it’s Steeler Nation with a post FOR Ben.


Emails, Facebook comments & tweets have been streaming in with thoughts and messages (and even a few photos) that the fans wanted to share with #7. The sample below doesn’t come close to the amount received, but hoping Ben knows how much respect Steeler Nation has for him and the Steelers, and their season:


“Tell Ben no matter what, we know he played his hardest and should be very proud of his season. He lead an explosive offense and had one heck of a year. Also let him no Lil’ Ben is his biggest fan and will be excited to see his QB out next year to get us number 7. Thank you for an amazing year and have fun in the pro bowl. No matter what your the best quarter back to play in a black n gold uniform and number one in our hearts!” — Brian Goodson


LateModelResto ‏@ChrisFromBurgh
So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit, it’s when things seem worse that you mustn’t quit. @_BigBen7 that poem is deep!


“Big Ben, I’m a no-name electronics engineering technician that only ever dreams of playing for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and I wanted to thank you and the rest of the team for being heroes. I know playing the Ravens is hard and missing key players doesn’t help, but I want you to keep know I saw you play your heart out on that field tonight and I know you’ll always put 200% out there any time. Next year is gonna be even better and with any luck the Lombardi might just be in reach. Even though this message is for Ben a special shoutout to every player that makes this team great I know you all are exceptional players! Always root for you guys. Thank you soooo muchhh!” — Austin Reynold

“You never have to apologize for what you do for the team and the City. It was great watching the team and you have a great season #1QB #1guy” — Matt Harris

Jean Trail You did your best. We love you…thank you. Feel bad today and then be done with that. On to next year!!


Misty Clark Ben you are a good player. You do put your hear […]

“I didn’t play well enough to win, and guys look at me as the leader and the quarterback to make plays and I didn’t do that. I want to apologize to the fans, my teammates, to the organization, to the Rooneys and to the coaches. I wish that I could apologize to everybody individually.” — Ben

On his individual records this season:

“I don’t really care about what I did. I’m proud of the way that this team bounced back from the last two years and got back to the playoffs. I’m proud of the way a lot of the young guys stepped up.”



And from Ian O’Conner, at ESPN.com this morning:


Ben Roethlisberger was done with the traditional handshake or three, done meeting the obligations of a losing quarterback, when he lowered his chin and jogged toward the Heinz Field staircase that would take him down into the winter of his discontent.

Fans leaned hard over the railing and shouted his name. One swung his hand and grazed the top of the QB’s helmet. Roethlisberger didn’t stop. He shook his head ever so gently from left to right, letting everyone know this wasn’t the time or place for eye contact or small talk or even a halfhearted high five.

This one hurt a ton.

It really wasn’t Roethlisberger’s fault, of course, not when you consider Bell’s absence, the lack of worthy substitutes and the pressure all that put on the quarterback. Roethlisberger ended up with a workable box score — 31 completions on 45 attempts, 334 yards, one touchdown pass, one interception that came on a deflection and another that came on a desperate endgame scramble after he was driven head-first into the grass and knocked from the game.

“I was kind of laying down there,” Roethlisberger said, “and wanted to make sure I could feel everything.”

He banged his passing hand on someone or something with 1:06 left and the season already lost, the final indignity on a night full of them. This was supposed to be Roethlisberger’s year too. He had outplayed the two AFC elders who had owned his position, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, and he appeared primed to carry his team on a deep postseason run.

Yes, in Bell and Antonio Brown, Roethlisberger played the regular season in the company of the […]

…is a big compliment!


From Bob Labriola at Steelers.com this morning:

The Steelers have made the mistake of depending upon an injured RB in the playoffs before.

Saw the playoff runs in both 1996 and 2001 die at least partly as a result of the decision to play an injured franchise running back.

In 1996, the defending AFC Champion Steelers crushed Indianapolis, 42-14, in the Wild Card Round at Three Rivers Stadium, a game in which Jerome Bettis rushed 25 times for 102 yards, scored two touchdowns, and sustained a significant groin injury. Bettis gutted out 13 carries for 43 yards the following weekend, but the Steelers lost to the Patriots, 28-3, in the Foxborough fog.

In 2001, the 13-3 Steelers entered the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the AFC, and Jerome Bettis had been the hub of the offense while rushing for 1,072 yards in 11-plus games that season before injuring a groin on Dec. 9. After the bye, the Steelers’ first game in the 2001 playoffs was a rubber match against the Ravens, but the plan to return Bettis to the lineup was sabotaged when his whole leg accidently was numbed during a pregame injection. The Steelers still crushed the Ravens, 27-10. Bettis would play the next weekend, but he was neither healthy nor in sync with what the offense had become, and as a result he was ineffective in a 24-17 loss to the Patriots at Heinz Field.

