“The bye will come at a good time, but I’m not even going to rule myself out this week.” — Ben, on 93.7 The Fan.

More from Ben today:

How is the foot?

“I can walk on it. I’m not running around or anything but the smart thing to do, from what doc has told me and the trainers is just to kinda keep ice on it and get the swelling out and just kind of rest it, let it heal.”


When asked if the team is cursed with all the injuries, including two for him –

“You know, it just happens. I don’t know how to explain it other than it’s a violent, physical sport. It’s what we signed up for and some teams go through it. Like I said every week, we have to stay healthy. It’s always our number one goal and every individual’s goal. It’s not easy to do, but we have to find ways to persevere.”


On how he felt about his play in the game against the Raiders –

“I still, going back and looking at it I said this after the game and looking back at it again I’ll still say it, I think the line played great and I think the skill guys were very average, myself included…Just little details here and there that we weren’t sharp on and that’s myself, that’s Antonio Brown. And I know people are like, ‘That’s crazy, look at how many yards and catches and everything he had,’ but we look at it with a critical eye. Him and I have talked, we talked Sunday night when I was on my way back from the hospital, him and I talked, and I told him, so it’s not like this is a surprise to him that we left yards out there, we left plays out there.”


On DeAngelo Williams play –

“I thought he did awesome, I was proud of him. I talked to him Sunday night as well and he did some great things. Running the ball obviously, giving us big plays when we needed it, putting his head down and getting the tough yard when we needed it. I thought his day was very impressive.”


On Landry Jones coming in for him late in the game –

“I thought he did a great job, that’s what a good backup does. He has […]

And Ben is on hand (but off his foot) to support his friend and former teammate and his foundation…along with some other fine Pittsburgh folks!


Charlie Batch ‏@CharlieBatch16
Look who’s in the building for In the Pocket. It’s Ben, Cutch & The Pompeani’s #inthepocket16




Teresa Varley ‏@Teresa_Varley
Quite the group of QBs at In the Pocket. @MikeVick @LandryJones12 @_BigBen7 @CharlieBatch16 @bgradkowski5



Charlie’s 9th Annual event benefits his Reading & Computer Literacy Programs. You can learn more here.

The Steelers won the game, but they lost Big Ben to a foot injury.

And Steeler Nation came out strong on social media once again with well wishes for #7! But it was the Lil’ Fans who were stealin’ hearts. Sharing just a few:


Michael Hensel ‏@mikehensel
@_BigBen7 These 2 super Steeler fans want to wish you a speedy recovery.



Brett Kostoff ‏@kostoff2
My son is wearing his @_BigBen7 jersey to bed in hopes that Big Ben starts feeling better soon. #Steelers



My Info ‏@BobbymantellMy
@_BigBen7 my son got really upset when he heard you got hurt. Hurry back Ben



And then there was this one!


DinoReviews101 ‏@DinoReviews101
Get well soon @_BigBen7, we love ya! #SteelersNation #HereWeGo



Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to tweet, post & email “Get Well” wishes!!

“I would like to thank The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation and Nashville K-9 for the generous donation of K-9 Fanta to the Arnold Police Department. With always declining budgets of police departments, this donation allows us to maintain a full K-9 team for the Arnold Missouri Police Dept. This is a beautiful dog and with it’s training in place, she will make quick work on our department to get her on the street, helping to serve and protect our community.” — Chief Robert R. Shockey, Arnold (MO) Police Department.

In October, Nashville K-9 contacted The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation with the hope of finding a “home” for a dog that they trained and thought would be perfect as a K9 officer for a department in need. Ben’s foundation connected Nashville K9 with all of the police department applicants that were not selected to receive a grant during this NFL season.

The Arnold Police Department in Missouri jumped at the chance! In fact, they drove to Nashville to meet and pick up the dog last week and were so excited by their new K9 officer, that they sent us the photo above.

