FanHouse TommyMaddox

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.

Everyone makes mistakes. But when those mistakes are magnified by intense scrutiny of the NFL draft, well, they become much more embarrassing than, say, my typical Friday morning, mustard-stain-on-khakis incident.

Which is why the NFL FanHouse braintrust got together to determine who is the biggest bust for each NFL team. They're not listed in terms of stupidity -- they're all stupid relative to a team's total draft performance. Meaning, of course, some teams "bust" is much different than another organization's; we did it this way to avoid just linking you to DetroitLions.com.

Instead, we're putting it in current draft order, sans trades, and allowing this list to serve as a reminder of each's team's ability to properly execute a fail. The "bust factor" was based primarily on three things: statistical production (or lack thereof), position in the draft and other available options during that year's draft.

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This season, FanHouse writers take their cameras to NFL stadiums to document what happens when you stop being polite and start getting real. Or something. We've cleverly titled it "FanHouse in the Stands."

Sitting in the stands on Sunday, muttering various expletives at the Steelers for losing a second consecutive home game that was right there for the taking, I began hearing a sound I hadn't heard since the days of Kordell Stewart, or, to a lesser degree, the days of, ugh, Tommy Maddox -- fans screaming for the backup quarterback.

Annoying as it may be, it's still somewhat impressive that Ben Roethlisberger went a good four-and-a-half years before he really started to hear it from the locals. Though, at this point, it's still limited to pockets of, I'm guessing, frustration. He's not yet to the point where he'll wake up some morning and find his front yard littered with garbage, or listen to local louts make up rumors about his personal life. Hopefully, we never go down those roads again. Not some of our finer moments as sports fans.

Anyway, there's not a bigger fan of Roethlisberger in the city of Pittsburgh than me, so, when an entire row of people ten rows up are chanting "WE WANT LEFTWICH," I tend to get a little frustrated.

Great news, Steelers fans: Ben Roethlisberger, after another atrocious performance, takes full responsibility for putting the "Tommy Maddox" back in Pittsburgh quarterbackin'.

Big Ben, a Pro Bowler a year ago, has been nursing various injuries this season and instead of sitting for a week or two to get healthy, he insists on taking the field, game after frustratingly awful game.

Roethlisberger seems to consider toughing it out long enough to throw a couple game-deciding interceptions a badge of honor. Yes, we get it, your irrepressible spirit contributes to your overall awesomeness, but only when you don't play like a drunk, hobbled hobo. It's a fine line, I know.

J.J. dutifully recaps the latest atrocity in which the offense squandered another solid defensive effort. For his part, Big Ben, was adequately emotional after the game:

If you're a Steelers fan, there weren't many highlights from today's loss to the Jaguars. One thing that has been missing is this season have been the gadget plays, long a staple under offensive coordinators Mike Mularkey and Ken Whisenhunt.

First-year coordinator Bruce Arians has admitted to being a big proponent of the passing game, but until today, he's shied away from the 'Trickeration' portion of the playbook. (Although some might point out that last week's 4th-and-goal end around to Hines Ward that came up short was pretty goofy. Agreed.)

Anyway, after the Steelers cut the Jags lead to two points with just over five minutes to go in the game, they went for two. Enter wide receiver Cedrick Wilson, All State high school quarterback. I feel confident in writing that Wilson has a better arm than Chad Pennington and Tommy Maddox put together. It's that good. It's just too bad that wasn't an eight-point conversion.