It’s a Warrior Wednesday!
“It was truly an honor to spend some time with the Steelers during their training camp. Everyone was incredibly nice and treated me as if I were the super star athlete. Coach Tomlin asked if I would share my story with the team, I had everyone’s undivided attention, and it was an amazing feeling to have the Pittsburgh Steelers interested in my story. It was a weekend I will never forget. Thank you for everything Ben.” – Noah, who was Ben’s guest at Steelers Training Camp last summer.
NOTHING can stop this Warrior…on ANY day of the week!
Long-time readers of the site know this Warrior, but we thought it was time to introduce him to our newer readers!
On December 19, 2005, Sgt Noah Galloway, US Army, lost his left arm above the elbow and left leg above the knee in an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) attack in Yusafiah, Iraq. He was quickly transported to Germany to receive medical treatment and was unconscious for five days. Noah woke up late in the evening on Christmas Eve to find out he had lost two of his limbs, and had also sustained several injuries to his remaining leg and his jaw. He was then transferred to Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C where he began his long road to recovery.
Since then – he has been non-stop!
Noah has participated with friends in Warrior Dash events, Tough Mudder events, a Spartan Race and a Barbarian Challenge. He also competed in two CrossFit events.
Noah ran his first full marathon (26.2 miles) in October 2012 during the Marine Corps marathon in Washington, DC. Noah has also been to Carastensz Pyramid (one of the seven summits of the world) as part of a climb with The Heroes Project.
In March of 2013, Noah completed the White Sands Missile Range 23rd Annual Bataan Memorial Death March in New Mexico.
It was on his way home from this grueling “event”, while waiting for his flight at the airport that he was approached by a big, tall man who looked surprisingly like Big Ben – and a friendship was born:
http://bigben7.com/a-true-hero-and-inspiration-at-steelers-training-camp-today/
Again, you can try and keep with Noah on his Facebook page here!
January’s Fan Photos are here!
We’ll start with a great photo taken earlier this week while Ben and his family were vacationing at their home in Georgia!
Big Ben and his family took a day trip to Georgia Tech to show Benjamin Jr. where his grandpa Ken played his college ball. While they were there, Ben stopped to pose with two of GT’s Yellow Jackets, Corey Dennis and Sean Tobin.
Sean sent the photo to his aunt, Edy Castronovo (whose family is part of Steeler Nation New Jersey), who shared it with us! She said that not only was Sean very excited to meet Ben, but he also said it was an “incredible privilege to meet one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time.”
Sean also wanted to add:
“It was great to meet Ben, he’s a stand up guy. Was really fun guy to be around and spoke to a couple of us for quite some time, he threw some motivation at us and was telling us to enjoy the offseason, take advantage of it cause your opponent is getting better. Thanks again Ben!”
Just a few of the tweets about Ben’s visit to Georgia Tech:
@steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger dropped by yesterday. His dad Ken was backup QB & pitcher at #GaTech in mid-70’s — Georgia Tech Sports @GTAthletics
Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger just visited to our football offices with his family. Really nice guy. Down to earth. Father is a GT alum. — Ryan Bamford @GTbammer24 (Ryan is a Senior Associate AD at Georgia Tech)
Ben Roethlisberger came by GT today. Dude is huge in person, no wonder why defenders struggle to get him down! — Brandon Oliver @B_Oliver82
And how about a photo of Benjamin Jr’s dad when he was playing college ball “back in the day”:
My brother Trent and Big Ben during picture day at Miami (OH) – 2003 — Tanner Montgomery via Twitter @Tanner_M
Tanner and Trent’s father, Shane, was the offensive coordinator at Miami University from 2001 to 2005 before becoming the RedHawks 32nd head football coach, succeeding Terry Hoeppner, from 2005 to 2008. He is now the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at Youngstown State University.
You can see another pic that Tanner shared with us, as well as some more great photos […]
“Ben, we have to have him retire as a Steeler”
From Team President Art Rooney II’s interview with media members this week:
ON BEN’S FUTURE WITH THE STEELERS –
“What I would say about it is that we certainly expect Ben to be playing here beyond the current contract. When both sides are able to come together on an extension – I don’t know when that will be, and really it’s too early to say as far as if it’s this season or next – but there is no doubt we look at Ben as somebody who’s going to be here for the long-term. Ben, we have to have him retire as a Steeler. There’s not a doubt about that.”
You can read more from his interview, compiled by Mr. Labriola at Steelers.com.
You can also watch video of Mr. Rooney’s interview here.
