They share uncommon rookie success, powerful right arms and a proclivity for staying cool in the most intense moments.
Joe Flacco has taken the January journey that made Ben Roethlisberger famous as a rookie in 2004, turning heads and defenses along the way.
Heading into Sunday's AFC championship game in Pittsburgh, some have even portrayed Flacco, the Ravens' quarterbacking prodigy, as the second coming of Roethlisberger, the pulse of the Steelers' offense and their unquestioned leader.
Does the comparison fit?
Not really.
They might be kindred spirits, but they are not Xerox copies. Any similarity is based on first-year success, not freeze-frame replication.
Roethlisberger, 26 and nearly three years Flacco's senior, does some of his best throwing when he's on the move. Witness the play he made Dec. 14 to beat the Ravens here, scrambling left, reversing direction, then throwing a bullet to Santonio Holmes on the goal line.
Flacco often gets into trouble when he's out of the pocket. Most of his interceptions have come on sprints to the right, when he throws across his body. He is better running in that situation than throwing.
Roethlisberger, who has won a Super Bowl and gone to the Pro Bowl, sometimes holds on to the ball too long waiting for a play to develop, a trait that adds to his sack total.
Flacco has been trained well to read, react and dump, if necessary. Since training camp, he has made great strides in getting the ball out faster and protecting it better. His sack total reflects that trend.
"The Ravens have done a great job with Flacco," said Gil Brandt, a longtime personnel evaluator who works for NFL.com. "They don't ask him to do something he can't do. They don't ask him to take chances."
But does Flacco resemble Roethlisberger?
"Both have tremendously strong arms, and both are big guys who move a lot better than you think they would," Brandt said.
"Other than that, Roethlisberger didn't play quarterback in high school until his senior year because the coach's son was the quarterback, and this kid [Flacco] couldn't beat out the left-hander [Tyler Palko] at Pitt. My question is, where are those [other] guys now?"
For this season's two AFC finalists, the similarity is the road seldom traveled.
Roethlisberger, who came out of Miami of Ohio in 2004, won his first 14 starts his rookie season after taking over for the injured Tommy Maddox in Week 3. His first loss was in the AFC championship game to the New England Patriots.
