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.

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 […]

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!

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.

The Regios De Acero Steelers Fan Club traveled by bus from Mexico to Pittsburgh to see their beloved Steelers LIVE!

Regular readers are familiar with this hardy crew of Steelers fans who wear their love for their favorite team (and their favorite player) on their backs as part of their everyday attire!

Sure, they watch their Steelers at home in Mexico, and they’ve traveled to Kansas, Arizona, and to Dallas for Super Bowl XLV in an ice storm to see them play (they didn’t have tickets, but they did tailgate and watch the game on TV), but their dream was to see a game in the home of the Steelers!

They finally made their own dream come true on December 15th!


From Roger Saucedo on their unforgettable trip:

The trip to Pittsburgh started on Thursday, December 12th at 7:00 am. A group of around 25 Steelers fans leave Monterrey to Pittsburgh. We pass the border by McAllen,Texas. The plan was go non-stop to Pittsburgh, just stop to buy food and gas for the bus.



We finally arrived in Pittsburgh on Friday, December 13th by 11:00pm which means we completed the trip from Monterrey to the Steel City in around 40 hours. Obviously all were tired but happy because we will be at the game at Heinz Field…and we arrived while it was snowing!

On Saturday, we visited the city. We took a lot of pictures and later had lunch at Jerome Bettis’ Grille 36… later we visited downtown Pittsburgh and walked to Market Square. From there we made our way to Station Square and took pictures from Duquesne funicular observation deck.



Sunday! Everyone was so excited! We went downtown bright and early to buy some Steelers clothes including jerseys, and from there back to our hotel. At 5:00pm we headed to Heinz Field. When we were on our way, one of Regios de Acero leaders, Jesús Vera, told us that our friend Fernando Von Rossum, who works for Fox Sports (“pasión acerera”), had sent tickets for us to access the field before the game started!! That was our Christmas gift! It was a big surprise, but Fernando know that our club is one of the best […]

…and sometimes it can get kind of messy!

Did I get it all in my mouth?

Well, most of it! But the bigger question is…are there any Christmas cookies left?