Here’s a recap of Ben’s season debut on The Cook & Poni Show this morning:

benbellPittsburgh Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger joined The Cook And Poni Show on Tuesday for the season debut of The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show and talked about the topic at the top of everyone’s mind, Le’Veon Bell and how ready he’ll be for week one.

“He looked good,” Ben said about Bell’s first practice, but added that he “had some questions” which was to be expected.

There have been changes to the offense though that Ben alluded to throughout the preseason that Bell will have to learn and when asked if they’ll be able to use those changes or not because of Bell, he said “I hope so.”

If Bell isn’t 100% ready to go in terms of physically being prepared or knowing the game plan, it will likely be rookie James Conner that will get some of the carries and Ben shared with us how he sees the former Pitt back fitting in.

“I was excited about that pickup,” is what Ben told us.

Excitement isn’t all Ben had though as he admitted going to the coaches and asking if they could go out and get him.

“I know when he got released, I was talking to coach, I was saying ‘hey, listen, can we get this guy? Let’s find a way.’ He for a long time was a guy that we looked at as a top, at worst case, a five or maybe a top three cornerback in the league.”

Haden will bring a little extra to the Steelers in their week one matchup as Ben said that he has “talked to Joe a little bit” about what the Browns do and which players have certain tendencies he can take advantage of.

With all of the talk on the field out of the way, the guys asked Ben about the offseason extensions for General Manager Kevin Colbert and Head Coach Mike Tomlin.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all, that’s the Rooney way. Obviously its worked, its been more successful than anyone else in terms of championships and Lombardi’s so, if something’s not broke, don’t fix it.”

Ben also talked about why he didn’t hear back from Le’Veon Bell when he texted him this offseason, what he said to his offensive line about Browns rookie defensive lineman saying he’d sack Ben in his first game, and how he feels about the experiment the team did this offseason with Offensive Coordinator Todd Haley calling plays from up in the booth rather than down on the sidelines.


You can hear The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show every Tuesday at 11 am on The Cook and Poni Show during the season on Sportsradio 93-7 the Fan.