But Steeler Nation was too worried about #7, who suffered an injury in the 3rd quarter, to celebrate (he will have an MRI upon the team’s return to Pittsburgh).

His website’s Twitter and Facebook pages, as well as his email account, were flooded with well wishes even before the game ended…here is just a small sample. starting with Bruce Gradkowski and Jerome Bettis:

Bruce Gradkowski ‏@bgradkowski5
Great win #SteelerNation !!Thanks for the awesome support, felt like a home game!! Let’s pray for @_BigBen7 for a fast recovery #he’llbeback


Jerome Bettis ‏@JeromeBettis36
Hope this injury isn’t to serious! #SteelerNation is praying for you man! #PITvsSTL


Susan Delucia ‏@steeleru7
@_BigBen7 So sad and sick to my stomach. A win isn’t worth losing you. Prayers up. @steelers @AntonioBrown84

Y’all don’t know how much he means to the team until he gets hurt.. So for those who have complained about him (not necessarily on this fb page, but on other pages, I’ve seen) now… It’s real.. And it’s sad.. Get Better Soon Ben we love you Ben. — Valerie Ivkovich

Stasi Lloyd ‏@iamstasi
Its great to be 2-1 but not at the expense of @_BigBen7 being hurt…I would rather be 1-2 with a healthy Ben


Emma Nutt ‏@Emzicles12
Hope your injury doesn’t keep you out for long @_BigBen7 we need you. Praying for a quick recovery #GetWellSoonBen #steelernation

“Prayers first and foremost for your health and your family.”— Dorothy Ripper Staub

Jamie Harding ‏@jamiekharding
When a W feels like a really big L. Get well soon, @_BigBen7. #weneedyou


Seabeewife26 ‏@ChristyNelsen
Hate to see @_BigBen7 go down. Prayers going up for the big guy. They breed us tough in Findlay!!



Cathy H ‏@girlzrok9798
@steelers My friend, Delta Dave was at the game & this is for @_BigBen7 Get well we need u!


“So sorry you got hurt Ben. I will pray for you. Hope you get back in line up soon.” — Clara Jean John Yerick


Kelly Shearer ‏@Budkat8
@_BigBen7 praying for quick healing & recovery…we need our leader, hard to win without the best QB in […]

Today Ben announced the second grant of the 2015-16 season from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund. The Foundation will be distributing a grant to the City of Hazelwood just northwest of St. Louis where the Steelers will play the Rams on September 27, 2015.

“The acquisition of a new canine will enable the HPD to improve its narcotic drug investigation and crime suspect apprehension capabilities in order to keep Hazelwood a safe community for its citizens.” — Greg Hall, Chief of Police, Hazelwood Police Department.

The Hazelwood Police Department (HPD) will apply the grant funds to the purchase and training of a new dog for their K-9 unit.

During the 2015-16 NFL season, The Ben Roethlisberger 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 and will consider a grant to a non-NFL market city in the United States for each playoff game in which the Steelers compete.

The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invited police and fire departments across the country to submit proposals detailing their needs.

This marks the ninth season that the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units. The mission of the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States, with a particular emphasis on support for service dogs in Pittsburgh, PA. Roethlisberger and the Foundation also support Make-A-Wish.

The Foundation distributed more than $130,000 in grants to K-9 units around the country during the 2014-15 NFL season and has distributed in excess of $1.3 million since 2007.

Hazelwood Police Captain, Mark McKeon, said, “I would like to thank the foundation and its employees for the great honor in being selected for this canine grant.”

Fans can support future K-9 grants by purchasing candy on Sarris Candies’ website, (www.SarrisCandiesFundraising.com), using a special purchase code (77-7777). Sarris will donate 25 percent of the purchase price to the Ben’s foundation.


For more information about Ben’s foundation, please contact Jessica Duffaut at www.givingback.org.


Photo: That’s Hazelwood Police K9 “Onyxx”, who is looking forward to having a new co-worker!

Pittsburgh Steelers ‏@steelers
Congratulations @_BigBen7 on being named AFC Offensive Player of the Week! #HereWeGo

#MACtion ‏@MACSports
Congrats to Miami alum Ben Roethlisberger on being named the NFL’s AFC Offensive Player of the Week! #MACtion

Ben was 21-of-27 for 369 yards and three touchdowns in the Steelers’ win over the 49ers on Sunday.

This is the 12th time he has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week, and the first time since taking home such honors in back-to-back weeks (Weeks 8-9) in 2014.



Also Today:

It’s Wednesday, and that means Ben spoke to the media after practice –

You can read a recap of his interview here.

Did you miss Ben’s show this morning at 11AM on 98.7 The Fan with Cook and Poni?

Here is a recap:

Coming off a huge performance for the entire offense against the San Francisco 49ers, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger joined “The Cook and Poni Show” like he does every Tuesday at 11 a.m. and said despite how good they looked, they still have things they can clean up.

