Five Steelers are Pro Bowl bound – including #7.



From Teresa Varley this evening at Steelers.com:

Christmas came early for a handful of Steelers’ players when they were selected to the 2017 Pro Bowl. Le’Veon Bell, Antonio Brown, Ben Roethlisberger, David DeCastro and Maurkice Pouncey all will play for the AFC squad in the annual game. This is the 16th straight season the Steelers are sending multiple players to the Pro Bowl, and the 25th time in the last 28 seasons.

Like fine wine, Ben Roethlisberger keeps getting better with age. Roethlisberger, who is in his 13th season, has been selected to the Pro Bowl for the fifth time.

Roethlisberger has completed 304 passes for 3,540 yards, and with two games remaining could eclipse the 4,000-yard mark for the fifth time in his career. Roethlisberger, who missed the New England game with a knee injury, has thrown 26 touchdown passes, and has been sacked only 17 times.

Roethlisberger leads a Steelers’ offense that is ranked third overall in the AFC, second in passing, and seventh overall in the NFL, fifth in passing in the entire league.

“Ben has amazing talent, strong arm, strong guy, big in big games, clutch throws, makes something happen,” said Steelers’ Hall of Famer Terry Bradshaw. “I have always admired him. I have the greatest respect for the job he has done and how he handles himself as a professional.”

Roethlisberger is tied for second in the AFC in pass completions of 25 yards or more (31) and is third in the conference in passing touchdowns (26). Roethlisberger keeps climbing the charts, currently 10th in NFL history with 298 touchdown passes, and passing yards at 46,535.


The Pro Bowl will be played on Sunday, Jan. 29 at Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida and televised on ESPN and ESPN Deportes.

The game will return to the traditional AFC vs. NFC contest, with 44 players from each conference selected via voting from players, coaches, and fans.

As an added feature this year there will be a Pro Bowl Skills Showdown, led by Pro Bowl Legends Captains, which includes Steelers’ Hall of Famer Jerome Bettis. The skills competition will include dodgeball, power relay challenge, precision passing, and best hands, which will feature a quarterback and receiver duo from each […]

From Ben’s radio show this morning on 93.7 The Fan:

The Steelers came out of Cincinnati last week with a big 24-20 victory over the Bengals, but it’s not truly a Steelers-Bengals rivalry game without some Vontaze Burfict controversy, and that’s where things started on this week’s edition of “The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show.”

At one point during Sunday’s game, Burfict threw Ben to the ground and the two exchanged words following a Burfict headbutt. Ben said Burfict didn’t really have anything to say to him, it was more what Ben said that stunned the Bengals linebacker.

“It’s nothing what you’d expect, it’s actually I talked to him, I don’t remember if he said anything to me,” Ben said. “I can share it because it’s my show…I said, ‘Hey, this is a great opportunity for me to tell you exactly what my wife wanted me to tell you if I got a chance. She wanted me to tell you that she’s praying for you.’ That’s what I told him, no joke.”

On a more serious note about Burfict, Ben said he has talked to other players about his antics and even they aren’t sure why he plays the way he does.

“I think they roll their eyes with some of the antics, truthfully,” he said.

Ben was even asked how much the Bengals’ coaches could do to stop the dirty play.

“I don’t know what he’s [Marvin Lewis] able and capable of doing. Maybe he’s tried, maybe he hasn’t, I don’t really know, I can’t speak for what they do over there…I know some of their players they just can’t stand it and I know if it was on our team, we’d have to have a talk,” Ben said.

Looking at what their offense was able to do against Burfict and the rest of the Bengals’ defense, Ben praised their AFC North counterparts, but admitted it was his own team’s resiliency that won them the game after settling for six Chris Boswell field goals.

“They’re a good defense,” Ben said. “For us, it was just about weathering the storm, being patient. We got our points when we needed them, we had some penalties, obviously a touchdown taken back, we had some penalties that knocked us out of that redzone fringe, so we just kept with it and […]

“Roethlisberger’s late heroics knock Bengals out of playoffs”


Post-game recap from the Sports Xchange:

Ben Roethlisberger passed for 286 yards including a 24-yard touchdown pass to Eli Rogers with seven minutes remaining as the Pittsburgh Steelers rallied for a 24-20 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium.

Chris Boswell kicked a career-best six field goals for the Steelers (9-5) to tie a team record, and set up next week’s AFC North showdown with the Baltimore Ravens at Heinz Field.

