Denver ? The kid always seemed to be in a hurry, as if doing everything faster than everybody else was the only way to prove he belonged. And maybe that’s the funny thing about Ben Roethlisberger heading to the Super Bowl as the second-youngest quarterback in NFL history: He got there by learning to slow down.

“It has been like night and day,” Roethlisberger said after Pittsburgh dismantled Denver, 34-17, in Sunday’s AFC championship game. “I’m seeing things a lot better and really understanding the team.”

The education of Big Ben, while hardly complete, is at least firmly back on track.

“Last year, going 15-1, everyone’s patting you on the back telling you what a good job you did, it kind of got overwhelming,” said Steelers receiver Hines Ward, who caught five passes and a touchdown.

“It can get overwhelming,” Ward added, “even for veteran guys.”

Overwhelming enough, anyway, that for a while Roethlisberger played like the only guy he trusted completely was himself. Last season, Roethlisberger won more games than rookie QBs are supposed to, sold more jerseys than anybody else in the league and became an instant matinee idol in a sports-mad town that waited years before showing any affection for Terry Bradshaw and other stars from the Super Bowl dynasty of the 1970s.

Ben Roethlisberger celebrates after throwing a touchdown in Sunday's AFC championship game.

Small wonder, then, by the time the AFC championship game against New England rolled around last January that his head was swelled and spinning at warp speed.

“It’s good to have confidence, but inside I was thinking, ‘We’re going all the way,”‘ Roethlisberger recalled in a midweek interview with The New York Times. “That’s where people remember you from – they remember who you are in the postseason. I tried to go out and make a name for myself too fast …”

Roethlisberger made a name for himself, all right – “Rookie” being a kinder description for his performance than “Dupe,” “Sucker” or “Patsy.”

Last season, when Roethlisberger was rushed into the starting job after Tommy Maddox went down in the second game, Steelers guard Alan Faneca responded this way: “Do you want to go work with some little young kid who’s just out of college?”

On Sunday, someone asked whether Roethlisberger was actually 23.

“If that’s what the birth certificate says, that’s what he is,” Faneca replied. “But he’s playing older than that … he’s playing like he’s been in the NFL a lot longer than two years.”

And leading the same way.

“Believe me, we know he’s still the youngest guy in the huddle,” Pittsburgh running back Willie Parker said, “but when he says, ‘Shut up,’ we shut up. He’s earned that respect this time around.”