Big Ben 7, The Official Site of Super Bowl Champion Ben Roethlisberger

Recap provided by 93.7 The Fan:

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger says he is still supports Chris Boswell as the kicker’s struggles continued Sunday in the team’s loss to the Oakland Raiders.

On the #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show Tuesday, Roethlisberger says Boswell was pretty down on himself after the game.

“I never heard anybody say anything negative to him, I never heard anybody yell make the (kick).”

Roethlisberger adds the Boswell needs to have the same confidence that he and the rest of the Steelers do.

“I just kind of put my hand on his back and said, ‘Hey, keep your head up. We’re going to need you at some point’ and hopefully he heard the words,” said Roethlisberger. “I haven’t lost confidence in him. I still think every time he lines up it’s going to go in. He needs to have that same confidence and I hope he does.”


You can listen to Ben’s full show here.

From Teresa Varley’s recap at Steelers.com:

The Steelers fought until the end, but this one slipped away from them, losing to the Raiders, 24-21.

Ben Roethlisberger missed much of the second half with a rib injury, but with the offense not moving the ball with Joshua Dobbs in there, he came back with 5:20 to play in the game. Roethlisberger hit Brown for 13 yards, Samuels for 13 and 23, and Smith-Schuster for 12. Smith-Schuster took it to the one-yard line, and then in traffic grabbed the one-yard touchdown, reclaiming the lead, 21-17, but the lead would be short lived as the Raiders came right back, regaining the lead, 24-21.

With 15 seconds to play Roethlisberger took over again, and a short completion to James Washington and lateral to JuJu Smith-Schuster, who took it 43 more yards to the Raiders 22-yard line, gave them a chance to tie it. Chris Boswell would have sent it into overtime, but he slipped on his 40-yard field goal attempt and the kick was no good, Boswell’s second miss of the day.

Roethlisberger, despite missing more than a quarter and a half, completed 25 of 29 passes for 282 yards and two touchdowns.


You can read Ms. Varley’s full recap here.

You can watch & listen to Ben’s post-game interview here.

“We are honored to be the recipient of this grant. Our K-9 training facility will be improved tremendously with the help of this money, thus improving the training not only for our K-9 Unit, but the other units who routinely use our facility for training.” — Sergeant Kalani Souza, Modesto Police Department, CA.

Today, Ben announces the eighth grant award of the 2018 season from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will be distributing a grant to the Modesto Police Department, east of Oakland Alameda Coliseum where the Steelers will play the Raiders on December 9.

The Modesto Police Department will utilize the grant funds to update their K-9 training facility which is in need of some improvements, including agility equipment, secured housing for the K-9s, and general repair and maintenance.

During the 2018 NFL season, The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation will be distributing grants to K-9 units of police and fire departments in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers. The Foundation will also distribute several grants to the Pittsburgh area. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invited police and fire departments across the country to submit proposals detailing their needs.

This marks the 12th season that Ben’s foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units. His mission is to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States, with a particular emphasis on support for working dogs in Pittsburgh, PA.

The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation distributed more than $170,000 in grants to K-9 units around the country during the 2017 NFL season, including $82,000 in the Pittsburgh community. The Foundation has distributed in excess of $1.92 million since 2007.


If you’d like more information about the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation you can visit Ben’s Foundation page. For more in-depth information, please contact Jessica Duffaut at www.givingback.org.


Fans:

You can help support future K-9 grants by purchasing candy on Sarris Candies’ website, (www.SarrisCandiesFundraising.com), using a special purchase code (77-7777). Sarris will donate 25 percent of the purchase price to Ben’s foundation.

“There is not an issue! Sometimes people make a big deal out of things that have been said. We always say that doesn’t affect us. I knew that there was no issue in our locker room, AB knew there was no issue in our locker room. We have a great relationship….he is one of my closest friends on the team. Even James Washington – it was nothing more than me challenging him to be ready to go. He had a great week of practice. He and I had a great talk on Saturday morning. There was no hard feelings and I didn’t think there would be…no negativitly came from it.” — Ben addressing question about any issues in the locker room with his comments last week.

Recap provided by 93.7 The Fan:

On his weekly radio show Tuesday, Ben Roethlisberger, fighting a cold, addressed the big 33-30 home loss to the Los Angeles Chargers on Sunday Night Football.

The loss gives the Steelers only a half-game lead over the surging Baltimore Ravens.

“We don’t expect to lose at home. We always talk about winning all your home games and then when you go on the road, trying to get half of them. It seems recently we’ve been a lot better on the road for whatever reason, so it’s frustrating. Especially if you let the fans down that come out to see a great show. You want to win it for them and when you don’t, you feel like you let them down and it’s hard.”

Roethlisberger said he gives credit to the Los Angeles Chargers for out playing them in the second half on Sunday. He says the loss to the Bolts was “definately tough” and sort of felt like losing a playoff game.

“It hurts. I think maybe a good accurate description, a playoff loss. The only good thing about it is, we woke up the next day and we’re still alive, it’s not the end of the season…I think it definitely was heartbreaking for all of us in that locker room.”

