While we wait for the game to start…
“I wanted to do something special for a personal friend of mine – we live in Wisconsin, and my friend, Mike Arntz is a lifelong Steeler fan – pretty tough to do in the land of Cheeseheads (see his pontoon boat). Below is the story describing what he did, donating 70% of his liver for his ailing nephew. In my eyes, Mike is a hero.” – Dr. Kent Vandehaar, Chippewa Falls, WI
“I was amazed that he was willing to do this for me,” Tyler said.
And Mike?
“I really never had any hesitation about the whole thing,” he said, recalling that he knew it was the right thing to do and imagined the regret he would have felt if he found out later he was a match and anything happened to Tyler while awaiting a deceased donor liver.
His friend Kent said that Mike is one of the nicest people you will ever meet and, “a true living hero in my eyes.”
We had to agree with Kent. Mike makes Steeler Nation proud!
“We gave Mike his shoe – we set it up as a visit from some of his racquetball buddies – we all showed up in our Packer stuff and cruised around the lake in his Steelers pontoon. I’m the one in the white hat. He was in awe at the present! Thanks to Ben for bringing awareness to organ donation!” — Kent
“Ben, I just want to thank you so very much for all you have done! My friend Kent Vandehaar contacted you and let you know about my being a HUGE Steelers & Ben fan […]
Wednesday’s Q&A with the media
“We’re a group that is close I believe. We’re a group that has to believe in each other, which I think we do. And we’re a group that is not going to panic.” — Ben.
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:
Starting fast.
It’s something the Steelers offense hasn’t been able to do the way they would like so far this season, in particular last week against the Bengals when their first two drives were three-and-out, and the third one also a three-play drive, ended by an interception.
Ben Roethlisberger said it’s on him to get the offense going faster, something he admits he was told by his college coaches at Miami (Ohio).
“Traditionally, I’ve never really been a fast kind of start guy. My college coach, Coach (Terry) Hoeppner, used to say the same thing. He would say we have to get you started faster in practices and games. I need to start faster.
“I know the coaches are doing a great job of scripting things, whether it’s screens or getting the ball out. Plays you really like. As an offense we need to start faster, but it starts with me. I need to get better with that because that’s kind of the key to a successful day, starting fast.”
Roethlisberger said he doesn’t know why he starts slow, but that he needs to change it now.
“I wish I knew. It’s been a long time since I’ve had coach tell me those things, but I just got to be better. I don’t want to say we need to start fast. We do. But it starts with the guy who has the ball in his hands.”
It’s easy to say start fast. It’s harder to do sometimes. Roethlisberger is involved with the scripting of the first plays on offense, but it doesn’t always mean it will turn into a fast start.
“I think the way they do the top 10 or the beginning script is each coach kind of picks their 5-10 favorite plays and they kind of talk about it and formulate it and they bring it to me Saturday morning. We look at it and talk about it and make some last-minute tweaks and adjustments.”
Roethlisberger pointed to an array of issues on Sunday against the Bengals that led to the slow […]
A message to Steelers Nation
I am so honored to team up with ‘Big Ben’ Roethlisberger to tackle a great cause!
When Ben wore my ‘Different’ shirt to training camp a few weeks ago and it caused so much attention, we knew we should take the opportunity to shine a light on something way bigger than a T-shirt. Honored to partner with Light of Life Rescue Mission, who has been on the ground making a huge difference in the lives of homeless citizens in Pittsburgh for a years.
For every shirt we sell, two meals are being donated to Light of Life Rescue Mission! — Micah Tyler.
.@_BigBen7 loves his city and wants to make a difference. And he loves his @Steelers teammates and coaches so it was cool the first #DifferentShirt that anyone bought to support @lightoflife was from Ben himself for everyone in the #Steelers organization! https://t.co/jE8wnK8bbd pic.twitter.com/Q94MkquNzU
— Micah Tyler (@MicahTylerMusic) September 25, 2021
Wednesday’s Q&A with the media
You know we’re not panicking. It’s only the second week. We’re 1-1, we lost to a team that’s 2-0 and it was a one score game till the end. It feels like a bad feeling, a bad loss, but we understand it’s real early in the season. Everyone in our division has the same record, so we’re going to get ourselves together and get ready to go. — Ben.
From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:
Ben Roethlisberger smiled when asked if it hurts when he laughs after injuring his left pectoral muscle against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.
I actually can do that okay.
But there was pain on Sunday after he suffered the injury, something he isn’t certain how it happened, but knows it came early on.
I don’t know how it happened. I just know it happened early in the game. Typically when I reach for something outside the framework from my body, or trying to push up, get up off the ground or something like that. I haven’t thrown a ball since the game. You have a lot of adrenaline going during the game.
The Steelers return to the practice field on Wednesday, and Roethlisberger didn’t indicate what it will take for him to feel comfortable to play this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals at Heinz Field.
Today’s only Wednesday, so we have a lot of time to get ready to go.
Roethlisberger took his share of hits against the Raiders, with two sacks but also a handful of other blows, something he knew could be the case with the Raiders pass rush.
We knew going in they had a good rush, high motor guys who were going to get after it. You have to prepare for that. But we all need to be better to eliminate hits, to have a better run game, to have more big plays, to be more efficient. It’s on all of us to help with those things. I tell the guys, no one has to be great. If we’re all good, then collectively we can be great. Offense is such a group effort. It takes literally all 11 guys every play to make it work. When one guy’s a little off here or there, it can affect the whole thing. We’re just going to keep learning and growing and figuring out how we can try and get […]
Hey Steelers Nation…
I decided to save time and just head to the incline, and what a view it was. Pinks, purples, reds, oranges, you name it; this was a sunrise to remember. I have so many shots to share, from ones with the incline before and after the sun came up, long exposures, close shots of the city. This was a fun one.
I’ll start with this view from the incline, and one that I dragged the shutter just slightly. I wanted to blur the incline to give a sense of movement to the scene, and that sky was just perfect. You’ll see more with the incline ‘frozen’ in place, so look out for those soon.
What a way to start the day.” — Dave DiCello.
From Coach Tomlin today
“Ben Roethlisberger has a pectoral injury of some kind, his left pectoral, that could affect him from a preparation standpoint. I don’t have an idea of how much (it will affect his preparation) as I sit here right now, but we better be ready to adjust and deal with that. And also we’ve got Devin Bush and Joe Haden, who both missed last week and who are working their way back. Their participation will be our guide, or non-participation will be our guide, in terms of analyzing their availability (for the Bengals). Diontae Johnson got hurt late in the game (knee). He’s looking better, but (that’s) not to be confused with looking great, so we’ll follow him and his health as we get through the week.”
You can read more here.