“I’m going to take away that I need to play better to win, the defense bailed me out with the interception. They played well. This is a team win and that’s what it’s about. Going on the road against an AFC team and getting a win – no matter how ugly, no matter how pretty it is. You just find a way a win.” — Ben, post-game.

From Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

On a day in which their offense struggled against the NFL’s most porous defense, the Steelers got enough of a lift from their own struggling defense to escape Jacksonville with a 17-9 victory over the winless Jaguars today.

The victory improved their record to 3-2 while Jacksonville slipped to 0-5.

“A little disappointed in my play, but o-line played great! I’ve got to play better.” — Ben.

Cornerback Brice McCain intercepted a Blake Bortles pass and returned it 22 yards for a touchdown with 11:32 left to expand the Steelers’ lead from one point to 17-9.

Bortles tried to force a pass to fellow rookie Allen Hurns on the right but McCain had good coverage on the play, picked it off and had no one between him and the end zone.

It was only the third interception of the season for the Steelers but their second of the game. It also came just two plays after a sluggish Steelers offense came up empty again.

“The line played a lot better than what the stats are going to say. That’s a great defense, a good defensive front, and they got after it. I know there are going to be some stats on sacks and stuff like that, but they played a lot better than what it’s going to be written as. A lot of those are on me, the sacks, the fumble – just can’t let it happen. You know, a couple times rather than throw the ball away, I took a sack there at the end because you’d rather [have] the clock keep running ” — Ben.

The Steelers were in position to extend their 10-9 lead early in the fourth quarter with the ball on Jacksonville’s 13. But on third down, defensive tackle Abry Jones sacked Ben Roethlisberger, who fumbled. Andre Branch recovered for Jacksonville at the 17.

The Steelers scored the only touchdown of the […]

Today, Ben announced the third grant of the 2014-15 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund. The Foundation will be distributing a grant to the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office where the Steelers will play the Jaguars on Sunday, October 5th.

“We are very appreciative of The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation’s approval of our grant request for a police service dog. The timing is excellent, as we are about to retire a PSD who has reached the end of his service life. Thank you for your appreciation of these valued canines, as they are a tremendous asset to law enforcement and first responder organizations nationwide.” — Jacksonville Sheriff John Rutherford.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office will apply the grant funds to the purchase of a new dog they plan to have certified in patrol and bomb detection.

During the 2014-15 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. Ben invited police and fire departments across the country to submit proposals detailing their needs.

This marks the eighth season that The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units. The mission of his 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. Ben and the Foundation also strive to support Make-A-Wish.

The Foundation distributed $157,600 in grants to K-9 units around the country during the 2013 NFL season and has distributed in excess of $1.2 million since 2007.


You can read more info on Ben’s foundation here, and The work of The Giving Back Fund here.



Also Today:

A BIG Shout Out is in order…

to the Pittsburgh Steelers Fan Club of Austin, Texas for their donation to The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation!

“I am the organizer for the Pittsburgh Steelers fan club here in Austin, Texas. I am from Butler (north of Pittsburgh) and we have been running this fan club for seven years […]

“I don’t know how much, how often I can talk about Heath. I always talk about how good he is and what he’s meant to me. He’s a guy that is going to give you everything he has. He caught basically two touchdowns either on back-to-back plays or two within three plays and got his head knocked off on both of them and made a play. He’s just tough. He’s mentally tough, he’s physically tough. He gives everything he has every single day and that’s in meetings, that’s in practice (and) that’s in the game. That’s what makes him so special and what makes it an honor to play with a guy like that.” — Ben, on Heath Miller.

Ben weighs in on this week’s game against the Jaguars:


Re: The Pirates and how good it feels to see other teams do well:

(I’m) excited. (I’m) excited for them, excited for the fans. I’ll be tuning in watching with lots of Bucco gear on.


Do you have any advice for them?
Just win (laughing).


What did you mean when you said on your radio show that players have to toughen up and get better?

Exactly that. It’s just a general statement that we talk about in here. It’s just we need to be a tough football team and if you’re tough you can make the playoffs like the Buccos tonight.


How much can having officials at practice help the team and do you think it will help you guys?

I guess it’ll help. I don’t know. We have them at training camp. I know they come for a little bit. But if Coach thinks it’s something that can help us why not give it a shot to make us the best that we can be.


