Pittsburgh QB figures he’s got lots left in tank

Roethlisberger fine after elbow surgery

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is pretty sure there isn’t a technical term for what doctors did to his shredded right elbow last fall.

He is pretty sure about one thing though: no one who has ever played his position has ever recovered from it well enough to continue throwing a football for a living.

Yet the 38-year-old is confident he will be the first. Maybe it’s because the pain that led to three flexor tendons rupturing late in the first half against Seattle last September is gone.

Maybe it’s because he’s leaner than he’s been since his mid-20s. Maybe it’s because he plays for a team with a defense that kept the Steelers in the playoff mix well into December without their longtime captain. It’s likely a combination of all three.

Regardless, Roethlisberger believes he can be as good as ever entering his 17th season.

“I’m not saying I’ve got 10 years left in me, but I feel like I’ve got some good years in me,” he said. “That was definitely the motivating factor — coming back, showing I still have it in the tank, that I have a lot to give this team, that I had a lot to give the fans.”

If Pittsburgh wants to make inroads in a division that features three quarterbacks — all of them Heisman Trophy winners, all of them 25 or younger — he’ll have to be.

With Cam Newton gone, the Carolina Panthers are now Teddy Bridgewater’s team — or at least that’s the way the team’s new quarterback is feeling with training camp activities getting underway.

Newton was the franchise’s best quarterback — and possibly its best player overall — before being released earlier this offseason.

Bridgewater said that while he’s “honored” to follow Newton, he won’t try to emulate the player Carolina fans came to know as “Superman.”

Tristan Wirfs, 21, knows he has a critical role to play in helping Tom Brady transform the Tampa Bay Buccaneers into winners. The rookie is undaunted by the challenge of preparing for the task without the benefit of a normal preseason.

The former Iowa star was the 13th pick in this year’s NFL draft, addressing the need to bolster an offensive line responsible for protecting the team’s 43-year-old quarterback and opening holes for what has a chance to be an improved rushing attack.

Although Wirfs is expected to be an immediate starter at right tackle, he concedes he and other first-year players have a lot of ground to cover in training camp.

While there’s no guarantee Odell Beckham Jr. will stay quiet, the Cleveland Browns are confident their outspoken star receiver won’t be bolting from training camp.

Beckham had recently questioned the NFL’S decision to push forward and play the 2020 season despite the COVID-19 virus continuing to spread across the country.

But first-year Cleveland general manager Andrew Berry said Tuesday that Beckham, who came to the Browns in a blockbuster trade from the New York Giants last year, has been fully committed since reporting to the team’s facility last week.

Quarterback Gardner Minshew got a call saying he had been in close contact with a teammate who tested positive for the coronavirus and would be forced to quarantine for two days.

“It was brutal, dude,” Minshew said during a call with reporters Tuesday.

Minshew was placed on the COVID-19 list Sunday along with three teammates, including close friends and former roommates Michael Walker and Andrew Wingard.

Panthers: Buccaneers: Browns: Jaguars: