More on the win over the Bengals…
“Walking off the field with him was emotional. Just the fact he was able to walk, to see him walk off that field and be able to walk off with him, it was special.” — Ben. You can watch his post-game interview here.
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:
It took a full 60 minutes. It took contributions all around. And it took some heroics.
And in the end, it all came together as the Steelers pulled out a 28-21 win over the Cincinnati Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in an AFC North battle. The win sends the Steelers into their bye week with a 3-2-1 record.
Ben Roethlisberger did what he does best, taking the Steelers on a last-minute drive to win the game. Taking over at their own 23-yard line with 1:12 to go, and down, 21-20, Roethlisberger first hit JuJu Smith-Schuster for eight yards. He went back to Smith-Schuster for 10 yards, and then connected with him over the middle for 23 yards. With just 15 seconds to play, Roethlisberger went deep to Brown, who pulled it in and never slowed down, aided by a block by Justin Hunter and taking it in for a 31-yard game-winning touchdown. The Steelers added a two-point conversion, when Roethlisberger hit Smith-Schuster, for the 28-21 win.
“It’s AFC North football,” said Roethlisberger. “It’s just a lot of fun to win here.”
You can read the rest here.
From Jeremy Fowler, ESPN.com:
Same as it ever was.
Antonio Brown made sure of it with an All-Pro walk-off score.
The Pittsburgh Steelers broke the Cincinnati Bengals’ spirit for the sixth straight time in Paul Brown Stadium with their toughest all-around performance of the season.
Brown broke free over the middle for a catch and run between Bengals defenders and an untouched, 31-yard score with 10 seconds left, giving Pittsburgh a 28-21 win.
The Bengals’ efficient 75-yard touchdown drive to take a 21-20 lead left the Steelers with 1:18 left and all three timeouts.
That was plenty of time for Ben Roethlisberger, who orchestrated his 39th career game-winning drive.
Roethlisberger finished with 369 yards and one touchdown on 32-of-46 passing, avoiding mistakes by taking what Cincinnati gave him. That often meant finding McDonald (seven catches, 68 yards) and Smith Schuster (seven catches, 111 yards). Brown added […]
It’s a Fan Friday!
Polly gets special treatment here on Ben’s website because, well, she’s Polly. And because we like to celebrate her birthdays every year right along with her!
According to her granddaughter, Karen, she is not only a “very long-time Steelers fan, but a BIG fan of Big Ben’s and everything that Pittsburgh represents!”.
Polly is dedicated to the Irish-Roman Catholic Church, and, “is the most amazing woman that I’ve ever known,” said her granddaughter.
Wishing you an absolutely wonderful birthday, Polly! God bless you and Go Steelers!! Go Polly!!
The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation grants continue…
Today, Ben announced the third 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 Villa Hills Police Department, just southwest of Paul Brown Stadium where the Steelers will play the Cincinnati Bengals on October 14th.
The Villa Hills Police Department plans to start a new K-9 unit with the grant funds.
“The Villa Hills Police Department is a Kentucky State Accredited Law Enforcement Agency that provides police services for the cities of Villa Hills and Crescent Springs in northern Kentucky. With the established location within mere minutes of the major metropolitan city of Cincinnati, Ohio and surrounded by the cities of Covington, Newport, and Florence, the Villa Hills Police Department determined the necessity to re-establish a K-9 Unit for the dual purpose of narcotic detection and search and rescue tracking. The Villa Hills Police Department has long been a highly professional agency with the highest of standards that facilitate and foster a growing community outreach and policing. With the K-9 Unit, the Villa Hills Police Department can provide the utmost level of law enforcement protection to its citizens and strive to meet its motto of Continuing Excellence.” — Villa Hills Police Sgt. Matthew R.B. Hall.
During the 2018 NFL season, Ben’s 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 the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units.
The mission of Ben’s foundation 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.
He has 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.
Hey fans!
You can support future K-9 grants by purchasing candy on Sarris Candies’ website, (www.SarrisCandiesFundraising.com)!
Just use a special purchase code of 77-7777 when ordering. […]
Wednesday’s “chat” with the media
“I will push for James to get as much run as we can because we’ve seen some great things from him in all phases of football. He’s picking up blitzes, he’s catching the ball, he’s running hard and making plays and playing with a passion, so we need to keep using that.” — Ben on James Connor.
And now on to this weekend’s game!
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:
When it comes to the Steelers-Bengals rivalry there is no secret about it.
These games get physical.
“It’s AFC North football,” said Ben Roethlisberger. “It’s one of those games that can get chippy at times. You hope it doesn’t. You hope it’s a good, hard-fought football game. Sometimes it gets a little chippy. We’ll do our best to put the past behind us and play it like it’s a normal football game.
“We’re going to go in and play the game like it’s a normal game, AFC North, physical football game. We can only control half of the players out there. We know how important this game is for us to get a ‘W.’”
Last year’s meeting resulted in the Bengals being penalized 13 times for a team record 173 yards, while the Steelers were penalized seven times for 66 yards. There were four unnecessary roughness calls, and unsportsmanlike conduct call and taunting call that was declined between the two teams. And with the new rule changes this year to protect the quarterback, the hope is the ‘chippy’ factor is cut back.
“Some of the stuff that happens in that game, the rules were made for it before that,” said Roethlisberger. “It’s not about just the physicality of the football game to me, it’s when it gets the extracurricular, the dirty stuff you wish would be cut out of it and hope it is this time.”
Playing clean, penalty free football is going to be a key. The Bengals lead the AFC North with a 4-1 record, while the Steelers are searching for their first AFC win of the season, and come in with a 0-1-1 record in the division. It won’t be easy, going against a defense that always is fired up for this matchup and look as menacing as always under new defensive coordinator Teryl Austin.
“When you have the players that they have, the talent that they have, […]
The Ben Roethlisberger Show
Recap provided by 93.7 The Fan:
Ben Roethlisberger said during his weekly show on The Fan that he really liked the play of the entire team during their 41-17 victory against the Atlanta Falcons Sunday.
“We got big plays on specials teams. The defense stepped up well against a really high-powered offense. I thought our offense played well. We started fast, we finished strong, those are things that we hadn’t necessarily done in the past.”
Roethlisberger’s deep ball has not been as accurate this season as he is used to and he says he has been dealing with an elbow issue and that “causes the ball to sail” because he has to drop his elbow a bit.
He adds that he had a talk with himself to “suck it up” in the second half and that helped him connect with Antonio Brown better in the second half. He says it’s not a big issue.
“No, it’s fine. Remember I got hit in the Cleveland game and just had that? So we’ve been dealing with it. It’s just something that I need to mentally get over in terms of my throwing motion.”
Roethlisberger says that if and when Le’Veon Bell comes back they also need to keep using James Conner but would not say if he should keep his starting running back job.
“The good thing, Joe, is that I’m not the coach, right? I don’t have to make that decision. What I would say is, I don’t think we put [James] on the shelf by any means. Now granted, I think Le’Veon is one of the best in the business, we all understand that and can agree on that. But what James needs to understand, and he’s gonna say the right things and he should he’s a younger guy with a veteran awesome football player ahead of him, but when Le’Veon comes back, in no way, shape or form should James say, ‘Ok, it’s all yours. I’m gonna sit back and when you need me, use me.’ And I will push for James to get as much run as he can because we’ve seen some great things from him in all phases of football.”
You can listen to Ben’s show here.