It’s always great when we see a technique from grappling applied to another arena. The latest to use a technique from grappling is Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.
He flashed some admirable takedown skill during the 4th quarter of Sunday’s season opener against the Cleveland Browns.
At the time Roethlisberger applied the grappling skill The Steelers were leading 21-10 over the Browns when defensive lineman Emmanuel Ogbah pushed the 2x Superbowl champ to the ground.
Quarterback responeded in kind, lunging for Ogbah’s left ankle and executing a smooth low single leg takedown.
Browns defensive lineman Danny Shelton wasn’t happy to see this go down. As humorous and odd as it looked in real time, Ogbah could have easily suffered an injury if he fell to either side rather than backwards. Shelton called out the NFL for the weak response – because if the roles were reversed this would be a definitive penalty.
Penalty flag would be raised (it happened in front of the ref!) and possibly a fine or suspension.
