From Ben’s radio show this morning on 93.7 The Fan:

The Steelers came out of Cincinnati last week with a big 24-20 victory over the Bengals, but it’s not truly a Steelers-Bengals rivalry game without some Vontaze Burfict controversy, and that’s where things started on this week’s edition of “The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show.”

At one point during Sunday’s game, Burfict threw Ben to the ground and the two exchanged words following a Burfict headbutt. Ben said Burfict didn’t really have anything to say to him, it was more what Ben said that stunned the Bengals linebacker.

“It’s nothing what you’d expect, it’s actually I talked to him, I don’t remember if he said anything to me,” Ben said. “I can share it because it’s my show…I said, ‘Hey, this is a great opportunity for me to tell you exactly what my wife wanted me to tell you if I got a chance. She wanted me to tell you that she’s praying for you.’ That’s what I told him, no joke.”

On a more serious note about Burfict, Ben said he has talked to other players about his antics and even they aren’t sure why he plays the way he does.

“I think they roll their eyes with some of the antics, truthfully,” he said.

Ben was even asked how much the Bengals’ coaches could do to stop the dirty play.

“I don’t know what he’s [Marvin Lewis] able and capable of doing. Maybe he’s tried, maybe he hasn’t, I don’t really know, I can’t speak for what they do over there…I know some of their players they just can’t stand it and I know if it was on our team, we’d have to have a talk,” Ben said.

Looking at what their offense was able to do against Burfict and the rest of the Bengals’ defense, Ben praised their AFC North counterparts, but admitted it was his own team’s resiliency that won them the game after settling for six Chris Boswell field goals.

“They’re a good defense,” Ben said. “For us, it was just about weathering the storm, being patient. We got our points when we needed them, we had some penalties, obviously a touchdown taken back, we had some penalties that knocked us out of that redzone fringe, so we just kept with it and […]

“Roethlisberger’s late heroics knock Bengals out of playoffs”


Post-game recap from the Sports Xchange:

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 286 yards including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Eli Rogers with seven minutes remaining as the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied for a 24-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

Chris Boswell kicked a career-best six field goals for the Steelers (9-5) to tie a team record, and set up next week’s AFC North showdown with the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field.

Sunday’s game was the first between the teams at Paul Brown Stadium since last year’s AFC Wild Card game when unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on linebacker Vontaze Burfict and corner Adam Jones helped set up the game-winning field goal in a stunning Pittsburgh win.

“Those weren’t just chip shots. Those were some bombs that he made into the wind. And how about that tackle he made? He deserves the game ball, got it. “— Ben, on Chris Boswell’s performance today.

Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell suffered a torn MCL in November 2015 on a hit by Burfict but reportedly had made amends. Bell rushed for 93 yards on Sunday.

Cincinnati (5-7-1) gained only 38 yards in the second half after leading 20-9 at halftime. The loss eliminated the Bengals from playoff contention.

Bengals kicker Randy Bullock, a former Steeler who was acquired after veteran Mike Nugent was released, capped a 70-yard opening drive with a 23-yard field goal to put Cincinnati ahead 3-0. A key play on the drive was a 15-yard facemask penalty on defensive end Stephon Tuitt on quarterback Andy Dalton.

A 44-yard kickoff return by Sammie Coates set up Boswell’s 45-yard field goal to tie the score 3-3.

“A lot of satisfaction. It’s an AFC North road win against a good team. A tale of two halves.” — Ben, when asked about the satisfaction level of getting the win today.

A pass interference penalty on cornerback Artie Burns in the end zone gave Cincinnati first-and-goal at the 1. After having three runs stuffed at the line of scrimmage, Dalton scored on a fourth-down sneak to give the Bengals a 10-3 lead.

Dalton was 16 of 27 for 157 yards and an interception on Sunday.

Cincinnati ran 21 plays in the first quarter to Pittsburgh’s six.

“Sir, you changed my life forever due to this great cause. Can’t lie, Taylor & I are Broncos fans, but we’re also huge fans of yours. Thank you for what you do to help local LE’s.” — Deputy John “Patrick” Hynes.

