NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell announced today that the Pittsburgh Steelers will play the Minnesota Vikings next year, September 29, 2013, in London.

This will be one of two NFL games played at Wembley Stadium next year.

The other game, announced last week, will be played between the Jacksonville Jaguars and the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, Oct. 27th, 2013.


From Steelers.com this afternoon:

While the Vikings previously played at Wembley during the 1983 preseason, the Steelers’ trip to London will be the franchise’s first, but that should not be taken to mean the franchise is a neophyte when it comes to playing outside the United States.

In fact, the Steelers’ trip to London will be their eighth time doing just that, even though it deserves mention that this will be their first regular season game played abroad.

The Steelers have played preseason games in Montreal twice – against the New York Giants in 1969 and the New England Patriots in 1990; they opened the 1993 preseason in Barcelona, Spain, against the San Francisco 49ers; as the defending AFC Champions, they opened the 1996 preseason in Tokyo against the San Diego Chargers; then in 1997 the Steelers and the Chicago Bears opened the 1997 preseason in Dublin where they staged the first American football game ever played in Ireland’s historic Croke Park; and in 2008 the Steelers faced the Buffalo Bills in Toronto.


You can read more from the Steelers official website here.


That’s German fan Hans-Peter_Mößner standing in front of Big Ben in 2011 in the jersey of his favorite American athlete, Big Ben! “It was pretty cold,” said Hans-Peter about posing in front of the clock tower on a blustery day. “But I did it last October during the International Series in London, UK. Big Ben greetings from Germany!”

The event is scheduled for Monday, November 5th from 7:00 p.m to 11:00 p.m. at J. Verno Studios (3030 Jane Street in Pittsburgh).

In the Pocket is a fundraiser that gives you the opportunity to play pool, ping-pong, and poker with Charlie Batch, his teammates, and other Pittsburgh sports stars and celebrities!

You can purchase High Roller tickets, Player tickers, or if you just want to watch the action, Spectator tickets are also available!

Past teammates include Ben, Maurkice Pouncey, Troy Polamalu, Willie Colon, Brett Keisel, Heath Miller, James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, and Rashard Mendenhall.


You can purchase your ticket and get more information here.

A list of confirmed Steelers players and celebrities will be available soon. You can check the confirmation page here.

Check out and “Like” Charlie’s Best of the Batch Facebook page.

Proceeds from the evening will benefit the Best of the Batch Foundation.

…for one special little Steelers fan!

“Mommy, I’m gonna cry. I’m famous! Do I need a Twitter account now?”— Richard Culliver to his mom Stephanie, after seeing his ‘Shout Out’ on the website.

On the Wednesday prior to the game, we posted a ‘Shout Out’ to seven-year old Richard Culliver (October 10th news below).

Richard was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor just one week prior to the Steelers vs Titans game in Tennessee. His “absolute dream” was to go to a Steelers game.

That’s when Jason “Moose” Cunningham and the members of Augusta SteelMasters, a Steelers fan club based in Augusta, Georgia stepped up. SteelMasters purchased the game tickets and assisted with the lodging for Richard and his family to make the trip to Tennessee’s LP Field from their home in South Carolina.

Game night arrived and not only did Richard get to watch his beloved Steelers in person, he got to meet them on the field before the game, courtesy of Coach Mike Tomlin who presented the family with field passes!

Richard was awestruck to meet Stevenson Sylvester, and to pose with Mike Wallace. His mom Stephanie said, “He was so excited when he saw Ben run out on the field!”

But it wasn’t just Coach Tomlin and the Steelers players that made his night special, players from the Tennessee Titans – Chris Johnson, Derek Mason, and former Steeler Nate Washington – autographed a football for Richard which was presented to him by former Steeler Yancey Thigpen. Richard, the new man about town (or at least about LP Field), was also asked by the Tennessee Titans cheerleaders to pose with them for a photo! After all, they had heard he was a “big celebrity”! Even NFL referee Ed Hochuli came over to meet Richard before the game and gave him a penalty flag to keep!

To borrow a quote from Steel City Mafia , “The fact that the Steelers’ lost isn’t the story here. Actually, this story puts simple wins and losses into perspective, and reminds people what is truly important in life.”

When the night was over, Richard didn’t let the loss ruin his experience. He told his parents on their way out of the […]

“We lost. We are not scoring enough points or making the play when we need to. I’m probably the most proud of them because there are some guys that are playing some real selfless football and stepping up in big situations, and fighting through injuries, playing through injuries and playing for guys through injuries. I can’t say how proud I am of those guys.” — Ben, post-game.