Asked about the poor officiating, Roethlisberger would only say,

“What are you going to do about it now? You can talk about it all you want, but it’s not like they’re going to go change the outcome of the game. Not really much I can say about it.”

One of the self-inflicted mistakes the Steelers made was a first half interception while the Steelers were driving in Chargers territory. Roethlisberger says that pick is all on him.

“It’s one of those ones where Vance was going kind of down the middle across the field, and when I let go of it, it just came off my hand, bad. Obviously it just kind of fluttered in the air, slipped off my hand. It’s no one’s fault but my own. I go to get more on it. At least give him a chance to go up and break it up or whatever. But it was so bad that he didn’t have a chance to do that. I hate it.”

Another play Roethlisberger says he is taking responsibility for is the overthrow to Justin Hunter.

“It’s one of those things where he ran a great route, we had a great play call on. I had to throw it a little bit…so I tried to look at the safety towards AB to the right, and so you let it go before he’s kind of completely open, but he’s still open, and I thought I threw a good ball. I really did. I thought, and I still to this day, thought I put it where I wanted to, but it was too far, and I feel bad. I told Justin because he got hurt on that play and I feel bad. If I would have thrown a better ball, he wouldn’t have got hurt…You have to connect on that throw, and it’s on me.”

The Steelers threw the ball 45 times and ran only 17 on Sunday night. Roethlisberger says there isn’t anything to read into it and that they are just doing what they think will get them the win.

“I don’t think that there’s any reason for people to get worked up over the number of runs compared to passes…People are always going to get worked up over the numbers, when you lose especially. I don’t know if people would get as worked up if we would have won the game. That’s why Randy [Fichtner] calls the plays for us and I think we’re all just fine with the run-pass ratio. We just want to win.”

While running back James Conner did get injured on Sunday, (Ben would not comment on the injury), he doesn’t think the NFL sophomore is slowing down.

“I see a guy that’s in great shape. A guy that worked extra hard this offseason to make sure he’s in great shape. You know we talk a lot on this show, and you hear it a lot of places about that rookie wall that guys hit it…obviously this isn’t James’ first season, but this is the most action he’s had. I’ve yet to see him hit that wall.”

You can listen to Ben’s show here.

“I don’t know whether it’s ‘out of our control’, I could have played better and then it is in your control. You just can’t play bad football against a good football team….I just didn’t play well enough.” We’re not going to put [the game] in the refs’ hands, like I said, we just need to play better football. Like I said, we didn’t play well enough on offense. — Ben, answering questions after the game.

From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

The Steelers saw a 23-7 halftime lead disappear, falling to the Los Angeles Chargers, 33-30, on a field goal with no time left on the clock.

The loss has the Steelers at 7-4-1, still holding on to first place in the AFC North, just a half-game ahead of Baltimore, 7-5.

The Chargers had 23 unanswered points in the second half, taking a 30-23 lead.

The Steelers tied it at 30-30 with 4:10 to play when Ben Roethlisberger connected with Jaylen Samuels for a 10-yard touchdown.

But the Chargers wouldn’t go away. Philip Rivers drove them down to the 21-yard line, where kicker Michael Badgley had three opportunities to make a field goal. His 39-yard attempt went wide left, but Joe Haden was offsides. A 34-yard attempt was blocked by Artie Burns, who was flagged for offsides on the play. The third attempt, a 29-yarder, gave the Chargers the win.

“We didn’t get it done today,” said Antonio Brown, who had 10 receptions for 154 yards and a touchdown. “No excuses need to be made.”

Ben Roethlisberger, who completed 29 of 45 passes for 281 yards, two touchdowns, and an interception, said he should have played better and summed it up simply.

“Bad loss,” said Roethlisberger.

Injuries also mounted for the Steelers in the game, including James Conner leaving in the fourth quarter with a lower leg contusion.


You can read Ms. Varley”s full recap here.

You can listen to Ben’s post-game interview here.

From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

Brody Kleitsch couldn’t stop smiling. And it was easy to understand why.

Kleitsch, a 12-year old from Fairbank, Iowa, was the guest of Steelers a the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex for practice on Friday through the Make-A-Wish Foundation, getting to see all of his favorite players up close and personal.

Kleitsch, who has osteosarcoma, especially lit up when he saw his favorite player Ben Roethlisberger.

“The Steelers have been my favorite team forever,” said Kleitsch. “Football is my favorite sport. A lot of my friends, aunt and uncles like the Steelers. That is how I started to like them.

“Today when I saw them, it’s super cool.”

He and his family will also attend Sunday night’s game against the Chargers at Heinz Field, an experience he is looking forward to as it’s his first NFL game ever.

“I am really excited,” said Kleitsch. “I can’t wait to see everyone in person.”


You can see more great photos from Brody’s day here.

Well then, here are some recap highlights for you:

On whether they abandoned the running game –

“I don’t think so at all. I think we did what we wanted to do. We knew that they had a pass rush so we wanted to get the ball out quick, and get it going down the field. We did that. We didn’t abandon the run. We did what we wanted to do, and we were successful at doing it. You look at over 500 yards of offense – you can’t sit there and say, ‘Man, I wish we would’ve ran it more!’ We shouldn’t have turned the ball over and we should’ve scored. That’s all. It has nothing to with whether we run it or throw it. It’s strictly turning the ball over.”


