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Tweets about evil quarterbacks and home team love were running rampant during Sunday night’s AFC championship game between the Steelers and Jets. Some chimed in about never forgiving Michael Vick, a position I support with every fiber of my being. As a Pittsburgh resident, I’m caught between a rock and very hard and cold place. I love my Steelers. Ben Roethlisberger? Not so much. At the start of the season I went on record saying I’d rather see Charlie Batch and that Leftwich guy play every down, even if it meant we would lose every game, than have Ben as our quarterback. Unfortunately, head coach Mike Tomlin and the Rooney family ownership group didn’t call to consult with me.

Draft Day Suit coach Laurie and I had the following exchange:

No.No.No. Not the gagging part. I get that, but I know I can love a team while harboring intense hatred for their quarterback. There’s more to love about the Steelers than Ben. So much more.

Like head coach Mike Tomlin, a man I respect and trust like few other people I have never met. He’s a grown up, despite being an infant in NFL head coaching terms at just 38 years old. (For a little comparison, his defensive coordinator, Dick LeBeau, is 73 and already in the Hall of Fame.) When Tomlin and his family moved to Pittsburgh he didn’t settle in one of the ‘burbs, like most of the team has done. He very purposefully bought a house right in the city, in the heart of the East End. He’s our kind of no nonsense, work hard, get the job done sort of guy.

Like Troy Polamalu, who will hang out with kids and throw passes for hours in Arizona, surely risking sun damage to his heavily insured locks.

Like the Rooney family, owners of the team since 1933 and named by Sport Illustrated as the best NFL ownership group in 2009. While the record of six Super Bowl victories is admirable, what amazes me most is that since the NFL-AFL merger in 1970, the Steelers have had exactly three head coaches. Three. I’ll wait while you do a little math and wrap your head around that. While certainly not the only measure of a franchise, it speaks volumes about the way the franchise is run.

And like Antonio Brown, a rookie who found himself getting the call at the end of the two most important games of the season (so far). And he did.not.fail. I like his mind as much as his sure hands. In a post-game interview following the victory over the Ravens, Brown said, “I’m a part of something special — something that’s bigger than me.”

Say that again. Bigger than himself. Bigger than any one guy. Bigger than, dare I say it, the quarterback.

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• Football, Sports, Men's Football, Men's Sports