From Jim Wexell, SteelCityInsider.com:

A loss is a loss, except when you break the team record of one of the most hallowed members in franchise history, right?

Um, no.

Not even close.

“It doesn’t matter to me,” said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger after he broke Terry Bradshaw’s team record for career passing yardage Thursday night in Nashville.

“A loss is a loss and that’s what means the most.”

Roethlisberger passed for 363 yards to give him 28,066 career passing yards in only his ninth season.

Bradshaw compiled 27,989 passing yards in 14 seasons.

Roethlisberger broke the record late in the third quarter on a 17-yard pass to tight end Heath Miller, whom earlier in the game had become the franchise’s third all-time leading receiver behind Hines Ward and John Stallworth.

The performance by Roethlisberger marked the 12th time he’s passed for more than 360 yards in a game, also a franchise record.

The lead eventually reached 23-16, but the Steelers fell short when Roethlisberger couldn’t move the team closer on a third-and-7 pass to an open Batch which left kicker Shaun Suisham with a 54-yard attempt that fell short prior to the Titans’ winning kick.

“We put Suisham in such a long field goal,” Roethlisberger said. “I have to complete one more pass just to make it easier on him.”


You can read more from Mr. Wexell this morning here.

You can also follow Mr. Wexell on Twitter here.

You can watch Ben’s post-game interview here.



Ben is named Steelers Digest Player of the Week –


From Bob Labriola, Steelers Digest:

On the day he vaulted Terry Bradshaw to become the Steelers’ all-time passing yardage leader, Ben Roethlisberger completed 24-of-40 for 363 yards, with one touchdown and one interception.

He also ran once for 14 yards, […]

Today, Ben announced the third grant of the 2012-13 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will be distributing a grant to the Millersville Police Department just outside of Nashville, TN where the Steelers will play the Titans this evening on NFL Network‘s Thursday Night Football.

The Millersville Police Department will utilize the grant funds to start its K-9 Unit by purchasing its first narcotics dog. Nashville K-9, LLC has committed to training the dog and a handler free of charge. The Tennessee Highway Patrol is also donating equipment to properly outfit Millersville PD’s first K-9 vehicle.

This marks the sixth season that The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units. The mission of the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is to support K-9 units of police and fire departments throughout the United States with a particular emphasis on support for service dogs in Pittsburgh, PA and to support other charitable organizations, such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation.

Millersville Chief of Police Ronnie Williams said, “We are thankful for what The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation does to help smaller departments like ours.”


You can read more about Ben’s foundation here.

You can read more about The Giving Back Fund here.

“It’s an awesome honor! Shoot, a storied franchise and he’s The Guy, the face of this. I know there’s a lot of ’70s Steelers, but, when you’re talking about quarterbacks and offense and stuff, he’s the guy. To have an opportunity to break another record – and this one is a pretty big one.” — Ben, after practice yesterday, talking about the record.

From ESPN‘s Jamison Hensley this afternoon:

Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger moved closer to Terry Bradshaw’s franchise passing record without having to take a snap.

Elias Sports Bureau overturned the home team’s statisticians on Wednesday, making Rashard Mendenhall’s 13-yard touchdown a catch instead of a run. The ruling on Sunday was a run because it looked like it was a lateral.

Instead of trailing Terry Bradshaw by 300 yards, Roethlisberger only needs 287 yards Thursday night in Tennessee to become the Steelers’ all-time leading passer. Quarterbacks have averaged 284.4 yards passing against the Titans this year.

That change means Roethlisberger’s passer rating goes from 83.2 to 102.9. Mendenhall’s rushing total drops from 81 yards to 68 yards.


More from Mr. Hensley’s AFC North blog here.



Also Today:

A special Shout Out to a special little boy!

This story comes to us from Cristalena Potvin – My friend’s little boy, Richard Culliver, a student at White Knoll Elementary in West Columbia, South Carolina was walking “funny” last Wednesday, so she decided to take him to the doctor. Richard was immediately admitted into the hospital for an MRI. Two hours later, the MRI discovered a tennis ball-size tumor in the middle of his brain that is inoperable. It is called, diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. He was sent home today so that he can make the most of his life.

Richard’s absolute dream is to go to a Steelers game and Augusta SteelMasters, a Steelers fan club in Augusta, Georgia are making that dream come true! They purchased tickets for both Richard and his dad Brian to attend the game this Thursday in Tennessee.

Richard is beside himself and can’t believe he is getting the opportunity to go! His dad and stepmom already took him out to get him outfitted […]