“We had some penalties that hurt us,” Roethlisberger said. “We had two, three-and-outs that shouldn’t have been three-and-outs. I mean, we stopped ourselves and that’s frustrating. I had a bad call in the no-huddle that resulted in only a one-yard run when it could have been more if I had checked out of the play…All-in-all, a win is a win.”

Despite those “miscues,” Roethlisberger still completed 21 of 27 attempts for 369 yards and three touchdowns, so they weren’t all that costly. However, it shows the offense is already clicking and primed for a big season.
The offense even had success in an area where they tend to struggle – the redzone. Roethlisberger described what was different for them this time and why they were so successful.

“I have to give Coach Haley a lot of credit,” Roethlisberger said. “I told him this Sunday night when I got home and texted him, I said, ‘You know coach, I give you credit,’ because when we were driving down the field in the no-huddle, we got down a couple of times to the 5-yard line, the 10-yard line, and sometimes even closer and typically, I would expect to hear in my head…ok, huddle up, we’re bringing out this goalline package, jumbo, him calling a play. He never once did that. That’s to his credit that he just kind of let us keep rolling in.”

Roethlisberger also talked about the team’s aggressive approach to extra points and going for two more times than electing to kick.

“We knew first touchdown we were going for two. The discussion then comes up on the second one, ‘What are we going to do?’ If we got the first one, then we may not do the second one, if we didn’t get the first one, then we may do the second one, that’s Coach Tomlin. We knew going in that we were going to go […]

Big Day for Big Ben!

“None of what the 49ers accomplished statistically during the game mattered, because in every instance Ben Roethlisberger either had an answer to negate what had just happened, or even better, he had authored something earlier that ultimately rendered what the 49ers would end up doing as nothing but statistical fluff.

“The Steelers’ 43-18 victory today at Heinz Field, Roethlisberger completed 21-of-27 (77.8 percent) for 369 yards, with three touchdowns and no interceptions for a rating of 155.8. He was magnificent in the no-huddle. He got to the running game at the right times. He spread the ball around to five different receivers, and his three touchdown passes went to three different receivers. He was 2-for-2 on two-point conversion passes. He was a critical factor in the Steelers converting 60 percent on third downs, in the offense being a perfect 5-for-5 in the red zone, and in the team building a 29-3 halftime lead. And just to make sure, on each of the Steelers’ two fourth-quarter possessions that followed 49ers touchdowns, Roethlisberger drove the Steelers to answering touchdowns that maintained the margin of their comfortable lead.

“Ben Roethlisberger is the Steelers Digest Player of the Week.” — Bob Labriola, Steelers.com.

Post-game Q&A with Ben:

Is this what you expect the offense to look like?

I hope so. Things clicked today. We did some really good things, threw the ball, ran the ball and scored in the red zone. Mostly disappointed about coming out in the second half and we had two screens that we felt could have been big plays, but weren’t. We had to punt and then we had the ball backed up.

To me, it’s frustrating because when we have a punt, we would rather just keep going and give our defense a break. We want to possess the ball and work the ball down the field. I was calling almost every single play and we were moving so fast and that’s credit to our guys and the conditioning. We didn’t possess the ball very long tonight, but we put up the points.


How difficult are you guys to defend for defenses now that you’ve got Le’Veon Bell back; just another weapon?

It’s great. I think DeAngelo has done an awesome job. I don’t think that it means […]

Ben was honored by Jerome Bettis on Friday night –

“It is great to see him involved in his charity and doing great things in the community. The one thing I wanted to instill in all of those guys when I was there was it was about the community. They do so much for us that it was important and imperative that we do things and give back to the community.” — Jerome

“To me Jerome is a hero, a guy I tried to idolize on the football field, in the community. To be honored by him means a lot to me. It means a lot to me to be so involved in the community. Doing the grants for the dogs, giving over a million dollars to police, fire, search and rescue is something that is important to me. And the Make-a-Wish visits every game are so special. Then we get the letters talking about the wishes we provide through grants and it means a lot and is special in your heart.” — Ben

From Teresa Varley at Steelers.com:

As he was thanking his teammates during his Pro Football Hall of Fame speech, Jerome Bettis called out Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

“Brother, without you saving that tackle, I still might be on the doorsteps, brother,” said Bettis, referring to a touchdown saving tackle Roethlisberger made after Bettis fumbled against the Indianapolis Colts in the playoffs during the Super Bowl XL season. “I owe you for life.”


And on Friday night, Bettis once again called out Roethlisberger, but this time for something different. This time for the work Roethlisberger does in the community.

Bettis honored his former quarterback by presenting Roethlisberger with the 2015 Humanitarian of the Year Award at the Caring for Kids Dinner benefitting Bettis’ “Bus Stops Here” Foundation at the Fairmont Pittsburgh.

“It’s great to honor a person I have seen grow up,” said Bettis. “I have seen the guy go from rookie to seasoned veteran, but I have also seen him go from a young, young man, to a husband and father.


“This is really special to get a chance to honor Ben. Not to mention that he did help me on a play or two so to be able to honor […]