And look at ALL this great stuff! Where do I start?

I now understand why parents use leashes for their kids, haha. He wanted to explore every aisle!! — Ben

Meet the new Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback!

“I’m willing to do whatever the team asks of me, whether that’s play right away or sit. I want to talk to Tommy and Charlie a little bit about what’s going on. Whatever they’re willing to help me with, I’m going to take it all in.” — Ben, April 26, 2004.

From CBS Sports, April 26, 2004:

“Roethlisberger: Manning, Rivers have nothing on me”

Ben Roethlisberger arrived Monday in Pittsburgh as the No. 3 quarterback in the NFL draft and, for now, no better than No. 3 on the Steelers’ depth chart.

Roethlisberger, only the second quarterback drafted in the first round by Pittsburgh in 33 years, didn’t predict he would beat out incumbent Tommy Maddox or backup Charlie Batch immediately. He didn’t promise to have better rookie-year statistics than Mississippi’s Eli Manning or North Carolina State’s Philip Rivers, the two quarterbacks drafted ahead of him.

“Eli’s been getting a lot of hype leading up to this, but I said coming in it all boils down to this: it’s just football,” Roethlisberger said. “That’s what I’ve been wanting to do for a long time, just get on the field and start playing.”

Roethlisberger didn’t criticize Rivers or Manning, but said, “I think I bring a little more athleticism than both of them, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.

“Everyone seems to think they have better systems, better teams they played on in college, were born into a football family,” said Roethlisberger, who played at Miami of Ohio. “Once I get the field, my will to win is much greater than both of them.”

Roethlisberger has already created more buzz in Pittsburgh than any Steelers quarterback draft pick since Terry Bradshaw in 1970. The Steelers haven’t yet started selling Roethlisberger’s No. 7 jersey, but no doubt they will quickly order up a batch to satisfy fan demand.

They might want to order a few in extra-extra large, too; obviously not accustomed to having 6-foot-4½, 240-pound quarterbacks, the Steelers badly underestimated Roethlisberger’s size and gave him a much-too-small uniform for Monday’s photo shoot.


You can read more here.

“If one of those backs would have slid, we were not going to hesitate to grab him. It’s just like the quarterback position. We felt good about […]

April 24, 2004: With the 11th pick in the NFL Draft, the Pittsburgh Steelers select…

“I was in New York. I had my mom and dad with me, my sister was there and my agent. My college coach at the time and his wife were there. Everyone kind of had their speculations of ‘what number’ and what team. The teams we thought were going to take me didn’t, but it ended up working out perfectly for me.” — Ben, from the video, “Recalling Draft Day”.

Ben arrives at Madison Square Garden that Saturday morning with plenty of supporters in his corner – his family, his agents Leigh Steinberg and Ryan Tollner, and his college coach, Terry Hoeppner and his wife Jane.

At 11:20 a.m.: Ben and four others – Eli Manning, Roy Williams, Robert Gallery, and Kellen Winslow Jr. – are introduced to the crowd.

Green Room waiting –

• 12:25 p.m.: NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announces that the San Diego Chargers have selected Eli Manning with the No. 1 pick. Eli emerges from stage right and is greeted by unwelcoming chants by the Chargers fans in attendance.

• 12:58 p.m.: NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announces that the New York Giants have selected NC State quarterback Philip Rivers with the No. 4 pick. Soon thereafter the trade with the Chargers is announced – Eli Manning is headed to New York, Philip Rivers to San Diego. Both fan bases seem pleased with the outcome….as Ben waits for his turn.

• 1:57 p.m.: Pittsburgh is on the clock. “We see Ben Roethlisberger on the phone,” ESPN announces for the television audience. Sure enough, it’s Steelers coach Bill Cowher calling to tell Ben the Steelers are going to select him with the No. 11 pick.

• 2:00 p.m.: NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue announces that Ben is indeed headed for Pittsburgh. Ben arrives on stage and dons a Steelers ballcap and holds up a Steelers jersey.

• 2:01 p.m.: The Steelers fans in the crowd begin to chant, “Ben, Ben, Ben….”

• 2:02 p.m.: Just off stage, Ben does a press conference for television reporters and then disappears from the public room to do a few interviews with the Pittsburgh media.

• 2:43 p.m.: Ben emerges from the players’ party room where a press conference with print […]

From Bob Labriola, Steelers.com this evening:

“TV loves the Steelers on primetime”

In 2014, the Steelers will play the maximum number of five games on prime-time.

The Pittsburgh Steelers are coming off back-to-back 8-8 seasons and they didn’t qualify for the playoffs either time, which marked the first multi-year absence from the postseason for the first time since a year-season span from 1998-2000.

Those facts are undeniable, and upon the release of the league’s 2014 schedule, so is this: the three television networks that broadcast NFL football in prime-time still love the Steelers.

The maximum number of prime-time games that can be included on a team’s initial schedule is five, and the Steelers are maxed out in that department for 2014. The NFL does reserve the right to flex a team into a sixth prime-time appearance, but as of today the Steelers are as popular with the networks as any other franchise in the league when it comes to drawing eyeballs to the television industry’s most important slot.

The prime-time schedule includes two appearances on Monday night – at home against the Houston Texans on Oct. 20 and on the road against the Tennessee Titans on Nov. 17; two appearances on Sunday night – at Carolina against the Panthers on Sept. 21 and at home against the Baltimore Ravens on Nov. 2; and then a Thursday night game against the Ravens in Baltimore on Sept. 11.

The Thursday night game in Baltimore will be the first-ever CBS telecast of a package that’s being introduced for the 2014 season.


You can read more here.

You can check out the full 2014 schedule, including the pre-season games, at the bottom of this page!

Hoping everyone had a Happy Easter & a blessed day! — Ben, Ashley, Benjamin Jr. & Baylee

…in New Jersey!

“My department received a grant from your foundation during the last NFL season to purchase a new K9 for our department. I was chosen to be assigned to the K-9 unit and be the dog’s handler. Let me start off by saying that I am extremely grateful and can not describe in words how thankful I am that our department was chosen for this grant.

K9 ‘Ajax’ and I will be completing our first training school (Narcotics Scent Detection) in approximately two weeks. Then in September we will be starting “Patrol School” together. K9 has always been a goal and a dream of mine and because of your foundation I was able to achieve it. Once again, thank you very much for your generosity and for choosing our department.” — Officer John G. Reuter, Fort Lee (NJ) Police Department, in an email to the website on March 27, 2014.

Today, from Noah Cohen, NJ.com – Bergen edition:

A police dog funded through the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation hit the streets after graduating from an 11-week program teaching the German Shepherd to sniff out drugs, officials announced this week.

Police Officer John Reuter’s K-9 partner Ajax became the department’s seventh dog since its K-9 squad was formed in 1990, Chief Keith Bendul said.

The borough’s two K-9 teams will work varying shifts, allowing up to 16 hours of service a day, the chief added. The dogs will be available seven days a week.

The dog teams are a boon to public safety, responding to crimes in progress and missing persons calls, according to Bendul.

The department’s newest K-9 team was made possible through a $6,500 grant from Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback, the chief said. Seized assets helped pay for the K-9 patrol car and gear, with no cost to taxpayers.


You can read more here.

You can read more about Ben’s foundation here.


Photo: Members of the Fort Lee Police Department and Borough Council don Steelers caps in honor of Ajax’s graduation from his first training school.


*Again, thank you to the Fort Lee Police Department and Officer Reuter for keeping us up-to-date on K9 Ajax!