Does Blake Bortles remind you of a young you?

A young me. Yeah I don’t move quite as well as I used to. But yeah I do. I liked him coming out. I thought he was the most ready and a guy that I thought could be the best just because I think the things he does: he can extend plays, he can stay in (the pocket), he can throw the ball, he can throw on the run. He is an impressive-type young player. He makes some rookie mistakes but he also makes some […]

It’s a new season with a lot of new fans out there in Steeler Nation!


That’s Isaiah Young on the left, who can’t wait to grow into that #7 jersey!!

Julia (top right) wanted to give a Shout Out to Benjamin Jr & Baylee!

Bryce (bottom right) is already practicing his touchdown celebration moves!



And from Twitter:

This Lil’ Fan on the left is literally tickled pink with excitement for the season!

That little tough guy (top right) is not only ready to watch Steelers football, he looks like he’s ready to play some Steelers football!

And the cute little gal in the black & gold (bottom right) was happy about that win against the Panthers – her first game!



Don’t leave yet!! We have a lot more Lil’ Fans here, some big fans here, and a few furry fans here!

Scott Brown, ESPN.com AFC North writer, keeps it simple:


What it means – The Steelers looked like the 2012 and 2013 8-8 teams that found ways to lose games to lesser opponents. They did just that with an uneven performance against the previously winless Buccaneers. The Steelers beat themselves by committing 13 penalties for 125 yards and losing an early fumble that gave the visiting Buccaneers, who needed an early confidence boost in the worst way, a 7-0 lead two minutes into the game. They made one late defensive stand against the Buccaneers but couldn’t do it again after Tampa Bay got the ball back with a little more than a minute left in the game. The Steelers (2-2) had several chances to put the Buccaneers away, including early in the fourth quarter, when a sure touchdown pass from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger clanged off the hands of Antonio Brown. Shelve that talk about the Steelers going on a run. This may well be another .500 team.


Game ball – Roethlisberger became just the 12th player in NFL history to throw for at least 35,000 yards with the same team and he helped pull the Steelers out of an early stupor. With the offense doing nothing and the Steelers facing a 10-point deficit and a third-and-10 deep in their own territory, Roethlisberger completed a 32-yard pass to wide receiver Markus Wheaton, taking a serious shot after releasing the ball.


Miller time – Roethlisberger couldn’t have placed an early pass any better than if he had walked up to Heath Miller and put it in his hands. The normally reliable Miller inexplicably dropped the pass at a time when the Steelers were tripping themselves, but the 10th-year veteran more than made up for it. Miller caught the next eight passes that Roethlisberger threw his way, including a 5-yard touchdown that snapped a 17-17 tie. Miller’s nine catches for 80 yards were both season highs, and he moved into eighth place on the Steelers’ list for career yards from scrimmage. Miller now has the fourth-most receiving yards in franchise history.


You can read the rest of Mr. Brown’s column here.

You can listen/watch Ben’s post-game interview here.



Stat Line:

Ben completed 29-of-40 for 314 […]

Did you miss his call-in interview yesterday?


No problem, you can listen in right here:




Some of the highlights:

– Benjamin Jr. likes everyone to play “catch”, so he can throw! “He throws everything,” said Ben. “You ask him, ‘hand me that,’ and he wants to [play] ‘catch’ so he can throw it to you. So we’re working on not throwing so much, which sounds kind of crazy coming from me, but…we’re trying.”

– Ben said he’d let Benjamin, Jr. play football, but he’d wait until the fifth grade: “My only thing is I will not allow full contact until fifth grade. That’s when I played. These kids playing in first and second grade seems crazy to me.”

– Dan asked if Ben could teach his style of play – “I think you could teach certain things. A lot of my play is just on instinct. People made a big deal about my pump fake against Carolina [in Week 3]. That wasn’t a pump fake. I was going to throw it. I get a lot of credit for pump fakes. Sometimes I’m intending on throwing it and at the last minute I catch something that’s not good and I just hold on to the ball. It looks like a heckuva pump fake.”

– Oh, and Ben said he thinks Peyton Manning would probably run the slowest 40 among quarterbacks (yes, this was an actual question asked by Mr. Patrick). Ben also said that he’d beat Tom Brady and to make sure he wasn’t last, he’d trip someone else!