We recently received an email from Senior Airman Casey Hulllette, USAF (one of the “toy soldier” recreators below) that he wanted us to share with you!


“First off, I want to thank you Ben for your support of the troops and all military veterans. Second, I want to introduce myself. I’m Casey Hullette, a Senior Airman in the United States Air Force.

I’m originally from the small town of Lincolnton, NC, and my beautiful wife, Caroline, and I have been blessed with 2 amazing little boys, Tripp 4 and Finnley 2. We are currently stationed at Dover AFB in Delaware.

Now just wanted to give you a little run-down of the other 3 guys, some of the best friends I’ve ever had, and together we made it through our deployment to Bagram AFB in Afghanistan, where this picture was taken. We are all Air Transportation Specialists (we do all of the cargo and passenger movements).

The toy soldiers from left to right: SSGT Alex Franklin (currently serving in Korea); Senior Airman Kyle Bowman (currently stationed at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state); Me – with both weapons in the air; and Technical Sgt Russell Meredith (who just returned from another tour in Iraq).

From all four of us we thank you for sharing our picture with Steeler Nation.

And Ben, again, we want to make sure you understand the appreciation we have for your support of the troops. Congratulations on your success in the NFL.” — Casey.


Casey, Alex, Kyle & Russell: thank you so much for the email, and especially for your service. God bless all of you and keep you safe!

The Steelers’ Teresa Varley recaps Ben’s interview:

Ben Roethlisberger is getting a proven weapon back this week with the return of Le’Veon Bell, and he is looking forward to what he brings not just to the running game, but also the passing game.

“He is one of the best in the business at what he does,” said Roethlisberger. “He can block, he can catch, and he can run after catch. I am excited to get him back out there.”

Bell missed the first three games of the season after being suspended for a violation of the NFL substance abuse policy, but like he does year round he stayed in tip top condition the entire time. Roethlisberger said the only adjustments Bell might have to make returning to the field are dealing with some new things they have put into the offense while he was out.

“I don’t foresee there being any issues,” said Roethlisberger. “If there are we will iron them out in the next couple of days. There are some things we have put in since he has been gone, but I fully expect him to pick up on it and be ready to go.

“He has been working hard. I think the mental side of it is the big area, the question mark if you will because there are some new things. He was here early this morning. I know he will be ready in practice, asking questions. I don’t foresee any issue at all.”

More from Ben…

On the Chiefs’ defense that has eight interceptions through three games:

“They make plays. Not only when the ball is tipped in the air they make a play, but they make plays on the ball. When it touches their hands, they catch it. A very good defense.”


On bouncing back after the loss to the Eagles:

“That is looking back. We are not looking back, we are looking forward. We have a great team coming to town for Sunday Night Football at Heinz Field and this will be a big test for us.”


On if pump fakes are effective against Chiefs cornerback Marcus Peters, who likes to jump routes and leads the team with four interceptions:

“Potentially, but then you have to have time to get it off because they have a real good pass rush on the […]

Recap courtesy of 93.7 The Fan and CBS Pittsburgh:

Coming off the teams 34-3 bludgeoning at the hands of the Philadelphia Eagles, Ben Roethlisberger joined the Cook and Poni Show for his weekly #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show.

Both the offense and the defense failed to get things going against the Eagles but Ben said “there’s no panic.”

“We just had some mistakes here and there,” Ben told us. “That was a good defense. They made us one dimensional…We watched the film, we spent a lot of time there yesterday going over it so that we can move on and put it past us. There’s no panic. I know that some fans and the media and stuff will probably have a little bit of panic, but we’re 2-1.”

Ben said a big reason why they’re not panicking is because of how the teams views the season overall.

“We break the season down into quarters, four, four game quarters. Right now we’re 2-1 in the first quarter. Our goal is to win the first quarter and we can go and get this next one against a really good Kansas City team at home and we’ll all be feeling a lot better.”

Despite getting beat as bad as they did, Ben said there is something they can take from a game like this as it can serve as a wake-up of sorts.

“Oh absolutely. We can look back on this and say, ‘Boy, remember when we got thumped in Philly against an NFC team and kind of had our tails between our legs as we walked out of that stadium?’ Absolutely that can help us…Maybe that’s the silver lining. Maybe it is something where you say, ‘Boy, maybe we’re not as good as we think we are’ or, maybe we are and we just got beat. It’s the NFL, anybody can win any given Sunday.

There were lots of questions surrounding Mike Tomlin leaving Ben in the game late when it was clearly out of hand and Ben was asked if he’d ever consider coming out of a game.

“Heck no, not in anything I do. I don’t have that bone in my body.” Ben said. “I’ve never quit. People ask me ‘Why do you try to extend the play?’ That’s me not quitting. I’m not quitting on a […]

I was blessed to have known and golfed with Mr. Palmer.

The world lost one of the best golfers, and an even more amazing man today! Our thoughts and prayers go out to his entire family.

There is no doubt in my mind that he will have the first tee time tomorrow in heaven! — Ben.

“There’s a lot of thumb-pointing to go around. It starts with me. We win as a team, we lose as a team…we stunk. We all stunk.” — Ben

You can watch video of Ben’s post-game interview here.