Friday: Notes & Quotes
Ben was a guest on 93.7 The Fan today. A few highlights:
Q: Is it open season on quarterbacks?
Ben: It’s always open season on me (laughs). It’s part of the job, part of the position. We can’t always protect ourselves. We’re exposed a lot when we go to throw the ball, that’s just kind of the way things are sometimes.
Q: Could you see yourself playing with a broken rib and a punctured lung (during discussion of Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo)?
Ben: Yes. Yes I could. I played in a Super Bowl with a fractured rib. It is what it is, you just got to tough it out sometimes.
Q: Is that the mentality of a starting quarterback?
Ben: That’s my mentality….I want to be out there with my guys. Obviously, I think when you start talking about concussions, then you have to back off a little bit. But if it’s anything else with the body I want to be out there.
You can listen to full interview here.
Also Today:
Ben did an interview this morning with WPXI‘s Bill Phillips which can be seen on Sunday at 6:00 pm during the Steelers vs Colts Pre-Game Show.
And:
This weekend’s match-up: Steelers vs. Colts
From The Sports Network:
The Steelers are 13-6 in their all-time regular-season series with the Colts, though Indianapolis has won each of the last two non-playoff encounters between the teams.
The Steelers have never lost to the Colts in five postseason matchups, including a 21-18 road stunner over top-seeded Indy in a 2005 AFC Divisional Playoff.
Pittsburgh’s calling card may be on defense, but the team is doubly difficult to overtake when quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is on top of his game.
Provided Roethlisberger has adequate time to survey the field, he should be able to dissect an Indianapolis defense that’s allowed opposing quarterbacks to complete nearly 70 percent of their throws, though the secondary is adept at limiting big plays. He’ll be tested, however, by the prowess of edge rushers Robert Mathis (4 tackles, 1 sack) and Dwight Freeney (2 tackles, 1 sacks), two of the game’s top pressure producers who’ve combined for over 20 sacks in each of the last […]
Ben’s Foundation: Lafayette Police Department receives grant
Today, Ben announced the second grant of the 2011 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.
The foundation will be distributing a grant to the Lafayette Police Department, in Lafayette, IN, just outside of Indianapolis where the Steelers will play the Colts on Sunday.
The Lafayette Police Department will use the grant to increase the size of their existing K-9 corps, purchasing a dual purpose narcotic detection K-9 that is pre-trained with both patrol and tracking capabilities. This addition will bring their total number of K-9 units up to five.
Lafayette Police Department Chief Don Roush, acknowledging the 2011 police K-9 grant, stated: “The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation’s support of police K-9 programs around the country clearly demonstrates the Foundation’s commitment to law enforcement and our K-9 partners. I would like to thank the foundation for its leadership role and for partnering with the Lafayette Police Department to enhance our ability to provide the very best police K-9 services for the citizens of Lafayette.”
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.
For more information:
Check out Ben’s Foundation page here and the Giving Back Fund’s website here.
From K-9’s to Colts…
Colts.com writer Craig Kelley on their team’s biggest challenge this weekend:
Pittsburgh visits Indianapolis this Sunday and among the factors the Colts will attempt to counteract will be a familiar foe who stands under center, or, perhaps, towers over it.
Ben Roethlisberger is in his eighth season, and his 6-5, 241-pound frame has become one of the signature presences in the NFL.
His physical nature and outstanding accomplishments cast a shadow in every game in which he participates, and Colts personnel are aware of the challenge that awaits.
“Ben makes so […]
Willie Colon: “Team up to Tackle Lupus”
Join Willie on Saturday, October 1st for Pittsburgh’s 16th Annual Lupus Loop at the Great Lawn at North Shore in Pittsburgh!
Willie Colon is the Honorary Chairman of this worthwhile event in honor of his mother, Jean Davis.
Now if walking is just not your style, you are invited to run or skate the Lupus Loop!
You can even bring your dog and enter him/her in the Dog Jog!
Registration is at 8:30 am.
Runners and skaters start the Loop at 9:00 am, and walkers start at 9:45am.
An awards presentation and lunch begin at 11:00 am.
The registration fee is $25.
All pre-registered participants will receive a Lupus Loop long sleeve T-shirt.
The Dog Jog is only $5.00 and registered dogs will receive a gift and treats!
You can read more information, click here.
You can get a printable pre-registration form here.
You can also check out Willie’s “Youth Team Challenge” Facebook page here.
Also Today:
Highlights from Ben’s meeting with the media…
On whether he thought he would be playing this Sunday after his knee was injured during last weekend’s game:
“No. It was very scary. Very scary. It’s sore, but it’s doing a lot better.”
