One has 60 career regular season wins, two Super Bowls, and a $100 million dollar contract. The other has taken exactly zero snaps in the National Football League. All eyes will be on Ben Roethlisberger this coming Sunday when the six-time Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers take on their most historic rival, the Cleveland Browns. Big Ben, of course, is making his 2010 season debut after sitting out the first four games of the season with a league-mandated suspension. As it happens, Roethlisberger may not be the only quarterback taking his first snaps of the year. Rookie quarterback Colt McCoy may just make his rookie debut on Sunday at Heinz Field against the league’s top ranked scoring defense. Scary prospect if you’re a Browns fan, is it not?
If you remember, Browns president Mike Holmgren had said after the 2010 Draft that McCoy would not play in 2010 unless unforeseen, extreme circumstances materialized. The Browns started the season with veterans Jake Delhomme and Seneca Wallace vying with one another for the starting duties. Holmgren assumed that one of the two, or both, would get all the snaps at QB this year while McCoy got stronger and studied diligently. With both veterans shelved with injuries, the Browns look like they have no choice but to turn to McCoy to lead the team into enemy territory against a divisional rival.
Browns head coach Eric Mangini sarcastically downplayed the monumental task at hand for McCoy were he to in fact be named the starter.
“It’s only the Steelers, right?” Mangini said with a perfect touch of sarcasm. “Coming off a bye week? They don’t blitz much.”
Stay tuned for more updates throughout the week here and at Behind the Steel Curtain as Steeler Nation eagerly awaits the return of Ben Roethlisberger to the fold.