From Teresa Varley’s “Bye Week Blog“:

Last week quarterback Ben Roethlisberger dished out a huge compliment to rookie tight end Pat Freiermuth, something that holds a lot of water when it comes from an 18-year veteran.

“I think he’s doing a really good job,” said Roethlisberger. “I probably need to be better getting him involved more because I trust him, he’s in the right spot. It’s on me to get him more involved. I need to start making a more conscious effort to do that.”

On Sunday, Freiermuth was targeted seven times, and proved Roethlisberger right with seven catches for 58 yards.

So is Freiermuth becoming Roethlisberger’s security blanket?

“I hope so,” said Freiermuth with a smile. “It was an awesome feeling getting the targets I did this past weekend, but I’ve got to continue to improve and continue to be there for him when he needs me.”

Freiermuth and Roethlisberger are continually building their relationship and trust, something that happens on the field as well as off with conversations and advice.



“Sometimes it’s just understanding what he thinks that we should do on a route, or what we see and just having that back and forth conversations,” said Freiermuth. “Understanding where we’re going to be in the route game and even the run game.

“It’s very valuable having a quarterback that’s been in the league as long as he has. Learning from a future Hall of Famer and understanding what he sees in the game and how I can implement that into my game.

“We’re building that relationship and it’s an everyday thing. He’s had us over his house a couple times just to get used to us and all that kind of stuff. It’s been awesome.”

Freiermuth also said he has learned just observing some of the things Roethlisberger does on a day-to-day basis.

“It’s how to prepare,” said Freiermuth. “He probably watches the most film on the team, just trying to feel out how the defense does things, trying to stop our offense and kind of understanding what it takes to prepare to go into a game and be successful.”


You can read more from the Bye Week Blog here.