On whether he would consider Mike Wallace a “one-trick pony” as he was described by Coach Tomlin:
“He’s two tricks now! I trust him to know what I’m going to do and I trust in what he’s going to do…every year, we’re adding a lot more for Mike, and he’s getting a lot better. He still has a lot of work to do. He’ll admit that. But he wants to get better at it and he works really hard at getting better at it. He’s able to do things in and out of breaks, just run deep. So he’s doing a lot of great things.”
On Colts’ pass-rushers Dwight Freeney and Robert Mathis:
“They’re built for that turf, and the crowd noise. When you have to use silent counts and stuff like that, they can get off the ball. They’re basically like linebackers who are big and strong. They’re so fast. It’s such a huge challenge for these guys [Marcus Gilbert and Jonathan Scott] this week.”
On whether he is practicing his “one step pass […]
Steelers Style Fashion Show
From Steelers.com:
Steelers players will rock the runway at the annual Steelers Style Fashion Show, presented by American Eagle, Highmark and Reebok, on Thursday, Oct. 6 at the Heinz Field East Club beginning at 6 p.m.
Players, along with their wives and children, will model fashions from American Eagle, Reebok and Nordstrom.
The show benefits the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and the Cancer Caring Center.
To purchase tickets, click here.
Steelers 24, Seahawks 0
Ben overcame a hit to the knee throwing for 298 yards and 1 touchdown finishing with a passer rating of 115.7 in his 70th career win.
“I’m still not sure how Ben Roethlisberger’s right knee didn’t come apart after that penalized low hit by Seattle defensive end Raheem Brock. At first glance, did anyone think Big Ben wasn’t gone for the year, let alone that he’d stay in and play the rest of the game? The word ‘tough” gets over-used in football, but not this time.” — SI.com’s Don Banks, from his Snap Judgments column.
Highlights from Ben’s post-game comments:
On the first series of the game –
“Just taking what they gave us. I think I hit more check-downs today than I have in a long time. It just proves that our guys can get it done even when you get them the ball short; you don’t have to go deep every time.”
On his decision to go to the no-huddle without “prompting” from the sideline –
“B.A. was calling the next play and I was waving everyone off. We went to it and it didn’t seem like anyone blinked.”
On the injury to his knee –
“It was scary. Knees are nothing to play around with. Structurally, it felt fine. But the good thing was I didn’t feel anything pop, and the doctors examined it and moved the knee around and everything was stable. Then it was just a matter of playing through the pain.”
On whether he was pleased with the offense’s performance this week –
“We made improvements, but there’s still a long way to go for us.”
On his thoughts overall of today’s win –
“I felt like we could have scored a lot more points than we did, but we won the game and that’s what’s most important right now.”
You can watch highlights of today’s game here.
You can see a few photos from the game here.
You can listen to Ben’s post-game interview here.
Stat of the Day:
With this win – Ben improves to 70-30, which is eighth among active quarterbacks for wins. He is also the fourth fastest to 70 wins among Super Bowl era quarterbacks.
*Thank you to KDKA‘s Jory Rand!
Preview: Seahawks vs Steelers
He’s a big, physical dude and he has a formula for success and it’ s proven year in and year out. He moves the ship. If we affect him, we affect the team because he’s the engine.” — Seahawks LB David Hawthorne on Ben.
“He’s an amazing player in general. But when he really goes off the charts is when the play rhythm changes and he moves out of the pocket, or he moves in the pocket and throws somebody on the ground and finds an open receiver and makes an incredible throw. He’s incredible at finding guys down field with all the chaos going on around him. He’s more dangerous when he gets on the loose.” — Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll on preparing for Ben.
From Danny O’Neil, The Seattle Times:
Welcome to Blitzburgh, a town where the linebackers eat meat, floss with opposing quarterbacks and the crowd’s devotion to its defense unites generations.
“They love their team with a deep connection,” Seattle coach Pete Carroll said. “They show it when they play.”
Carroll’s Seahawks will feel that Sunday when one of the league’s youngest teams continues to search for its new identity against the Steelers, an experienced heavyweight that will be looking to work out some of last week’s frustrations.
“It’s a great opportunity for us,” Carroll said. “It’s going to be as difficult as it can get.”
So has Pittsburgh gotten old?
“You hear that every year,” said linebacker James Harrison, one of Pittsburgh’s holdovers from Super Bowl XL. “It’s not like they say, ‘You know, that defense, their age is just right to succeed.’ It’s either you’re too young or you’re too old.
“So I don’t really pay any attention to it.”
You can read more here.
From Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
One thing Roethlisberger promised to change against the Seattle Seahawks is the use of the no-huddle offense. The Steelers did not show it in Baltimore; they will Sunday in Heinz Field, he vowed.
“Yeah, I’ll make sure of that. We need to. We didn’t do it at all the last […]