FanHouse BenRoethlisberger

Jay Cutler can fail on and off the field, it seems*. This should come as a relief to Broncos fans and the obsessive-compulsive set who demand symmetry in their daily lives.

In addition to deftly filling the huge void left by predecessors Kordell Steward, Chad Hutchinson and Rex Grossman, Cutler also has horrible taste in music. Via the Chicago Tribune (by way of Tremendous Upside Potential and TBL)

In the second quarter of the Steelers' win over the Browns on Sunday, Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger plowed into the line of scrimmage on a fourth-down sneak and appeared to be stopped short of the first down.

Sunday night's offensive explosion against the Chargers was just the warm-up act for the Steelers, it turns out. Because 24 hours later, Ben Roethlisberger and his offensive line were guest hosts on WWE's RAW. The footage has found its way onto YouTube and it's 10 delightful minutes of horrific acting, unintentional comedy, and unimaginable storylines (spoiler alert: Ben didn't get sacked once).

At one point, the short fella in the double-breasted suit (Jericho? Jon Gruden on the juice?) challenged Big Ben and his offensive line (a "gang of useless mesomorphs") to take on the Big Show. And that's when things got ... RAW (!).

Video after the jump.

The Steelers are 1-2, without Troy Polamalu, and face a huge test against the Chargers on Sunday night. The biggest story line heading into the weekend? Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers' offensive line headlining a WWE Raw (!) event Monday night.

Evidently, there are concerns that Big Ben and his five fat friends aren't taking their day jobs seriously. Because everyone knows that true professionals think about football every waking moment.

In any event, left tackle Max Starks isn't worried. Via the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

If you, like me, think that Ben Roethlisberger is the perfect athlete to host WWE Raw, then it's time to back a whole truckload of justification up to the Wachovia Arena at Casey Plaza in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania and dump it on the classy Steelers fans who will be streaming in to watch fake wrestling next Monday.

Because, yup, Roethlisberger is indeed the guest host of Raw (via Camel Clutch).

On the strength of hard-hitting defense, Jay Cutler's right arm and Robbie Gould's clutch kicking, the Chicago Bears won their home opener in an extremely tough fight with the defending Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Steelers outgained the Bears 308 to 275 in a gritty defensive battle. They had 21 first downs to the Bears' 17. They, unlike the Bears, were able to effectively run the football. In the end, though, the Bears won on the strength of something the Steelers lacked: the ability to hit a big field goal.

The plan was for Ben Roethlisberger to ride the pine as a rookie. That changed when Tommy Maddox went down two weeks into the 2004 season. Five years, two Super Bowl championships and one helmetless asphalt head-butt later, it's all worked out.

The FanHouse Podcast: Because bloggers are much sexier on the phone.

Michael Tunison, one of the founding writers of Kissing Suzy Kolber, joins HausCast to talk about his new book, "The Football Fan's Manifesto." Mike explains to Brinson why you have to pick a team by age of 8, then talks about how much team merchandise is too much for superfans, before the conversation turns to the recent Plaxico Burress news. Also find out what it would mean to own a Tommy Maddox Fathead, and if Ben Roethlisberger likes to fake injuries, play up the drama queen angle and use it as motivation during the season.

Moving pictures promo for Mike's book, as well as the podcast audio, after the jump.

Cut-N-Go is Fantasy Football FanHouse's daily gathering of links from around the web, covering the goings-on in NFL Training Camp which have an impact on fantasy value.

'Tis the season for the NFL to have breaking news almost every other day it seems. Thankfully, for Plaxico Burress, maybe - just maybe - the whole Brett Favre lovefest in Minnesota will overshadow him on this dark day. OK, who are we kidding? His story is sure to trump most anything for the next few weeks. The same Plaxico Burress who caught the winning touchdown from Eli Manning in the Super Bowl is going to prison for two years.

Yup, the same Plaxico who we used to draft on a regular basis in fantasy football is now rendered useless. And thus let's cue up the "who is gonna take Plaxico" jokes for our fantasy drafts. Shameful. This certainly leaves one to ponder if this is it for another once promising Michigan State WR. Bottom line, don't draft Plaxico.

Now, what happened around the camps, because isn't that what's most important?

Attorney David Cornwell released a statement on Tuesday requesting the accuser to drop her sexual assault civil lawsuit against Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger. In a statement entitled "Andrea McNulty's Own Words Prove She was Not Raped By Ben Roethlisberger," Cornwell contends that McNulty's online behavior is inconsistent with someone who had been sexually assaulted. (Via the Reno-Gazette Journal, a pdf of the statement can be found here.)

The statement includes various e-mails and online chats that McNulty was said to have had with "Ben Millikan" aka "Ben the Soldier" the online persona that Roethlisberger's lawyers believe was McNulty's fictious online soldier boyfriend. I'm an attorney with a background in both civil and criminal law, so I hope to sort out what some of this means for you.