Steelers' Big Ben could be back in big way
Healthy, motivated and arguably in the best shape of his life, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger appears poised for a big season.
Early signs may point to a new and improved Roethlisberger, but offensive tackle Max Starks isn't quite buying into Roethlisberger 2.0.
"I think he'll come back to normalcy more than having a big year," Starks said Tuesday.
Translation: Roethlisberger will play like the quarterback who won 27 of his first 31 starts and stamped himself as a rising star, not the one who threw the most interceptions in the NFL last season.
The Steelers' struggles in 2006 mirrored that of Roethlisberger. Their rebounding after going 8-8 and missing the playoffs depends largely on Roethlisberger -- and, specifically, his showing he is a franchise quarterback, not one who merely benefited from the system his first two years in the league."You can say all you want; you've got to prove it to the fans and the media," Roethlisberger said. "No, I'm just trying to go out and prove to myself that I can do it, that my career's not over and last year was a fluke."
There were some reasons, well-documented and mitigating, that led to Roethlisberger's subpar season.
It will never be known how much of a role the cumulative effect of the trauma Roethlisberger suffered played in his regression. But he never seemed comfortable in 2006, and at times, he might have tried too hard to prove himself, to show his becoming the youngest quarterback to win a Super Bowl was no fluke.
He forced his share of throws and ended up tossing 23 interceptions.
That is three more than he had thrown in his first two regular seasons combined.
"Ben has to put more trust in his role players to go out there and make plays," wide receiver Hines Ward said.
Roethlisberger, 25, appears intent on gaining the trust of his teammates by doing things such as starting his workout regimen a couple of weeks instead of a couple of months after the season -- he attributes that to his arriving at training camp in as good a shape as he's been -- and joining those who block for him in a show of leadership.
Roethlisberger did that Monday when he ran with the offensive linemen during a conditioning test even though he was exempt from it.
Such a gesture surely caught the attention of Tomlin, who will pick the Steelers' captains for this season.
Even if he is not a captain, Roethlisberger will be a leader this season just by virtue of the added responsibilities the new coaching staff has thrust on him.
That evidently would be fine with Roethlisberger, and he indicated he would much rather answer questions about the challenge of making adjustments at the line of scrimmage than ones about how a motorcycle wreck and appendectomy have affected his play.
"It's good to be able to come out here and just concentrate on football," Roethlisberger said. "I feel better than I've ever felt."