Sunday’s game was the first between the teams at Paul Brown Stadium since last year’s AFC Wild Card game when unsportsmanlike conduct penalties on linebacker Vontaze Burfict and corner Adam Jones helped set up the game-winning field goal in a stunning Pittsburgh win.

“Those weren’t just chip shots. Those were some bombs that he made into the wind. And how about that tackle he made? He deserves the game ball, got it. “— Ben, on Chris Boswell’s performance today.

Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell suffered a torn MCL in November 2015 on a hit by Burfict but reportedly had made amends. Bell rushed for 93 yards on Sunday.

Cincinnati (5-7-1) gained only 38 yards in the second half after leading 20-9 at halftime. The loss eliminated the Bengals from playoff contention.

Bengals kicker Randy Bullock, a former Steeler who was acquired after veteran Mike Nugent was released, capped a 70-yard opening drive with a 23-yard field goal to put Cincinnati ahead 3-0. A key play on the drive was a 15-yard facemask penalty on defensive end Stephon Tuitt on quarterback Andy Dalton.

A 44-yard kickoff return by Sammie Coates set up Boswell’s 45-yard field goal to tie the score 3-3.

“A lot of satisfaction. It’s an AFC North road win against a good team. A tale of two halves.” — Ben, when asked about the satisfaction level of getting the win today.

A pass interference penalty on cornerback Artie Burns in the end zone gave Cincinnati first-and-goal at the 1. After having three runs stuffed at the line of scrimmage, Dalton scored on a fourth-down sneak to give the Bengals a 10-3 lead.

Dalton was 16 of 27 for 157 yards and an interception on Sunday.

Cincinnati ran 21 plays in the first quarter to Pittsburgh’s six.

“Sir, you changed my life forever due to this great cause. Can’t lie, Taylor & I are Broncos fans, but we’re also huge fans of yours. Thank you for what you do to help local LE’s.” — Deputy John “Patrick” Hynes.

And more from Deputy Hynes:



“I received Taylor through Mr. Roethlisberger’s grant program in 2012, & we have been an Explosives Detection K-9 Team ever since. She is a six and a half year old chocolate lab that is very good at her job — finding explosives & interacting with kids at public relation events. Our partnership would not have been possible without Mr. Roethlisberger and his foundation! Again, thank you sir.”


Deputy Hynes, thank YOU for taking a moment to share this with us. Be safe and thank you for what you do!


Fans: You can support future K-9 grants by joining Ben’s crowdfunding campaign on https://pledgeit.org/big-ben. Big Ben is pledging $1,000 per touchdown this season to his foundation. Supporters can increase the impact by pledging to donate any amount per touchdown.

“The Northern Kentucky University Police Department is honored to receive this grant from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation. The funding will allow us to ensure the safety of our K-9 officer, Arritt, who works to keep our campus and region safe. We thank and commend the Foundation for its dedication to public safety service K-9 units.” — Lieutenant John Gaffin, Interim Chief of Police, Northern Kentucky University Police.”

Today, Ben announced the twelfth and thirteenth grant of the 2016 season from The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation at The Giving Back Fund.

The Foundation will be distributing grants to the Erlanger Police Department and the Northern Kentucky University Police not far from the Cincinnati, Ohio area where the Steelers play the Bengals this Sunday, December 18th.

The Erlanger Police Department will use their grant to purchase a new K-9 officer to assist with protecting and serving the Kenton County community.

“The Erlanger Kentucky Police Department is fortunate to be receiving a $10,000 check from the Ben Roethlisberger Foundation. Our mission is to help and assist any agency at any time upon any requests. The funds will go towards the purchase of a brand new K-9 unit which includes the dog and training for a handler.” — Officer Edward Bailey, Erlanger Police Department.

The Northern Kentucky University Police will use their grant to purchase and install a temperature monitor in the designated K-9 police cruiser.

“Arritt (photo above with his partner, Officer Murray) is an explosives detection canine provided to the University in 2012 via a grant from the Department of Homeland Security. Arritt and Officer Murray provide immediate and specialized response to bomb threats and unattended packages. This team conducts searches for a variety of explosive materials near building exteriors, parking lots, office areas, vehicles, packages, people in and around the campus, and assists other agencies in the region.” — Lieutenant John Gaffin, Interim Chief of Police, Northern Kentucky University Police.

During the 2016 NFL season, Ben’s foundation is distributing grants to K-9 units of police and fire departments in the cities and surrounding communities of each regular season away game for the Steelers. The Foundation will also distribute several grants to the Pittsburgh area. The Ben Roethlisberger Foundation invited police and fire departments across the […]