Hi everybody! Hope you’re enjoying your summer.

I’ve been kinda busy myself! Dad told me to take care of mommy and Baylee while he was at training camp, and that’s just what I’ve been doing!

I’ve been keeping my toys picked up (mostly), taking my naps without complaint (pretty much), and I’m trying really hard not to run like a crazy man in the house. I’m also giving mommy lots of hugs.


And sometimes I even give my baby sister her morning bottle and a little kiss on the forehead…

Uh, mommy? Do I have to wait til’ she finishes the whole thing?

Dad, I hope you’re coming home soon!! I can’t keep this up anymore! This “man of the house” stuff is a lot of work!!!”



You can see more of our family photos here!

“EJ Manuel pays close attention to Ben Roethlisberger”

From Matthew Fairburn at the Syracuse Post-Standard:

The Buffalo Bills have a vision for what they want to be.

They want to be a tough, physical football team that depends on their defense and running game to win. They want to give their young quarterback — who has a big arm, can move his feet and is a handful to bring down — a chance to succeed by surrounding him with talent. Most of all, they want to get back to the playoffs and snap a 14-year drought.

In other words, they want to replicate what the Pittsburgh Steelers did early in Ben Roethlisberger’s career.

Yes, a Super Bowl is a lofty target for the Bills, who have gone 6-10 in each of the last three seasons, but general manager Doug Whaley spent time in the Steelers organization and wants a few things to rub off on his current team.

“Their toughness and their idea that nothing less is expected than a championship,” Whaley said. “That’s what we’re trying to get to.”

Whaley has a particular vision for his second-year quarterback, EJ Manuel. He thinks he can be the Bills’ version of Roethlisberger — a big, strong-armed quarterback with some mobility. So Manuel was paying extra attention to the Steelers’ quarterback on Wednesday to see how he prepares and how he handles himself.

“It’s huge,” Manuel said of practicing with Roethlisberger. “I’ve always been a huge fan of Big Ben. Growing up in Virginia, it’s not too far from Pittsburgh, and obviously early in his career he took those guys to a Super Bowl, so like I said earlier, to get an opportunity to come out and practice with him is awesome.”


You can read more from Mr. Fairburn here.



“Ben Roethlisberger relishes teaching role”

From Scott Brown, ESPN.com:

The most hands-on training camp of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s career ends Friday when the Pittsburgh Steelers break camp after spending the last three weeks at St. Vincent College.

That doesn’t mean that Roethlisberger will stop going over painstaking details with his wide receivers or surrender his duties as a de facto coach when the Steelers start practicing at team headquarters next week.

“It’s been fun it’s something that I need to do and want to […]

Arizona Cardinals Coach Bruce Arians challenged Big Ben to the #ALSIceBucketChallenge yesterday…



and not only did Ben accept the challenge today, he did a little a competitive challenging of his own:

BA, I accept your ALS Ice Bucket Challenge! I challenge Merril Hoge, Triple H, and Kevin Hart! — Ben

You can check out video of Ben’s challenge here!

And you can learn more about the #ALSIceBucketChallenge here!

“I just feel blessed to call him a friend.” — Ben of Jim Kelly.

From Joe Starkey, at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

The Steelers and Buffalo Bills are sharing practice fields this week in Latrobe. But for franchises separated by just 220 miles, they have shared precious little meaningful history.

But the cities’ most meaningful football connection might be one that binds a pair of iconic and similarly rugged quarterbacks: Ben Roethlisberger and Jim Kelly.

Their connection, at least from Roethlisberger’s end, goes back more than 20 years. It has taken on new meaning of late, given the personal transformations of each and Kelly’s harrowing but inspiring bout with cancer.

The relationship began in the form of a young Roethlisberger, 22 years Kelly’s junior, taping a No. 12 Kelly poster to his bedroom wall in Findlay, Ohio.

“I tease him about that all the time,” Roethlisberger says.

Fast forward to Roethlisberger’s first few NFL seasons, when his linebacker-like approach and laser-like precision late in games evoked images of Kelly in the Bills’ famed “K-Gun” 15 years earlier. Have there been any star quarterbacks in the past quarter-century who endured more punishment — invited more punishment — than these two?

