Ben was a guest on DVE’s Morning Show with Jim and Randy on Friday.

He called in to answer questions about Tom Brady, the Steelers offense, the younger players, Max Starks, Sunday’s game, and even Tim Tebow.


You can listen to his interview here.

“You can’t go for the kill shot. You just got to grab an arm and pull him down.” — Patriots defensive lineman Shaun Ellis on Ben, from the blog below.

From Nick Underhill, The Repulican/Mass Live:

It’s no secret that one of the reasons that the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger is considered a top-tier quarterback is due to his ability to stretch plays.

He isn’t the most accurate passer or as cerebral as Tom Brady, but Roethlisberger may be better than any other quarterback when under siege.

He has faced pressure on 35.4 percent of his total drop backs, yet has a 60.4 accuracy percentage – the total number of completions minus dropped passes – in such situations, placing him fourth in the league among quarterbacks who have faced a similar amount of pressure.

The difference between Roethlisberger and those that rank above him on that list is that he actually invites pressure due to his ability to escape it, which makes the aforementioned kill shot an effective way for a defense to shoot itself.

Often times, he won’t react to the defense at the line of scrimmage like most quarterbacks. Instead, he’ll take the snap and allow the defense to show itself before making a read.

No other quarterback, including Philadelphia’s Michael Vick, can operate under such mayhem effectively on a consistent basis.


You can read more from Mr. Underhill’s blog here.

“Big guy. Strong. Very elusive. Strong arm strength. Can make all the throws. He’s definitely a top quarterback in this league for a reason.” — Patriots safety James Ihedigbo, from the article below.

From Glen Farley, Patriot Ledger:

While Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady and Drew Brees are now the names most often bandied about when debating the relative merits of the best quarterback in the NFL today, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger brings an imposing physical presence to the position that none of them do.

“He’s a big guy,” Patriots outside linebacker Rob Ninkovich said of the signal caller the Patriots will face at Heinz Field on Sunday afternoon. “He’s big and he can move. Anybody who’s 260 pounds who can move is hard to get on the ground so […]

“Well, I guess it depends who you talk to at what point in the season. I mean, are you asking the media those questions, are you asking a player? It’s different. We are probably too old on defense, we’re probably too young on offense, and we’re just trying to get by with wins.” — Ben, when asked about the Steelers level of play right now.

“Well-played, sir.” — The Boston Herald‘s Ian Rappaport, on Ben’s response.

More highlights from Ben’s interview with the Boston media today:

On the Steelers vs Patriots rivalry –

“It’s kind of special. They beat me in my first championship game. I’ve said it many times, I think Tom Brady’s the best and I think that translates and correlates a lot into them being one of the best teams in the league consistently.

“Everyone wants to beat the best team. That’s why it’s special, and means something to you – you want to beat the best.”



On what he thinks will be the biggest challenges of playing against the Patriots defense –

“I think they do a good job. They switch from a 3-4 front to a 4-3 a lot to even a 3-3, so they mix it up on you. And then I think if you get into certain passing situations, they like to bring their linebackers from the outside. To me it’s about identifying and being able pick up those blitzes, because if you can’t, then you’re not going to be able to get the ball off. And also, when you put the big guy [Vince Wilfork] in the middle – he never seems to leave the field – but he makes plays in the run game, and you wouldn’t think, but in the passing game as well now.”


On staying off of “Wilfork Island” –

“Well, you definitely have to be aware. That’s going to be a heck of a job for whether that’s our center, or our guard. He seems to move around. I even saw him blitz off the edge one time – I think it was against Oakland, they kind of ran a mixer look and he rushed against the tackle. Whoever is against him, he […]

Vote for Ben and his teammates to play in the 2012 NFL Pro Bowl!!

The NFL is back in Hawaii for the 2012 Pro Bowl. The annual contest of the AFC and NFC’s best will take place Sunday, Jan. 29, 2012 at Aloha Stadium.

Steelers on the ballot from the offense include Ben, Rashard Mendenhall, Mike Wallace, Antonio Brown, Hines Ward, David Johnson, Heath Miller, Marcus Gilbert, Max Starks, Ramon Foster, Chris Kemoeatu, and Maurkice Pouncey.

Defensive players include Brett Keisel, Ziggy Hood, Casey Hampton, James Harrison, LaMarr Woodley, James Farrior, Lawrence Timmons, William Gay, Ike Taylor, Troy Polamalu, and Ryan Clark.

