Christmas is just around the corner!
It’s another Fan Friday!
“My grandfather John DeMidio, a WWII veteran from Elizabeth, PA, is going to turn 100 years old on October 13th, 2020. He is a HUGE Big Ben fan. We wanted Ben to know that he NEVER misses a game!” — Angela Leach.
When our attendings & residents root for the same football team…@steelers @_BigBen7 @CoachTomlin
“My friend Roger and I before last Sunday’s game. We haven’t seen each other since last year, and we used to talk about the games at work all the time. We were planning to go to a game this year with some other friends and family and then Covid-19 happened. And of course, we both love Ben…even though Roger doesn’t mention how handsome he is. Lol.” — Tara Henderson.
“My 9-yr old son Isaiah enjoying the last few sunny days by the water in New Jersey after our big win against the Texans.” — Murielle Raciti.
It’s good to have Ben back. This league is at its best when players like @_BigBen7 are out competing each week.
Just as its been at its best when other @steelers legends were out writing history on the field, week in and week out, across decades past. 😤⚫️🟡 #Steelers
NFL: Steelers-Titans to be rescheduled
The NFL issued the following statement on Thursday morning:
The Pittsburgh-Tennessee game scheduled for Week 4 will be rescheduled to later this season after one additional Titans player and one personnel member tested positive for COVID-19 today. An announcement of the new game date will be made shortly.
The decision to postpone the game was made to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel. The Titans facility will remain closed and the team will continue to have no in-person activities until further notice.
(Steelers)
Message from the NFL
Also Today:
“As a quarterback when we throw a big touchdown pass, that is what you are paid to do, what you grew up doing. We throw passes for a living. When we are able to finish games on big drives like that, and a lot of it is running, that means more to me in the sense that we are winning the football game. I will always be more about winning than individual stats. At the end of the day that is more important to me.” — Ben.
From Ben’s Wednesday Q&A with the media:
There is one stat, and one stat only, Steelers players are looking at right now.
3-0.
Individual numbers have taken a backseat to the team goal, and reaching that goal is only at its infancy stage.
And yes, while starting off the 2020 season with a 3-0 record is something to be happy about, it’s not something Steelers players are hanging their hat on.
“I have been doing this a long time, started different ways,” said Ben Roethlisberger. “I couldn’t tell you how I have started seasons in the past, what’s our best, our worst was. I just know where we are now. Obviously, guys, coaches, the whole building feels better when you are 3-0 compared to 0-3. This is a professional group. We aren’t riding that high right now.
“We know this is a big week and we have another really good football team we have to go on the road to play. It definitely feels better but we are taking it like professionals and taking it week by week.”
That 3-0 record has come courtesy of an overall team effort. On offense, contributions have come from all over, and the same thing can be said for defense and special teams. In the passing game, Roethlisberger has completions to 10 different players through three games, keeping the numbers low for some who are accustomed to putting up the bigger numbers, but again, those aren’t the stats that matter.
“I would say the biggest stat is 3-0,” said Roethlisberger. “I don’t think anybody cares about their stats right now. No one is complaining. No one is coming to me. I am not exactly playing lights out. Their stats are directly reflective of the way I play. If I am not playing well, […]
Week 3: Steelers 28, Texans 21
“It’s such an honor to be up there with Mike Webster, he was ‘Iron Mike’ for a reason. I am humbled to be in the same category as him. It’s not like I passed him, I joined him.” — Ben, during his post-game press conference.
Tremendous accomplishment – 221st career game as a @steelers, setting the franchise record, and the WIN. Congratulations @_BigBen7!👏🏽🚀 pic.twitter.com/KjJtgjhCDf
— Josh Dobbs (@josh_dobbs1) September 27, 2020
“It’s huge for us, especially at home. We want to win it for the fans. For us to get off to a good start like this is important and fun.” — Ben, during his post-game press conference.
Roethlisberger completed 72 percent of his pass attempts while spreading the ball around to seven different receivers. He completed touchdown passes to Eric Ebron and Juju Smith-Schuster in the second quarter but deferred to the running game a bit more in the second half. Although the yardage total was nothing to hang his hat on, it was a rather efficient performance from Roethlisberger against what has been a surprisingly adept Texans pass defense to this point. He will look to take advantage of a more favorable matchup against a soft Titans defense next Sunday.
James Conner rushed for 109 yards, Ben Roethlisberger passed for 237 yards and two touchdowns and the Steelers got big contributions from two of their newest players — tight end Eric Ebron and rookie running back Anthony McFarland Jr. — to start 3-0 for the first time since going to the Super Bowl in 2010.
The Texans (0-3) had leads of 14-3 in the second quarter and 21-17 at halftime, […]
‘How Ben Roethlisberger is making the Steelers super after trick-or-treat elbow scare’
“It’s nice to go through a practice, go through a game, do things around the house, pick things up, dry your hair off with a towel, and not feel that pain.” — Ben.
From Sam Farmer, L.A. Times:
For the past few years, uncertainty has swirled around Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. With two Super Bowl rings, and having built a solid case for the Hall of Fame, he routinely has flirted with retirement.
But after his 2019 season was cut short by a serious elbow injury, the type that would end most careers, Roethlisberger has roared back with relentless determination.
“I just didn’t feel like I was done,” Roethlisberger, 38, told The Times by phone this week. “It would have been a lot easier to hang it up. But I just really felt like I had something left. I really want to win another Super Bowl, and have my kids be out there to appreciate it with me.”
He said the biggest driving factor was the team, and specifically the outstanding offensive line and defense the Steelers have built. Pittsburgh, which plays host to the Houston Texans on Sunday, is 2-0 with victories over the New York Giants and Denver Broncos.
“I told the guys before the first game, `I didn’t have to have the surgery. I chose to have it because of you guys, because of the team,’” he said.
That surgery was to reconnect flexor tendons in his throwing arm, which had weakened over the course of his career and finally ruptured when he was throwing against Seattle in Week 2 last season. Famous for his toughness and high pain threshold, Roethlisberger first shook his hand as if to wake it up, then looked like a wounded animal as he clutched his arm and wincingly walked off the field.
Done for the season.
There are five flexor tendons that run down the underside of the forearm, from the elbow to the hand, and they are integral to moving the fingers and grip, as well as bending and turning the wrist. In Roethlisberger’s case, three of the five tendons tore loose from the bone.
Dr. Neal ElAttrache, world-renowned orthopedic surgeon and sports medicine specialist at Cedars-Sinai Kerlan-Jobe Institute, rebuilt his elbow and — along with Steelers doctor James Bradley — helped oversee the quarterback’s tenuous, year-long recovery.
“What the injury and recovery did was it turned the […]