September 10 at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA
NBC
It was last November when I first discovered Al Michaels and Chris Collinsworth's love of referring to Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger as "Ben".
Al & Chris were back on Thursday in the NFL season opener, won by the Patriots 28-21.
Let's take a look at Thursday's Ben count:
First half
Collinsworth: said twice
Michaels: 9
Second half
CC: 9
AM: 9
Total Bens: 29
Bens/half: 14.5
Notable Bens
"Ben buys time"
"Ben throws too high"
"Take a look at Ben through his career"
"Obviously Ben was thinking right shoulder"
"Good pocket for Ben"
"Ben's gonna throw"
"Ben under pressure"
"Ben limping"
"Ben basically threw it out of bounds"
"Not sure Ben couldn't have just run that into the end zone"
"Ben really had nothing"
"Ben's taken advantage of them a little bit"
"There goes Ben, escaping"
"It was really fun to watch the Patriots practice what Ben does"
"Ben just finding anybody"
* Also, at one point Collinsworth & Michaels were talking about New England defensive coordinator Matt Patricia, and specifically that he had a pencil behind his ear.
Michaels: "And there's the pencil behind his ear. Like Belichick."
Collinsworth: "Some things you have to do if you coach here."
What are those things?
Use a pencil?
Put a pencil behind your ear?