From Coach Tomlin, post-game:

“On the injury front, Ryan Clark is being evaluated for a concussion. We don’t have definitive information on that at this time. It happened too late in the game. Ben has a right shoulder that’s being evaluated.

“We don’t know the status of that as we sit here right now. Obviously, those two men are critical to our efforts here moving ahead.”


When an official injury update is available, it will be posted!

…on this Veterans Day Weekend!

I just want to say thank you to all the veterans and current service people both here in the USA and around the world. Thank you for all your service to this great country and for providing us with the freedoms we take for granted everyday. All of you men and women that serve, and have served, we thank you and love you and honor you! God bless you all. – Ben

They protect us from the skies…




















“I fly the AH-64D Longbow Apache Attack helicopter. The Terrible Towel went with me on every mission I flew during my 12-month tour. This was taken in Afghanistan in July 2011. I still take the Towel with me on every flight, even here in the States. It has accumulated over 450 combat flight hours and about 700 total flight hours.” — CW2 Jeffrey Jones

And on land…




















“Supporting the Steelers all the way across the globe at Camp Leatherneck, Afghanistan. I am currently a Major serving with Marine Corps Logistics Command (Forward) and have been in the country since June and will return in January, 2013. I have been able to watch the Steelers play on AFN and a dedicated Steelers fan I am, waking up at zero dark thirty is well worth it!!

“The United States Marine Corps will be celebrating another birthday on 10 November…Happy Birthday to the United States Marine Corps and Happy Veteran’s Day to all who have served before me and continue to serve.

“God Bless the Steelers, United States Marine Corps and our beloved Country!! Thank you Ben!” — Semper Fidelis, Sarah Lukes, Major, United States Marine Corps MCLC (FWD)



You can see more of our military Steelers fans – serving in Asia, Iraq, Afghanistan, South Korea, and closer to home from Quantico Marine Base in Virginia to Fort Benning, Georgia – all right here (pages 1 & 2).


Thank you to every one of you that submitted photos to us this week so that we could honor you, our true heroes!




Judging from the photos sent this week…

Steeler Nation is everywhere!

Now you can send our active military and wounded veterans a plethora of Terrible Towels to wave on game days and […]

If so, vote for Ben and his teammates to play in the 2013 NFL Pro Bowl!!

“I want to take a second to say thank you to all the fans who voted for me and helped me get back to Hawaii for the Pro Bowl. It is an awesome honor to be voted by my peers and coaches, but even more by the fans and that’s all of you! I wouldn’t have been able to go if it weren’t for all of your votes (no matter how many times you voted, haha). I also want to say thank you for all of you who voted for my teammates, it will be awesome to throw to 2 of my receivers!” — Ben, in his thank you to the fans last year for his selection to the 2012 Pro Bowl.

The NFL is back in Hawaii for the 2013 Pro Bowl.

The annual contest of the AFC and NFC’s best will take place Sunday, Jan. 27, 2013 at Aloha Stadium. You can watch it on NBC at 7:00 PM.

Balloting ends Dec. 17 after the Jets play Tennessee on Monday night.

The teams will be announced at 7 p.m. on December 26th on NFL Network’s “Total Access”.

The teams come from consensus votes of fans, players and coaches. Each group’s vote counts one-third toward determining the 43-man rosters. Players and coaches will cast their votes between December 20th and 21st.

Offensive players on the ballot: Heath Miller, Antonio Brown (punt returner ballot as well), Emmanuel Sanders, Mike Wallace, Will Johnson, Marcus Gilbert, Max Starks, Willie Colon, Ramon Foster, Maurkice Pouncey and Rashard Mendenhall.

Defensive players on the ballot: Ryan Clark, Ziggy Hood, Brett Keisel, Casey Hampton, Larry Foote, Lawrence Timmons, LaMarr Woodley, James Harrison, Keenan Lewis, Ike Taylor, Troy Polamalu.

Special Teams players on the ballot: Shaun Suisham, Drew Butler and Curtis Brown.

“We’re trying to get him to the Pro Bowl. He’s deserved it for a long time. Heath is a weapon and we have to continue to use him out in the field and in the red zone. Like I’ve always said, he blocks like a lineman and catches like a receiver. If we keep utilizing him it will be […]

“I’m excited to come home and play in front of our home fans and I want to put on a show for them. I don’t see that happening. We can’t let down. But just to come home and play in front of our home fans, it feels like forever since we’ve been here.” — Ben and his answer to the proverbial “trap game”.

