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 […]

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.

Thank you very much for all the great birthday wishes! I had a super fun birthday yesterday! — Benjamin, Jr.

“That is why I wear 7. Because of him. A hero of mine growing up…Any time you go into a place that has had a legendary type of quarterback I grew up watching, it’s kind of special.” — Ben on John Elway & facing the Broncos in Denver on Sunday.