Today is October 10, 2025, and it is the anniversary of Ben Roethlisberger’s first start against the Cleveland Browns. The game is incredibly special to me personally because it’s the first game I remember
watching as a fan.
My dad worked that day, so my mom taped the game. For whatever reason, I kept the tape for quite a while and would watch it a ton as a kid, specifically in the offseason when we all were just waiting for games and had nothing better to do in June. The game is on YouTube now, so even in my adult life in the summer, if I need some comforting background noise while doing some sort of long feature, that game is still in the rotation. It’s the game that made me a Steelers fan, and it was a game that immediately made Ben my favorite player.
Aside from my own personal love for this game in particular, it began a streak of dominance for Roethlisberger against the Browns – the Ohio boy owning the team that didn’t draft him. This was the first chapter of that supremacy.
The game was called by Gus Johnson, and began with a very nice Ricardo Couclough kick return that set Pittsburgh up at the Browns’ 41 yard-line. Duce Staley kicked off the scoring three plays later with a 25-yard touchdown run – his first and only touchdown run of the season, and one of just two touchdowns he would score in three seasons with the Steelers.
Roethlisberger did throw a pick-six to Chris Crocker, but answered with the first touchdown run of his career and a long touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress.
Roethlisberger finished the day going 16-of-21 for 231 yards, two total touchdowns, and that aforementioned interception. Staley finished with 117 yards on the ground with a touchdown, and Jetome Bettis had 14 carries for 34 yards and a touchdown. Burress had six catches for 136 yards. Defensively, Aaron Smith and Travis Kirschke each had a sack, and the Steelers beat Butch Davis, Jeff Garcia, and the Browns 34-23.
This was the first of 26 wins for Roethlisberger against the Browns across nearly two decades – a dominance almost unheard of in NFL history.
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