“I’m excited to come home and play in front of our home fans and I want to put on a show for them. I don’t see that happening. We can’t let down. But just to come home and play in front of our home fans, it feels like forever since we’ve been here.” — Ben and his answer to the proverbial “trap game”.

Ben answered questions in the locker room today after practice:


On why he thought that last year’s game against the Chiefs was so close –

It’s a hard place to play. They’re a good team. I don’t remember a lot of the game but I just know going there is never easy.


His feeling on that “letdown game” –

I hate that, the whole letdown game-type thing because everyone knows that any week in this league, any team is good and any team can be bad and anybody can win. We just have to go out and approach it like we need to play Steelers football. It doesn’t matter who we play, we need to go play Steelers football. That’s the kind of approach we’re going to have this week as well.


On how much the change in the offensive production be attributed to offensive coordinator Todd Haley –

He’s our coordinator. He’s calling the plays. We just do whatever we feel we have to do to win the game, run the ball, pass the ball, throw deep or throw short. We take in pride in being able to be diverse.


On what he attributes his lower sack totals to this season –

A little bit of a couple things. I think the line has been playing great. They’re doing a great job. I think the offense just calling short pass plays and you could in turn say that I’m getting the ball out of my hands. But guys are getting open in shorter routes because that’s what we’re doing and we’re not taking quite as many shots deep down the field. It’s a combination of all those things.


On whether it’s been an adjustment not taking as many shots deep down the field –

We’ve always felt we’ve got deep play guys but as we saw the other night, we can also get it to them quick and let them go the distance. We just […]

…before the team left New Jersey last night:






































Walking out of the stadium tonight, no fans left, just a beautiful night, made me think a lot about all our troops here in the U.S. and around the world that fight every day so we can play a crazy game called football.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, it’s all of you that make it possible for us to play football. I hope that whether you’re a Steelers fan or not, we make you half as happy watching us play as we do playing!

Thank you all again so much, our thoughts and prayers are with you all! — Ben


(Photo of a quiet MetLife Stadium in New Jersey taken by Ben just before the team left for the airport)




To the fans that are active military or veterans…

Submit your Steelers fan photos to us this week, and be a part of our Steelers Veterans Day Weekend post!

We’ll add the photo(s) to Ben’s Salute to our Military album, along with any message you’d like to share with Ben and Steeler Nation.

The album is already growing with photos sent from our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, those stationed in South Korea, and closer to home here in the U.S.! We’d like it to grow even more!

One photo will be selected to highlight our Veterans Day post here on the home page next weekend.

Send your photo(s) to BigBen7website@gmail.com

“There are so many bigger things going on around here that what we do is not as important as real life. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone else who are going through so much. There were so many emotions going on, I didn’t know what to expect from it. But maybe we were able to take their minds off their problems just a little.” — Ben, post-game.

From Barry Wilner, AP:

Sometimes, real life intrudes on the games we play. And sometimes, we need those games to get away from real life.

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy and the destruction it brought to the Northeast, everyone on the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants understood that.

That’s all the local fans sought: temporary relief and the Giants (6-3) provided it for a while. But they couldn’t stop Isaac Redman, who had little relief with Pittsburgh’s other two main backs injured, yet rushed for a career-best 147 yards and the winning 1-yard TD with 4:02 to go.

The Steelers’ long day began with a plane ride to New Jersey, a short side trip to their team hotel — they couldn’t get enough rooms to stay in the area on Saturday night and needed a league travel waiver to arrive on game day — then on to the stadium. Outside, folks tailgated and tried to blunt some of the devastation from the week’s superstorm.

“Thanx for making my 7th nite of no power a lil’ easier to take by beating the Giants!!!!” — Steelers fan Jackie Lomba ‏(@JaxFromJersey) via the site’s Twitter page.

This is one of the oldest rivalries in the NFL, although the teams have met only five times in 18 years. It had to feel weird for the Giants to have the ballpark rock when the visitors took charge.

When Pittsburgh came on relentlessly, the one-quarter of the 80,991 seats occupied by Terrible Towel-waving Steelers faithful could celebrate an impressive comeback victory, coach Mike Tomlin’s 60th win.


You can read more here.

You can watch video of Ben’s and Coach Tomlin’s post-game news conferences here.

Video highlights are here.

Game photos are here.


#7’s Stats:

– Ben […]

The city of Hoboken, New Jersey continues to suffer greatly after the devastation of Hurricane Sandy. Water from Sandy’s surge is still waist-deep in some areas, power continues to be out for many, and food is in short supply.

Amidst it all, folks are still finding a bit of solace in cheering for their favorite sports teams – it’s a welcome respite on a Sunday afternoon from what they have been facing every day since Sandy came ashore.


Life-long Steelers fan, Rianna Bryceland, is one of those who is looking forward to the match-up between her team and the New York Giants tomorrow afternoon:

This morning I took a jog down the Hudson Riverbank with the intention of seeing with my own eyes the devastation Hurricane Sandy inflicted on Hoboken, NJ. Frankly, it’s worse than I imagined.

In case you didn’t know, Hoboken is heavily populated by citizens of Steeler Nation. (Eli Manning lives there too, but, hey.)

Anyway, since yinz’ll be playing the Giants here this Sunday, I thought it might be nice if a nod could be given to Hoboken’s staunch Steelers fans (shown in the photo sent by Rianna).

I am a lifelong Steeler fan who feels a great affinity for other uprooted fans from the ‘Burgh. All things considered, it might just give ’em a welcome lift.

Go Steelers! — Rianna Bryceland


Rianna, it’s our pleasure! God bless all that have been affected by Hurricane Sandy!


Both the NFL and the players pledged to donate $1 million dollars to the Red Cross for relief efforts.

You can donate to the Red Cross here.



Also Today:

Next Sunday, November 11th is Veterans Day!

If you are active military or a veteran and would like to submit your Steelers fan photos to us, we’ll add the photo(s) to Ben’s Salute to our Military album.

The album is growing with photos from our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, those stationed in South Korea, and closer to home here in the U.S.! We’d like it to grow even more!

One photo will be selected to highlight our Veterans Day post here on the home page next weekend.

Send your photo(s) to