Roethlisberger is loving football again
It seemed like a curious comment coming from a quarterback entering his 16th NFL season who has won two Super Bowl titles and owns every significant team passing record.
“I feel like I love football again,” Ben Roethlisberger said.
It was the “again” part that merited an explanation.
“I don’t know if I can put my finger on a particular reason, but it just feels that way,” Roethlisberger said Thursday at Steelers training camp at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe.
“I always love doing it, but I think loving it but having fun doing it, I think a lot of things can contribute to it. You get a rejuvenated feel at this point in your career. You can either just go through the motions or you get it going. I feel like I got it going.”
A lot of people are noticing, including his teammates.
Several players have remarked over the past couple of days how relaxed and much fun Roethlisberger appears to be having at Saint Vincent College. It would be easy to suggest the departure of Antonio Brown and some of the consternation that went with his presence is a big reason for Roethlisberger’s attitude.
Or perhaps it’s the calm I’llshowyou determination that comes from having a lot of unfounded national criticism directed at him about his leadership and his apparent bad relationship with his former All- Pro receiver in the offseason.
‘ You can either just go through the motions or you get it going. I feel like I got it going.’
But none of that was ever mentioned by Roethlisberger. If anything, the drudgery of another training camp — his 16th, five years more than his next closest teammate ( Ramon Foster) — could have the opposite effect. Or, as Pro Bowl guard David DeCastro wryly noted, “Camp is camp.”
Still, there seems to be an extra bounce in the quarterback’s step this year.
“It’s not easy, but it’s not forced, its natural,” Roethlisberger said when asked bout his demeanor at training camp. “I think, in part, it’s my faith, my family, the guys out here, the new contract for three years. There’s a lot of peace in my life right now and I’m enjoying it.”
And his teammates are taking note. Tight end Vance McDonald, who is in his second full camp with the Steelers and has a locker next to Roethlisberger at the team’s South Side practice facility, said, “Just his whole approach and demeanor is completely different this year. I think he’s on fire.”
Pro Bowl left tackle Alejandro Villanueva, who protects Roethlisberger’s blind side, said Roethlisberger’s attitude is “contagious” and remarkable to see after so many training camps.
“Ben has always been an amazing player to play for because he transmits a lot of that competitive edge to the players,” Villanueva said. “You don’t know if you should be competitive all the time [ in practice] and when you play with Ben, you realize you have to be competitive all the time.
“For him to come out to practice every day, compete in seven shots — he’s done seven shots thousands of times — but to come out in seven shots, come out in all the periods, give the best he can, is something that’s contagious to us younger guys that are following his lead.”
Example: In the afternoon practice Wednesday, Roethlisberger ran a quarterback sneak from his 1 and, because the defensive players are not allowed to touch him, he continued to run 99 yards for a playful touchdown. Along the way, he exchanged laterals with JuJu Smith- Schuster before spiking the ball in the end zone.
“You just try to get through it,” DeCastro said. “The older you get the more fun you have with it to get through it.”
But none of that should be mistaken for any lack of competitive desire on Roethlisberger’s part.
“I don’t know that it will ever leave me,” said Roethlisberger, who led the NFL in attempts ( 675), completions ( 452), passing yards ( 5,129) and interceptions ( 16) in 2018. “That’s just something that drives me. I can go out there and act like, OK, guys, let’s just try to learn some things. But once I get going, then the juices get flowing and you want to win.”
Those juices include feeling rejuvenated.
“I told my wife when I was home the other day, she was asking how it was going,” he said. “I said I feel like I love football again. She got a big smile on her face and said it made her happy to hear that.”
Probably a lot of others, too.