Balloting is open until Monday, Dec. 19 at the conclusion of Monday Night Football (Pittsburgh Steelers at San Francisco 49ers, 8:30 p.m.).

The Pro Bowl teams will be announced at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Dec. 27 on a special NFL Total Access 2012 Pro Bowl Selection Show on NFL Network.

Being selected to appear in the Pro Bowl is a big honor for players! Let’s show our team how much we support their selection – vote early, vote often!


You can vote for the Black & Gold as many times as you like, just click here!

You can read more on the 2012 Pro Bowl here.

You can check out photos from Ben’s participation in the 2008 Pro Bowl here.



And while you’re in the voting mood…

Vote for Ben for the FedEx NFL Air Player of the Week!

Ben completed 26 passes for 361 yards and 3 touchdowns in the Steelers 32-20 win over the Arizona Cardinals on Sunday. Voting ends on Friday at 3:00 PM.

Ben was nominated in Week 5 after he threw for 228 yards and 5 touchdowns against the Titans, but Packers fans beat out Steelers fans in the voting making Aaron Rodgers the winner with a total of 365 yards and just 2 touchdowns! Come on Steelers fans, we can do better than that!

Vote for Ben here.


And…

Vote for the Ben to Mike Wallace “historic” touchdown as the GMC Never Say Never moment of Week 7!

From NFL.com:

Historic play lifts Steelers over Cardinals – Backed up at their own 5-yard line after a false-start penalty and up by only a touchdown over the Arizona Cardinals, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers knew history wasn’t […]

From Bob Labriola at Steelers.com this morning:

The Steelers were in control throughout because their offense was in control, which meant their quarterback was in control.

Ben Roethlisberger completed 26 of 39 for 361 yards and three touchdowns, which was good for a 121.8 passer rating.

In addition, Roethlisberger engineered scoring drives that answered Cardinals’ scoring drives, which allowed the Steelers to maintain their lead.


You can read more here.


You can check the post below for more post-game info!



And…

Congratulations to Carlee and the Sooners!

From the College State Collegian:

The Wildcats appeared to be going up two sets to one against Oklahoma Saturday in Norman. However, an eight point run by Oklahoma gave them a victory in the third set and the Wildcats never recovered as they lost the match in four sets. (20-25, 25-20, 22-25, 21-25).

In the third set, the Wildcats and Sooners battled, but then a run by the Wildcats gave them a 22-17 lead. The Wildcats were only three points away from winning the match. However, Carlee Roethlisberger, the younger sister of Super Bowl quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, had two kills during the run as the Sooners came back for the victory.


You can read more about the Sooners’ victory here.

“Another banner day for Big Ben!” — CBS NFL game announcer Dan Dierdorf during final minutes of 4th quarter.

“It’s just fun to get everyone involved. I still don’t think we are there. I think we are getting closer. There are still some things we can do to get better but that is good. It is early in the year still and we need to make those improvements. We don’t want to be just clicking at 100 percent now. We want to be winning games and moving forward.” — Ben, post-game.

Big Ben throws longest pass in Steelers history in win

From CBS Sports post-game:

In the long history of the Pittsburgh Steelers, there has never been a pass like it, and the play set the tone for a big day.

Roethlisberger, 26 of 39 for 361 yards, also had TD passes of 12 yards to Heath Miller and 4 yards to Emmanuel Sanders in the first game between the teams since Pittsburgh’s 27-23 thriller over the Cardinals in the 2009 Super Bowl.

Shaun Suisham kicked field goals of 41, 42 and 39 yards for the Steelers.

The big play from Roethlisberger to Wallace, cheered on by a crowd that included a generous and boisterous bunch of Steelers fans, came in the second quarter after an Arizona drive stalled at the Steelers 39 and Dave Zastudil’s 30-yard punt pinned Pittsburgh on its 9-yard line. A false start pushed it back to the Steelers 5.

On the next play, Roethlisberger dropped back into the Pittsburgh end zone and lofted a pass down the sideline toward Wallace, who had beaten cornerback Richard Marshall.

Wallace caught the ball in stride, breaking free of a pair of would-be tacklers along the way, and raced to the end zone for the score that made it 14-0 with 8:09 left in the half.

“You put it out there for a guy like that and you start smiling. because you know he is not going to get caught.” — Ben, talking about Mike Wallace.

The previous longest pass play was 90 yards, first set by Terry Bradshaw against Seattle in 1981, then matched by Bubby Brister to Dwight Stone against Denver […]