On whether, after reviewing that last interception, he wished he would have just “lived to play another down rather than throwing that ball?”

“Obviously, yes. I’m not really sure how you would do that. Do you just fall down? When I didn’t get the snap clean, I didn’t want to hand it off because I was afraid of a missed handoff and a chance to fumble it. Of course you can sit there and laugh at that and say, ‘Well okay, you should’ve done that.’ So I was kind of trying to take to the safer route. Should I have just went to the ground and lost two yards? Thrown it through the uprights? Probably, but those are all things that are happening in split-seconds. And like I said, I thought I was doing the safest thing by throwing it where AB was gonna have to really make a play for it, but looking at it on film, like I said, I wish we would’ve went back to JuJu four straight plays.”


On whether the Broncos plan was to challenge him to “throw it all over the field” –

“Yes, that’s what they did. Their safety was overtop of AB a lot, almost double-teaming him, cover-two his side. They had safeties, the other safety was down in the box. They were daring us to throw the ball to other guys, and we did. Guys made plays. Look at the day JuJu had – Switzer had a great day. We had to do those things. And so we had to do those things. Rankings don’t…who cares about rankings – every day is a different ballgame. That’s why you throw stats out the window. You can’t get caught up in the numbers and stats.”


On James Washington’s fumble in the endzone –

“James needs to run through that and it’s a touchdown. We need him to bounce back. I think he just didn’t trust his hands. For some reason he jumped/drove. I’m not really sure what he’s doing. We looked at it. Coach got on him pretty good yesterday. We took a long hard look at it. James just needs to run through it, and it’s a touchdown. James, he needs to make that play. Yes, he’s a rookie, but you cant be out there if you’re not gonna make those plays for us. When I said ‘confidence,’ I think he needs to have confidence in himself. We need him to bounce back.”


On the interceptions –

“I can’t control when a D-lineman gets blocked into a ball. I can’t control when a DB like Ramsey makes a play on AB. I obviously can control the end of a half when I throw the ball up for AB to make a play. But we talked about it after that game, I’m not gonna even take that back. Because he’s one of the best in the business, AB, and I’m gonna give him a chance.

“Things happen….I’m a quarterback that is going to go out and sling it. I’m not going to worry about interceptions. I hate doing them, they bother me. But I’m going to go out and play my game and try and help us win football games. Basketball right, you miss threes. Do they stop shooting? No, because you trust yourself.”


On Al Villanueva’s touchdown –

So much fun…we were so happy for Al, it was so awesome. And what a great throw by Boz! Al is special. He’s one of the guys. If any of the linemen would’ve caught the ball – they would all have gone nuts, but it was really neat for Al. He’d been practicing that play for weeks. When they practiced this week (or last week, I don’t remember), Boz just overthrew him and we let Al have it like crazy. It was just a lot of fun to watch him score.


You can listen to Ben’s full show here.

Nope, not going to post the game re-cap….

Instead, I’m going to give you the link to the video of THE BEST HIGHLIGHT of this afternoon’s game and call it a day!


You can also watch Ben’s post-game interview here.


We’ll get ’em next time!

During this Thanksgiving Holiday weekend, Ben announces the seventh grant award of the 2018 season from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will be distributing a grant to Colorado Parks and Wildlife, just outside of Mile High Stadium where the Steelers will play the Broncos on November 25th.

Colorado Parks and Wildlife will use the funds to purchase and train a K-9 for law enforcement detection work as well as canine-hard releases (hard release is a term for returning a wild animal to the wild, but giving the animal a definite dislike of humans and dogs).

“There are only 220 Wildlife Officers to patrol all of Colorado’s 104,185 square miles. However, thanks to the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation, a new addition will be added to their ranks; a trained K-9. This K-9 will not only aid in the apprehension of those who seek to exploit wildlife, but will also be trained in canine hard-releases on bears and mountain lions that have come into conflict with people. This non-lethal tool will serve to keep wildlife wild and keep people safe. Furthermore, the K-9 will serve as an ambassador for wildlife management to Colorado’s public. On behalf of the wildlife and the people of Colorado, I want to thank the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation for providing this opportunity!” — Wildlife Officer Ian Petkash.

During the 2018 NFL season, Ben’s foundation will continue to distribute grants to K-9 units of police and fire departments in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers. The Foundation will also distribute several grants to the Pittsburgh area. Last summer, the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invited police and fire departments across the country to submit proposals detailing their needs.


If you’d like more information about the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation you can visit Ben’s Foundation page. For more in-depth information, please contact Jessica Duffaut at www.givingback.org.


Fans:

You can help support future K-9 grants by purchasing candy on Sarris Candies’ website, (www.SarrisCandiesFundraising.com), using a special purchase code (77-7777). Sarris will donate 25 percent of the purchase price to Ben’s foundation.