Ben Roethlisberger has been lauded by Parcells and Belichick, linked to Culpepper and McNabb, lionized with Bradshaw and Marino.
Heady stuff for a 22-year-old quarterback who is one month into his on-job-training with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
But as the saying goes, it's not hyperbole when you have the NFL on a string at the end of an arm that has brought the defending Super Bowl champions to their knees and the city of Pittsburgh to a frenzy.
A decent success story picked up momentum when Dallas Cowboys coach Bill Parcells, before their Week 6 meeting, called Roethlisberger the best quarterback to come into the league since Hall of Famer Dan Marino 21 years ago.
Roethlisberger delivered a Hall of Fame rendition. He completed his first seven passes and his last 11, directing a late fourth-quarter drive and a 24-20 win over the Cowboys.
But that was nothing compared to last week. That got the NFL's attention. Last week got the league's admiration.
Roethlisberger did what 21 teams -- and several rookie quarterbacks -- before him couldn't: beat Bill Belichick's New England Patriots. In fact, no rookie quarterback before Roethlisberger had ever beaten Belichick, one of the league's top defensive wizards. He completed 18 of 24 passes for 196 yards and two touchdowns in the face of Belichick's blitzes.
The fallout of that 34-20 upset of the defending champs raised a new legend in Pittsburgh, where Terry Bradshaw quarterbacked four Super Bowl champions. It also put the Steelers in a unique position.
When they play the Philadelphia Eagles today at Heinz Field, they have a chance to make history. No team has ever knocked off two undefeated teams this late in the season on consecutive weeks.
See the NFL genuflect.
"Most of us thought he'd be average at best," said Boomer Esiason of CBS and one-time NFL Most Valuable Player with the Cincinnati Bengals. "I knew he had a good supporting cast. I didn't think -- I never fathomed -- he'd be this far along and this poised."
Roethlisberger's physical presence, at 6 feet 4 and 242 pounds, draws quarterbacking comparisons to Minnesota's Daunte Culpepper and the Eagles' Donovan McNabb.
But his awareness in the pocket and his poise have earmarked him as a player of uncommon skills and special promise.
"What you see is what you get," said Ken Whisenhunt, the Steelers offensive coordinator. "The surprising thing is his overall play, how calm and poised he is in a game, how he's made plays under duress and thrown for a high completion percentage."
