combine.
Neither the coach nor the two quarterbacks talked much about what might have been.
As Rivers said, "Who knew how it was going to unfold?"
And how it will unfold. Not just Sunday night in San Diego, but in the coming years as well.