And more from Deputy Hynes:



“I received Taylor through Mr. Roethlisberger’s grant program in 2012, & we have been an Explosives Detection K-9 Team ever since. She is a six and a half year old chocolate lab that is very good at her job — finding explosives & interacting with kids at public relation events. Our partnership would not have been possible without Mr. Roethlisberger and his foundation! Again, thank you sir.”


Deputy Hynes, thank YOU for taking a moment to share this with us. Be safe and thank you for what you do!


Fans: You can support future K-9 grants by joining Ben’s crowdfunding campaign on https://pledgeit.org/big-ben. Big Ben is pledging $1,000 per touchdown this season to his foundation. Supporters can increase the impact by pledging to donate any amount per touchdown.

“The Northern Kentucky University Police Department is honored to receive this grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation. The funding will allow us to ensure the safety of our K-9 officer, Arritt, who works to keep our campus and region safe. We thank and commend the Foundation for its dedication to public safety service K-9 units.” — Lieutenant John Gaffin, Interim Chief of Police, Northern Kentucky University Police.”

Today, Ben announced the twelfth and thirteenth grant of the 2016 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will be distributing grants to the Erlanger Police Department and the Northern Kentucky University Police not far from the Cincinnati, Ohio area where the Steelers play the Bengals this Sunday, December 18th.

The Erlanger Police Department will use their grant to purchase a new K-9 officer to assist with protecting and serving the Kenton County community.

“The Erlanger Kentucky Police Department is fortunate to be receiving a $10,000 check from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation. Our mission is to help and assist any agency at any time upon any requests. The funds will go towards the purchase of a brand new K-9 unit which includes the dog and training for a handler.” — Officer Edward Bailey, Erlanger Police Department.

The Northern Kentucky University Police will use their grant to purchase and install a temperature monitor in the designated K-9 police cruiser.

“Arritt (photo above with his partner, Officer Murray) is an explosives detection canine provided to the University in 2012 via a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. Arritt and Officer Murray provide immediate and specialized response to bomb threats and unattended packages. This team conducts searches for a variety of explosive materials near building exteriors, parking lots, office areas, vehicles, packages, people in and around the campus, and assists other agencies in the region.” — Lieutenant John Gaffin, Interim Chief of Police, Northern Kentucky University Police.

During the 2016 NFL season, Ben’s foundation is 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 […]

“It’s AFC North football this week, and that means physical football.”

From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

The Steelers-Bengals rivalry has become a heated rivalry over the last few years, with physical, aggressive play being the norm when the two AFC North teams meet up.

Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t expect anything different this Sunday when they kick off at Paul Brown Stadium.

“Typical one down there. Crazy. Riled up,” said Roethlisberger. “It’s AFC North. It’s us coming to town. Maybe not quite as crazy as it would have been if it was that initial 8:30, but I still expect the fans to come out and it to be a typical Steelers-Bengals game.

“It’s that feel every time you go there. Throw records out the window. That time of year, the time of the game, all of those things. It’s going to be a great atmosphere.”

If recent history is an indication, it will definitely be a physical game. Players like Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown have been injured in past games against the Bengals, adding fuel to the fire. Bengals’ linebacker Vontaze Burfict was suspended for the first three games of this season for repeated violations of the player safety rule, which culminated with a hit to Brown that left him with a concussion in the playoffs last season. The intensity is expected to continue, but Roethlisberger expects the game to be played clean.

“I hope it’s not dirty,” said Roethlisberger. “We expect a physical game. That’s what we want it to be. We expect them to be the same way. We are not going to be a dirty team. We are going to go out and play football and play hard and physical, not retaliate. Just play this game the way it’s supposed to be played. If there are a lot of nasty things going on, I guess we will know why.

“We know what happened. We know about the injuries, we know about some of the dirty type things. We don’t concern ourselves with that. We concern ourselves with trying to win a football game.”

And to do that, the offense will have to deal with a Bengals’ defense that is physical, hard-hitting, and doesn’t have a lot of give, starting with their front seven, which includes Geno Atkins who was named AFC Defensive Player of […]