Roethlisberger is on the verge of joining an elite group of quarterbacks who are three-time Super Bowl winners; Rodgers has yet to play in one.

Roethlisberger has a troubled past; Rodgers had a tough act to follow.

The two met the masses at Super Bowl media day on Tuesday for what turned out to be a study in contrasts.

Roethlisberger, who has led the Pittsburgh Steelers to their third Super Bowl in six years, deflected talk about his four-game suspension to begin this season for violating the league’s personal conduct policy.

Instead, he used a smile and what sounded like a well-rehearsed reply when pressed about the punishment, stressing his desire to be a model citizen.

“I want to be the guy people look up to,” he said, smiling through a beard he said will be gone by Monday, win or lose. “I want to be that kind of husband, father and grandfather some day if I am lucky enough.”

Rodgers, who is leading the Packers to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1998, didn’t have anything more difficult to address than replacing Brett Favre in 2008.

“I just wanted to be honest through the entire time,” he said of the will Favre-won’t Favre return saga that was settled when the Packers dealt their longtime QB to the Jets. “It was a difficult situation. It was tough to stand up every day in front of media not knowing what questions were coming at me and how the fans were going to react that day in practice. But the whole time the organization stood by me and they told the truth, and I told the truth, and we moved on together.”

Speaking of moving, no one was getting anywhere fast Tuesday morning after a snow and ice storm — weather suited for Pittsburgh and Green Bay — crippled the Dallas area.

And no one bothered turning up the heat inside cavernous Cowboys Stadium, site of Sunday’s title game. The chill left many players shivering. Even Roethlisberger, who handled questions better than he did the cold, asked for someone to crank up the burners — to no avail.

“You’ve got to fight through a lot of difficult things in life, and this is no different,” he said, referring to the penalty he received from Commissioner Roger Goodell after accusations of sexual assault were made by a 20-year-old college student in March. The quarterback was never prosecuted over what was the second such set of allegations against him. “You’ve got to keep plugging along.”

He took about a dozen questions on the subject, and pretty much stayed with the same answer:

“That’s a reflective question. This is not the time for reflection.”

Rodgers, on the other hand, had no problem looking back. The six-year pro compared his sitting for three years behind Favre to what Steve Young experienced in San Francisco behind Joe Montana.

“I reached out to Steve when I became a starter, among some other guys, too,” Rodgers said, noting that he has not spoken with Favre about being a Super Bowl QB. “I wanted to talk to a lot of guys who’d been there and had success in the NFL. Steve obviously had a very similar (situation), being a guy who followed a legend. He’s been great. Steve has been a great guy to lean on and he’s made time for me and is somebody who I really appreciate.”
 
Brady wins top offensive player award

Tom Brady tore up the NFL with his precision passing and dynamic guidance of the New England Patriots’ offense to run away with The Associated Press NFL Offensive Player of the Year award for the second time in four seasons.

The record-setting quarterback, who had a string of 355 passes without being intercepted, received 21 votes from a US panel of 50 media members who regularly cover the league. He easily beat Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Michael Vick , who got 11 votes.

“To me it comes down to the mental toughness and determination of the players and coaches,” Brady said.

Brady threw for 36 touchdowns while being picked off just four times. When he won the award in 2007, Brady set an NFL mark with 50 touchdowns passes as New England went undefeated in the regular season.

Oddly, the Patriots did not win the championship in either of those seasons, but have won it three other times.

Brady doesn’t sense much difference in the guy who took New England to a 16-0 mark back then and a league-best 14-2 this season.

“I feel our team really grew together over the course of the season. It was a privilege to be a part of this team,” he said. “My only disappointment is that we couldn’t take advantage of our opportunity in the playoffs, but hopefully we learn from that and use it as motivation toward accomplishing our goals for next season.”