From Teresa Varley at Steelers.com:

Saturday afternoon’s preseason game against the Tennessee Titans will be the final tune up for the regular season for many of the starters, and Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t know how long he will be out there, but he is looking forward to playing for the first time this preseason.

“I am not really sure. I haven’t spoken to Coach (Mike Tomlin) on it,” said Roethlisberger of how many series he thinks he will play. “I am excited to get out there. I am sure there will be some jitters and rust. It will be good to get out there with the guys.

“Just to get out there. Usually the amount of plays determines how we do series wise, are you going three-and-out, are you sustaining drives. Things like that. It’s the first time we all will be together on the field at the same time, so it would be nice to put together a couple of drives and find a way to finish them off and stay healthy.”

Those jitters, that excitement is something that comes naturally for all players the first time they hit the field each season, whether you are a rookie or a 15-year veteran like Roethlisberger.

“It’s live action. We have been at practice and everything gets a little faster, a little quicker. I hope I don’t get hit, but it’s always good to knock that rust off too at some point.”

Roethlisberger took a hit in training camp that had everyone holding their breath for a few minutes. In the team’s final practice in Latrobe, Marcus Gilbert’s arm hit Roethlisberger’s helmet, and Roethlisberger went to the ground. He went into concussion protocol, but he never had a concussion.

“You don’t expect to get hit, and then to get hit from the blind side,” said Roethlisberger. “Gil just happened to be pushing the guy around and caught me just right. It knocked the wind out of me a little bit too.”

Roethlisberger left the field, and quickly went through testing, but it didn’t take long to know he was okay.

“(It was) pretty quick,” said Roethlisberger. “I think the scary thing is the verbiage, concussion protocol. I think what a lot of people don’t realize, players included, that doesn’t mean you have a concussion. You go into a protocol system […]

From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

There is no doubt the offensive line loves Ben Roethlisberger, and when he went down on the last day of training camp everyone was holding their breath. But they are breathing a sigh of relief now.

“Ben makes football easy,” said Pouncey. “He is a heck of a quarterback. He is a Hall of Fame first ballot guy. Whenever you have a quarterback like that, football is fun and easy.

“That was really good (that he is okay), especially your franchise QB. To get hit unexpectedly and I think he bounced back pretty quickly, that was good.”


You’ll want to read Ms. Varley’s full story & interviews here.

And you can see all the great Steelers training camp photos here.

From the Steelers today:

For the better part of the last three weeks Steelers fans have been packing the hillside and bleachers surrounding Chuck Noll Field, bringing with them energy, enthusiasm and tons of love for their team.

And it hasn’t gone unnoticed. The players love the support, reacting continuously when the fans cheer, and at the end of the day making sure they take time out to sign autographs and pose for pictures.

It’s a love affair that goes in both directions – the fans loving the team, and the team loving the fans.

As camp winds down, several players shared what the support from the fans means to them.

“It’s awesome. Every day seeing thousands of them out there, it just shows how much our fan base means to us and we mean to them.” – Ben Roethlisberger

“Playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers and having this fan base is amazing. For us it’s a good way to show love. Every time I go out there and I see the kids, I can relate more to them just because of my age. I am always doing stuff that is trending, playing video games, having fun, doing dances. Things they can relate to. It’s fun to give back.” – JuJu Smith-Schuster


More thoughts from players here.


What did Ben think of this year’s camp? You can watch video of his latest interview here.