Cotchery: “We stuck in there together”
Players who come to the Steelers from other NFL teams see the difference, and they like what they see –
“A lot of teams scream ‘family.’ They throw out the word ‘family,’. This was truly a family-type atmosphere here this year. We had a lot of adversity, and a lot of it was caused by us. But at the same time we stuck in there together, there was never any finger-pointing. Guys just got better and we ended up being 6-2 the second half of the year. I think a lot of guys are proud of that. This is a special place. I noticed that from my very first visit here.” — Jerricho Cotchery
More from Mike Prisuta’s interview with Steelers players at Steelers.com:
They came here to play football, but they learned that signing a contract with the Pittsburgh Steelers made them part of a family, part of an organization in which the ultimate goal is unmistakable even in a season that ultimately fell short of the playoffs.
“They treat you like men here,” center Cody Wallace observed. “They have that focus. Everybody’s going for the same goal. And here you can actually talk about the Super Bowl and be serious about it.”
Tight end Michael Palmer came to the Steelers after stints with the Falcons, Giants, and Seahawks.
“It’s hard to really put it into specifics, but things here are just different, from the organization to the tradition of winning,” he said. “I had a lot more fun here. It’s a lot more relaxed environment, not in a bad way but in terms of enjoying every single day.
“You don’t wake up almost dreading coming in some days, even when you lose, because you know you’re getting constructive criticism and continuing to get better no matter what happens.”
Safety Will Allen had been down this path, and more than once. Allen spent the 2004 through 2009 seasons in Tampa. He was with the Steelers for the following three seasons and returned from Dallas after the first five games of this season.
“It’s the teammates, man, the brothers you play with, you go out to war with every week,” Allen said. “We go out and put it all on the line together. It’s a tight-knit group. You really can’t explain the relationships that you build on this […]
Steelers: One of the reasons to be excited about ’14
From Bob Labriola, Steelers Digest/Steelers.com:
Missing the playoffs is not an acceptable outcome for the Steelers, but that doesn’t mean 2013 was a waste.
It still stings, and it’s right that it does. Not making the playoffs represents failure on a lot of levels to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and in the end they just didn’t have enough.
But if their season was unfulfilled, it doesn’t deserve to be seen as worthless. The following are nine reasons to be looking forward to the Steelers’ prospects for 2014:
BEN ROETHLISBERGER’S PLAY –
A good bit of any of the successes enjoyed by the offense are directly related to the play of the quarterback, and Ben Roethlisberger had a great year. His final statistics are somewhat skewed by his participation in the 0-4 disaster, and besides, with this team at this time Roethlisberger’s contributions cannot be measured by numbers alone.
There is a difference between playing quarterback, and being the quarterback. In fact, among the definitions of the word ‘quarterback’ provided by Merriam-Webster are: “one who directs and leads,” when used as a noun; and “to lead or organize (something) by making important decisions,” when used as a verb. Roethlisberger did those things for a team in need of them, and he also threw for 16 touchdowns and five interceptions over the second half of the season.
You can read the eight other reasons here!
“He’s never Ben better”
From Ron Musselman, Beaver County Times/Times Online:
Ben Roethlisberger turns 32 in March, but he’s not slowing down. If anything, the Steelers’ two-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback is getting better with age.
“Looking back on it, even though we didn’t make the playoffs, Ben really had a good season,” tight end Heath Miller said.
How good?
“We’re talking an MVP-type of season,” said wide receiver Derek Moye.
Of course, Roethlisberger didn’t win team MVP honors, which instead went to record-setting receiver Antonio Brown.
Roethlisberger took every snap and started all 16 games for just the second time in his 10-year career. His 28 touchdown passes were the second-most in franchise history to his 32 in 2007 and his 4,261 passing yards were second to his 4,328 in 2009. His completions (375) and pass attempts (584) were the most in franchise history for a season.
Roethlisberger, who vehemently denied an NFL Network report in early November that he would request a trade, completed 102 of 163 passes for 1,221 yards and 10 touchdowns operating out of the no-huddle offense. He also called the plays from that formation.
“It wasn’t just me,” Roethlisberger said. “A lot of guys contributed to our success in the second half.”
Roethlisberger not only put up good numbers, he became the unquestioned leader of the offense.
“He did a great job of it this year … and not only in terms of his input, but his leadership,” coach Mike Tomlin said.
Moye noticed a big change in Roethlisberger’s leadership skills.
“In the little time I was here last year, he wasn’t a real vocal guy,” Moye said. “But when we were going through some tough times at the beginning of this season, he kind of stepped up and kept us all together.
“All through the stretch where we were playing pretty well, he kind of was the glue that helped everybody stick together.”
You can read more from Mr. Musselman’s column here.