“It’s with our great pleasure to donate K-9 Fanta to the Arnold (MO) Police Department. Fanta is a two year old German Shepherd imported from Germany and will be used as a narcotics and demonstration dog for the APD K-9 unit. She’s well trained in obedience and loves children.” — Ali Hemyari, CEO Nashville K-9.

Thank you to Nashville K9 for allowing us the opportunity to assist them in helping another community receive a trained K9 officer, free of charge, and to Jessica Duffaut at the Giving Back Fund, who oversees Ben’s foundation!

And of course, congratulations to the Arnold Police Department on your new officer!

From Teresa Varley at Steelers.com this afternoon:

If anyone understands how miserable it is to be injured, and how important it is for the player behind you to step up, it’s Ben Roethlisberger.

Roethlisberger missed four games with a knee injury, returning last week against the Cincinnati Bengals. So he feels for running back Le’Veon Bell, who is out for the season with a knee injury himself, but knows that the team has to keep moving forward this week as they prepare for the Oakland Raiders with DeAngelo Williams as the team’s starting running back.

“There should be no slowing down,” said Roethlisberger. “We miss 26 (Bell) and our hearts go out to him. It’s not easy to have an injury, especially when you are the best in the business.

“We have all of the faith in the world that DeAngelo will pick it up. He is a back that knows what he is supposed to do and will do it with every ounce of his being.”

Roethlisberger said that Williams has done enough in his career to make it easy for them to have confidence that he will get the job done, just like he did the first two weeks of the season when he started for a then suspended Bell.

“He has been playing for a long time at a high level,” said Roethlisberger. “He is a guy we expected high things from because we had seen it and known he could do it. He stepped up. We have all of the faith in the world he will continue to do it.”

The offense is going to need every weapon they can get this week against the Raiders, who bring a physical style of play on defense, led by the ageless wonder Charles Woodson, the 39-year old safety who is second on the team in tackles and leads the Raiders with five interceptions.

“He is just a phenomenal football player,” said Roethlisberger. “I don’t know him off the field very well, but he must dedicate himself, his time, his body. He is not just out there, he is playing at a very high level.

“They are a good football team. They’re coming in here, it’s going to be very physical. Their defensive backs like to do a lot of grabbing, holding, and just being […]

Heath Miller and other players show their support for Glimmer of Hope and finding a cure for breast cancer.


From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

It’s a sad reality, but it is reality. Almost everyone knows somebody who has been impacted by breast cancer, whether it’s a family member, friend, or co-worker.

Along with that, though, more people are doing their part to bring awareness to the disease, and to help in the effort to find a cure.

That has been the case for the Steelers over the last month, and it continued on Monday night when Heath and Katie Miller and Alan and Julie Faneca hosted Bid for Hope XIV, benefitting Glimmer of Hope Foundation and supporting breast cancer research.

“This is a disease that has affected way too many people,” said Miller. “The NFL has embraced it, the Steelers have embraced it, and we are trying to make sure everyone is aware of the importance to see the doctors, get the mammograms.

“The money raised at this event goes to research so a difference can be made. If we can do what we can to help with the research we can work towards a cure and help as many people as we can.”


Ben, Brett Keisel any many other teammates & former teammates autographed items for guests at the event.


This is the 14th year for Bid for Hope, an event that has raised more than $1 million, with much of that benefitting the organizations under-40 breast cancer study, 3D mammography and the integrated oncology program at Magee Womens Hospital of UPMC, which treats mind, body and soul, something that helps patients as they go through treatment.

“The women who have been through this care program, their care has been better, their re-admittance to the hospital has been low,” said Diana Napper, founder and president of Glimmer of Hope. “We know the program is great. We also have nurse navigator, genetic counseling, and the clinic which there are only three in the country.

“That support of 14 years has evolved into one of the most unique, effective programs we could have which is because of the Steelers support. It started with Alan and Heath has carried it on and I couldn’t be more thankful, and neither could those who […]