From Steeler Nation:


“Wishing a very special ‘first’ Christmas to you both! May it be wonderful and excitng and full of Christmas Love! May there be many many more and may each new one be more blessed than the last! May God bless you and your families with love, health and much happiness! So wonderful to share your holiday with us on your website! OH! and Ashley…I hope “SANTA” brings you everything you want!!! Take some special time to relax and enjoy!! A very Merry Christmas to you both and the happiest New Year too!! — Mary Rafail and family from St. George, Utah


“Ben, here’s wishing you , Ashley, your families, & the Steelers a wonderful Merry Christmas & Happy New Year. The scheduling crew MUST have known that Santa had the Steelers on his NICE list this year since you play at home Saturday & everyone can be with their families on Christmas Day. Now rest that ankle because we need you. May God be with y’all and keep you safe. Good luck in the playoffs & bring home #7”— Marilyn McClellan, Silver Spring, Maryland


“Ben – your resilience and perseverance are an inspiration to anyone facing life’s challenges. Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy new year to you and all of your family and friends.” — All the best, Maria in New Jersey


“Merry Christmas to you and the rest of the team.” — Donna Miller

“Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to Ben & Ashley in this, their first holiday season as husband and wife! I wish many blessings for them and their families. Also, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to the Steelers and Steeler Nation! I hope everyone has a happy and safe holiday season.” — Anita Doddroe, Ohio

“Ben and Ashley, praying you have a Merry Christmas and a blessed New Year… May beautiful moments and happy memories surround the both of you with joy this Christmas.” — Love Billie Jo & Greg Yakubik, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania


“Merry Christmas to the best all around Steelers team I’ve […]

Pro Bowl voting update today…

Fan voting concluded at the end of the Monday Night Football game two days ago and the results are in:

Ben (935,535 votes) finished second behind New England’s Tom Brady (1.45 mil votes). Denver’s Tim Tebow finished third.

Ben was also in the Top Ten in overall votes, finishing 8th.

Maurkice Pouncey (376,457) and Troy Polamalu (230,649) were voted in as starters by the fans, and Mike Wallace came in second in voting (923,073) at his position.

The AFC and NFC All-Star squads are based on the consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third toward determining the 43-man rosters that represent the American Football Conference and National Football Conference in the Pro Bowl. NFL players and coaches will cast their votes on December 21st and 22nd.

The Pro Bowl teams will be announced on December 27th, at 7 p.m.

Thank you to everyone who voted for Ben and his teammates!


Steelers Depot has a complete rundown of the players and votes.



Also Today:

You can watch/listen to Part III of the Steelers Christmas carols here (although you may want to mute it!).

“Hope everyone is getting ready for Christmas, we are getting ready!”

He snapped a couple of photos of the Roethlisberger Christmas tree being decorated!


Look who else is in the Christmas spirit:

The Steelers sing Christmas Carols, Part I.

The Steelers sing Christmas Carols, Part II.

Enjoy!!


Parts III and IV will debut later this week!

“It’s very frustrating to feel like you let down your team and your fans and your coaches. It’s tough. I’m not going to make excuses. I played a bad football game, I turned the ball over and that one’s on me.” — Ben.

“My hat goes off to Roethlisberger. Him playing, hobbled up back there, he wouldn’t come out.” — 49ers defensive end Justin Smith, during interview on ESPN post-game.

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette‘s Ron Cook this morning:

It absolutely was the right call to start quarterback Ben Roethlisberger against the San Francisco 49ers despite a left ankle injury that forced him to miss almost all of the practice time leading up to the game. The Steelers lost, 20-3, in large part because Roethlisberger threw three interceptions and lost a fumble. It was a hurtful defeat that could cost the team the AFC North Division title, the No. 1 seed for the conference playoffs and a trip to its fourth Super Bowl in seven years.

I will write it again:

It wasn’t a bad decision to go with Roethlisberger. It just didn’t work out.

You want to blame Tomlin for something? Blame him for not taking out Roethlisberger in the fourth quarter after the game had been decided. But don’t blame him for starting Roethlisberger.


You can read more from Mr. Cook’s column here.

“I was gonna play. I mean it wasn’t my call — I’ll go out and play at 5%, I don’t care. Told coach that, said ‘It’s your call, you make the call, you’re the head coach, and I’m gonna give you everything I got no matter what that is.’ ” — Ben.

From the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review‘s Scott Brown:

Ben Roethlisberger said he didn’t take any painkilling injections before playing through a high-ankle sprain in a 20-3 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Monday night.

“We heard that (ESPN analyst) Steve Young and those guys say that before pre-game, ‘Oh, he’ll go shoot it up.’ No we don’t do that,” Roethlisberger said. “They would never put me out there and endanger me or anybody on this team. There was no injection there was two Tylenols and two Advil.”

That Roethlisberger took anything stronger for the pain caused […]

Ben took a couple of photos at the WDVE Christmas party that he attended with his wife, Ashley, and friend Brett Keisel on Thursday night.


San Franciso Chronicle writer Ron Kroichick looks at the NFL dynasties that are the Steelers and the 49ers.


ESPN.com AFC North blogger Jamison Hensley doesn’t think Antonio Brown is a Steelers secret anymore!


Pittsburgh Examiner writer Christina Rivers thinks Ben is a True Man of Steel.


Steelers players talk about taking care of business on Monday night against the 49ers.


Ben talks about doing everything he can to be on the field Monday night.


49ers defensive coordinator Vic Fangio prepares his players to face Ben on Monday night.

Ben announced the seventh grant of the 2011 season this afternoon from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The foundation will be distributing a grant to the Antioch Police Department near San Francisco, CA where the Steelers will play the 49ers on Monday Night Football, December 19th.

The Antioch Police Department will purchase a dual purpose canine, trained in patrol procedures and narcotics detection, so that an 11-year-old veteran canine can retire.

Antioch Chief of Police Allan Cantando said, “We are truly honored to have been selected by the Foundation as a grant recipient and are excited about the long-term benefits this grant will allow our canine unit, the Antioch Police Department and the City of Antioch to enjoy for the years to come.” Cantando added, “These grant funds will be used to purchase a new dual purpose canine to ensure the continued success of the unit.”

The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation is distributing grants to police and fire departments in Pittsburgh and in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers in the 2011 season. Last summer, Ben invited police and fire departments in the local areas of those nine cities to submit proposals detailing their needs.

This marks the fifth season that the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation has distributed grants to K-9 units.


For more information:

Check out Ben’s Foundation page here and the Giving Back Fund’s website here.