They finally connected in person early in Roethlisberger’s career at Kelly’s golf tournament in Buffalo. Roethlisberger traveled early and stayed at Kelly’s house. They bonded immediately. Roethlisberger soon was making annual treks to Kelly’s lodge in Ellicottville, N.Y., where the two would hunt, fish, ride snowmobiles and talk shop.

“For a Hall of Famer to come down to my level, if you will, just meant so much,” Roethlisberger says. “He’s a guy I can call when things aren’t going well. I’ll get notes from him after games, good and bad: ‘Keep your head up.’ ‘Great job.’ To have someone like that I can call a friend? That’s first and foremost. And I think he’d say the same thing: He looks at me as a friend.”

The Kelly family (Jim, wife Jill, daughters Erin, 19, and Camryn, 15, plus a large extended clan) gifted the world by publicizing Jim’s battle. An image of Erin clutching her father’s arm in his hospital bed went viral. It and other photographs, articles and television pieces speak to the suffering, devotion and cruel tests of faith […]

Mike Prisuta @DVEMike
Snapshot from St. Vincent: Ben Roethlisberger seems to be enjoying his time on the practice field during camp.

From SI writer Andy Benoit, for MMBQ.com:

Over the years, football fans have pretty much agreed on which top-tier veteran quarterbacks fall on which tier. The first tier generally includes, in no particular order, Peyton Manning, Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers and Drew Brees. The second tier: Philip Rivers, Eli Manning, Joe Flacco and Matt Ryan. And then there are the talented but inconsistent gunslingers who float from one tier to another, guys like Tony Romo, Matthew Stafford and Jay Cutler.

The star quarterback people can’t seem to firmly slot is Ben Roethlisberger. Fans all agree he belongs on one of these tiers. In fact, he seems to fit on all three.

The truth is, Roethlisberger belongs on that first tier. He’s 2-1 in Super Bowls, has a career winning percentage of .669 as a starter and, most importantly, his on-field performance verifies his on-paper accomplishments.

Roethlisberger doesn’t quite look it, but upon close examination he’s one the most physically gifted quarterbacks in football—if not the most physically gifted. His ability to shed would-be sackers is one thing; his ability to do it multiple times and then gather himself enough to make not only a downfield throw, but a sharp and accurate downfield throw, is otherworldly. His unconventional playing style can make his golden arm easy to overlook.

While he’s always been great out of structure, Roethlisberger in recent years has also become very good within structure. The 32-year-old will never be a full-field progression read passer—he has too much natural inclination to improvise. But he’s no longer heavily dependent on his freestyling, thanks to improved awareness in the pre-snap phase.

Roethlisberger now operates in a Todd Haley scheme that emphasizes pre-snap decision making. Examples include Pittsburgh’s expanded shifts and motions, plus the quick receiver screens that have become a staple.

Roethlisberger’s relationship with Haley has been highly scrutinized, though both insist they’re on the same page now. Which is one reason we can expect the Steelers to rebound from a second consecutive eight-loss season. Some believe Roethlisberger actually had the best season of his career in 2013. If this club is to become a Super Bowl contender in 2014, he’ll need to be even […]

From William Perlman at the New Jersey Star-Ledger this morning:

As the players gathered at the 50-yard line after the Giants’ 20-16 win in the preseason game against the Pittsburgh Steelers Saturday night, Giants quarterback Eli Manning met up with Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, and the two spoke at length and exchanged pleasantries.

The two were drafted in 2004.

“Can you believe it’s been 10 years already?” Manning asked Roethlisberger.

The two smiled and wished each other a good season.


You can read the rest here.



The Game:

Ben played only one series, a seven-play, 70-yard drive that ended in a Shaun Suisham field goal to give the Steelers a 3-0 lead. He was 1 for 2, with a 46-yard completion to rookie running back Dri Archer.

“I thought it was a good, solid first series,” Ben said. “Obviously, it helped that we had a huge play to Dri. But we moved the ball down the field and got points on the board.”

Bruce Gradkowski replaced Ben in the first quarter. He went 8 for 12 for 66 yards.

Second-year quarterback Landry Jones was 11-of-21 for 74 yards.

Although the Steelers ultimately lost to the Giants 20-16, Coach Tomlin took some positives away from the game.

“We had an opportunity to grow. We learned some things about some people. We’ll just take this as part of the process and move forward as a team.”


You can see photos from the game here.


*The game will be re-played on NFL Network today at 12 noon.