Just in case you missed his show this morning on 93.7 The Fan:

Lil’ Ben is a BIG fan of James Conner –

After Ben returned home on Sunday evening, Benjamin Jr. wanted to play football in the living room…And who did he want to be?

James Conner.

“I texted (Conner) and I told him, ‘James, it must have been pretty cool to have (Heinz Field) chanting “Conner”, but you want to know something that’s even cooler? When I come home and play catch with my son and every time he catches it he’s you!’

I said thanks for being a good role model and please don’t ever stop understanding that everything you do you have a chance to be an amazing role model.”

The “Bell question?” –

“I’ll be honest, you know we get asked every week, not just on this show, but every week in the locker room and I think I said it after this last game. I don’t want to talk about it because he’s not here. When he gets here, we’ll talk about it. Until he’s here, I’d rather talk about James [Conner] and the guys that are here that are helping us win now.” ​

When asked about the move by the Browns, and on Todd Haley in particular –

“You know, it’s hard, I was kind of surprised. I don’t think you typically [fire] both a head coach and a coordinator. You wouldn’t think that, at least. I thought that maybe Todd would have gotten the job, but obviously they felt like they wanted to go with the defensive coordinator instead, with Gregg [Williams].” ​

“[Haley] a very passionate coach. He wants to win; he wants to get the best out of his players. I think there’s nothing wrong with that. I think that’s what you need, you want to have passion from a player, you want to have passion from a coach. Whether it’s from a player or a coach, sometimes it can come across as…and we talk about it with AB sometimes or with other players…sometimes it can come across in a negative way. But, when you’re passionate about wanting to win, that’s not always a bad thing in a coach.”​

And his thoughts on the terrible events of Saturday & attending the funerals today –

“I hate to admit […]

Thirty teammates showed up to support Cam Heyward at his event last night.

“This is everything. I don’t take it for granted. I enjoy every minute of it. That is what being a man of God, being a man who cares about his community does.” – Cam Heyward on hosting his event.

You can read more from Teresa Varley on Cam’s event, as well as watch video here.

From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

Friday was a day filled with smiles for Gabe Patton, a 16-year old from Vinton, Virginia who loves the Steelers.

Patton was a guest of the team at practice at the UPMC Rooney Sports Complex through the Make-A-Wish Foundation. He will also be at Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns at Heinz Field.

“I love the Steelers,” said Patton. “I have never been to an NFL game before. I have been to a few college games. I am really excited. It should be loud and a lot of fun.”

Patton, who is battling cancer, had the opportunity to meet his favorite players, including Ben Roethlisberger and Antonio Brown, while getting pictures and autographs.

“It’s crazy being here,” said Patton. “It’s surprising. It’s kind of crazy to see myself doing this. This is a big confidence boost. It gets all of the bad stuff out of my mind. It’s nice to do something fun that I never thought I would do.”


You can read more & see some great photos of Gabe’s day here.

“As men in general, we all need to show emotion. I think there’s a misconception out there that as men, we shouldn’t. I think that’s wrong. I think we should show emotion, whether it’s at a movie, if it’s funny or sad, if you want to be around your wife or girlfriend. Just because you cry doesn’t mean you’re less manly. I think that’s a false narrative. When it comes to football, if something hurts – [Derek Carr] might have been hurting, who knows? I know I’ve cried in the locker room before, for both joy and pain. You lose a football game, if you’re not showing emotion or if he gets up from something like that and he’s laughing, he’s going to get chastised for not showing enough emotion! So I don’t know exactly the story you’re talking about, but for me I don’t think it makes us any less manly to show emotion! — Ben, when asked if it was acceptable for football players to cry (after a story broke about the Raiders’ Derek Carr crying on the football field).”

“I’m excited for him to really get a push, and be even more involved than he has been.” — Ben, on James Conner’s role.

Did you miss Ben’s interview earlier today? No problem, Teresa Varley has the rest of the recap right here:

On the turnovers in the Steelers Week One game against the Browns –

“Any time you turn the ball over you get disappointed. It was one of those games. Whether it was elements, them making plays, us not making plays.

A lot of factors involved. At the end of the day they made the plays and made us turn the ball over.

“They made the plays, we didn’t the first time around. Credit them, they’re a good defense.

We said going into that game they might be the best we play all year, and we’ll still say that.”


On the success of the Browns’ defense contributing to the turnovers –

“It’s a couple of things. It starts with the pass rush. Obviously, Myles [Garrett] is one of the best in the business. He is long, he gets after the quarterback, gets good jumps on the snap. In the secondary they catch the ball. We always joke defenders play defense […]