Le’Veon Bell’s injury and where this Steelers offense is right now in its development creates a completely, completely different situation for this team than was the reality for the 1996 and 2001 Steelers teams. But there is an underlying lesson, and that is this: don’t hang the team’s hopes on an injured player.

Of course the glaring difference between this team and those is that this one has Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback and those didn’t.

For everything he contributed to the Steelers getting to January with an 11-5 record and a division championship in the hopper, Le’Veon Bell isn’t the Steelers best offensive player. Back then, Jerome Bettis WAS the Steelers. This leads to one final point about the election of Le’Veon Bell as the Steelers MVP this year. What should be reiterated is that this was the outcome of […]

Did you miss Ben’s radio show this morning on 93.7 The Fan? No worries, we have the highlights:

Coming off a win against the Cincinnati Bengals that locked up the No. 3-seed in the playoffs and a first-round home game against the Baltimore Ravens, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger joined “The Cook and Poni Show” for his weekly “Ben Roethlisberger Show.”

The biggest storyline coming out of that victory over the Bengals was the knee injury suffered by running back Le’Veon Bell that has his status for the first round of the playoffs in question. Roethlisberger addressed that injury and whether or not he expects to have the team MVP in the backfield this week.

“You know what, I’m not sure,” Roethlisberger said. “I talked to him a little bit yesterday, he seemed to be in good spirits, he seemed to be doing well, but I’m not a doctor so I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on. He’s going to have to just see how he progresses throughout the week. He’ll do everything he can I know to get on that field.”

If the team is without Bell, Roethlisberger gave us a glimpse into what the offense could look like.

“I don’t know if we’ll have to revamp it considerably,” Ben speculated. “We’ll get some runs that the other guys are best at, we’ll make sure that everyone is ready to go with maybe some no-huddle, more passing maybe, some empty stuff. We’ll see, we’ll kind of put together a plan and see how it goes throughout the week.”

When asked if the Steelers keep track of what the Ravens are doing like the Ravens keep tabs on them, Ben said he personally doesn’t worry about what their rivals are doing on a week to week basis. “I don’t, not unless we’re getting ready to play them…It’s got to be about you and about your team.”

Ben also looked at what the future may hold for offensive coordinator Todd Haley as he’s leading one of the league’s top offenses and may be a candidate for one of the four head coaching spots already opened up across the NFL.

“He’s done it, he’s been there, he’s done that. I think it’s just a matter if he wants […]

“When Ben Roethlisberger threw for his second six-touchdown game in as many weeks, the game ball became destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where it will be exhibited forever.” — BR Productions.

A BR Productions exclusive:

We’ve got a behind-the-scenes look at the journey a ball takes to become an exhibit at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.

When Ben Roethlisberger threw for his second six-touchdown game in as many weeks, the game ball became destined for the Pro Football Hall of Fame, where it will be exhibited forever.

Final Score: Steelers 27, Bengals 17

“It feels good. We’ll enjoy this for about 12 hours and get ready to get back to work.” — Ben, on the Steelers winning the AFC North title.

From Will Graves at the AP this morning:

Ben Roethlisberger spoke quietly while teammates raucously pulled on AFC North champion T-shirts around him. The Pittsburgh quarterback has been here before.

“Hopefully, the journey is not over,” Roethlisberger said. “I’m not going to talk about journeys and where we are. We’re still going.”

Even if they might be a little short-handed. Actually, make that a lot short-handed.

The Steelers reclaimed a spot the NFL franchise has considered practically a birthright this millennium with a 27-17 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday night. They turned away a late charge on Antwon Blake’s timely strip of Bengals wide receiver AJ Green and Antonio Brown’s ensuing 63-yard catch and run for the clinching score.

Pittsburgh (11-5) earned their first division title since 2010 and sixth since 2000 by sweeping the season series from the Bengals (10-5-1). The Steelers are the No 3 seed in the AFC and will host Baltimore in the wild-card round Saturday night. Pittsburgh split two games with the Ravens this season, each team winning at home.


You can read more here.

“He played his butt off. My hat’s off to that guy, man. He didn’t bat an eye. He wasn’t perfect — but neither was any of us, also. Tough dude. I told him after his first touchdown I appreciated him because a lot of guys would have tapped out in that situation.” — Ramon Foster on Ben.

And from Chris Adamski at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:

Ben Roethlisberger missed pregame warm-ups Sunday because of what the Steelers called “a minor stomach virus.”

By the time the virtual AFC North championship game ended, it was the Bengals who were left feeling sick.

Roethlisberger, though visibly weakened and speaking softly, felt much better after the game than he did before it.

“We won,” he said after a 27-17 against Cincinnati that clinched the AFC North division title, “so I feel pretty good.”

Sunday’s performance — 24 for 38, 317 yards, two touchdowns, one interception and one lost fumble — wasn’t Roethlisberger’s finest this season. But it did cap the […]