Ben answered questions in the locker room today after practice:


On why he thought that last year’s game against the Chiefs was so close –

It’s a hard place to play. They’re a good team. I don’t remember a lot of the game but I just know going there is never easy.


His feeling on that “letdown game” –

I hate that, the whole letdown game-type thing because everyone knows that any week in this league, any team is good and any team can be bad and anybody can win. We just have to go out and approach it like we need to play Steelers football. It doesn’t matter who we play, we need to go play Steelers football. That’s the kind of approach we’re going to have this week as well.


On how much the change in the offensive production be attributed to offensive coordinator Todd Haley –

He’s our coordinator. He’s calling the plays. We just do whatever we feel we have to do to win the game, run the ball, pass the ball, throw deep or throw short. We take in pride in being able to be diverse.


On what he attributes his lower sack totals to this season –

A little bit of a couple things. I think the line has been playing great. They’re doing a great job. I think the offense just calling short pass plays and you could in turn say that I’m getting the ball out of my hands. But guys are getting open in shorter routes because that’s what we’re doing and we’re not taking quite as many shots deep down the field. It’s a combination of all those things.


On whether it’s been an adjustment not taking as many shots deep down the field –

We’ve always felt we’ve got deep play guys but as we saw the other night, we can also get it to them quick and let them go the distance. We just […]

…before the team left New Jersey last night:






































Walking out of the stadium tonight, no fans left, just a beautiful night, made me think a lot about all our troops here in the U.S. and around the world that fight every day so we can play a crazy game called football.

I thank you all from the bottom of my heart, it’s all of you that make it possible for us to play football. I hope that whether you’re a Steelers fan or not, we make you half as happy watching us play as we do playing!

Thank you all again so much, our thoughts and prayers are with you all! — Ben


(Photo of a quiet MetLife Stadium in New Jersey taken by Ben just before the team left for the airport)




To the fans that are active military or veterans…

Submit your Steelers fan photos to us this week, and be a part of our Steelers Veterans Day Weekend post!

We’ll add the photo(s) to Ben’s Salute to our Military album, along with any message you’d like to share with Ben and Steeler Nation.

The album is already growing with photos sent from our soldiers in Afghanistan and Iraq, those stationed in South Korea, and closer to home here in the U.S.! We’d like it to grow even more!

One photo will be selected to highlight our Veterans Day post here on the home page next weekend.

Send your photo(s) to BigBen7website@gmail.com

“There are so many bigger things going on around here that what we do is not as important as real life. My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone else who are going through so much. There were so many emotions going on, I didn’t know what to expect from it. But maybe we were able to take their minds off their problems just a little.” — Ben, post-game.

From Barry Wilner, AP:

Sometimes, real life intrudes on the games we play. And sometimes, we need those games to get away from real life.

In the wake of Superstorm Sandy and the destruction it brought to the Northeast, everyone on the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Giants understood that.

That’s all the local fans sought: temporary relief and the Giants (6-3) provided it for a while. But they couldn’t stop Isaac Redman, who had little relief with Pittsburgh’s other two main backs injured, yet rushed for a career-best 147 yards and the winning 1-yard TD with 4:02 to go.

The Steelers’ long day began with a plane ride to New Jersey, a short side trip to their team hotel — they couldn’t get enough rooms to stay in the area on Saturday night and needed a league travel waiver to arrive on game day — then on to the stadium. Outside, folks tailgated and tried to blunt some of the devastation from the week’s superstorm.

“Thanx for making my 7th nite of no power a lil’ easier to take by beating the Giants!!!!” — Steelers fan Jackie Lomba ‏(@JaxFromJersey) via the site’s Twitter page.

This is one of the oldest rivalries in the NFL, although the teams have met only five times in 18 years. It had to feel weird for the Giants to have the ballpark rock when the visitors took charge.

When Pittsburgh came on relentlessly, the one-quarter of the 80,991 seats occupied by Terrible Towel-waving Steelers faithful could celebrate an impressive comeback victory, coach Mike Tomlin’s 60th win.


You can read more here.

You can watch video of Ben’s and Coach Tomlin’s post-game news conferences here.

Video highlights are here.

Game photos are here.


#7’s Stats:

– Ben […]