Interview on ESPN's "Jim Rome is Burning" - Live from Arizona
JR: "Good to see you again, how are you?"
Ben: "Pretty good. Yourself?"
JR: "Doin' very well, thank you. Okay, so you guys came from 15 down to go ahead of Jacksonville in the Wild Card game, you had that late lead and it just did get away. Have you gotten that one out of your system yet?"
Ben: "Yeah, you have to. It hurts for a little while but you put it behind you and you move on. It was tough, especially when you feel like you dug yourself a hole and we fought hard...and you're proud of the way everybody fought back, but falling short like that is tough."
JR: "You know you had that great second half where you rallied everybody, brought it back. But you struggled though in the the first half when you had those three picks - what happened in the first half of that game?"
Ben: "Well, the first half, you know, I just want one throw back - you know, the first pick, Mathis made a heck of a play, he just read a route and he did his film study and he just picked the ball off, and the third pick...a defensive lineman comes from all fours and pops up and picks a screen pass, so it's tough. So you know we go in at halftime, we re-group and come out in the second half and we fought back. "
JR: "Now I saw in that game Tomlin opted to go for two 2-point conversions on the last two touchdowns. Had he just kicked the point after, the field goal would have tied the game instead of won the game for Jacksonville. Hindsight is 20/20, but at the time were you thinking, 'Hey, what's goin' on here? Why are we doin' that?'."
Ben: "You know what, we weren't. We don't question..you don't question your leader. Coach calls it and we're goin' for it so everybody rallied around and said, 'We gotta do it'. So we got one of them, I think...I forgot how the whole segment went, it seemed like we ran like four 2-point plays (smiles), it was just so crazy the way the whole thing went down."
JR: "Speaking of your leader, what was it like working for Mike Tomlin this year as compared to Bill Cowher who you were with for so long before?"
Ben: "Well, uh, it was good working with him. A new guy, he walked a fine line with us. It's being 'too friendly, not friendly enough - being too strict, not too strict', so he had a tough job. I think he did a good job and I think the guys really liked working with him this year and are looking forward to the future."
JR: "Okay, in the off season you said, 'You know what I'd like, I'd like a tall receiver, that would be nice. My guys are unbelievable but I would like a tall receiver.' Hines Ward said, 'Hey listen, I don't hear Tom Brady saying things like that'. Are you comfortable with that statement or would you like to have that one back?"
Ben: "Well, what's funny is, it was totally taken out of proportion. People think that Hines and I had this, you know, fight between each other...we get along great, we talk and (waves at the camera) 'Hi Hines, by the way'....it was blown out of proportion and completely out of context. You know, they asked me if I could have anything, other than what I already have, what would I take and I said, 'You know what, no quarterback is going to complain about a tall receiver' and from that it was, 'I want a tall receiver'. But you know what, I love the guys I have, every single one of them - Cedric and Nate and Santonio, Hines, every single guy, I wouldn't trade them for the world. So I don't take the comment back because it wasn't said like that."
JR: "Okay, was it blown out of proportion when Hines said, 'Now wait a minute, I never hear Peyton Manning say that, I never hear Tom Brady say that.' He sounded like he was a little put off by it."
Ben: "I think he was. The way that it came off what I said, you know he thought I said something that I didn't say. So I think he probably got a little upset about it and had a right to be - because you know Hines is probably the best receiver I've ever played with. He goes through it all and he does it all - he blocks, he catches, he makes the play for you, and I've gotten him killed alot of times out there, but he makes plays for me so he was probably a little bit upset about that, but it wasn't meant the way he knew it. When I talked to him and we had talked, he wasn't upset and everything was fine."
JR: "Who made the first call? You to him or him to you?"
Ben: "I called him as soon as I heard it was in the paper because people thought I just came out and said this. This was a month ago interview that I gave a guy and he decided...you know in Pittsburgh somehow you gotta find something to talk about the Steelers and I guess that's what they wanted to talk about. So I didn't know it was in the paper, someone called me and said it was in the paper so I called Hines right away and we laughed about it."
JR: "Of course Ben, we will move on to the next topic - the next topic being...you've got two years left on your deal, you know how that works in Pittsburgh, you like to take care of the quarterback who has two years left. You can't go anywhere without someone saying, 'What's up with the contract.' So here we go Ben, what's up with the contract?"
Ben: "You know what, that's true. Everyone is talking about it, but to honestly answer the question, I don't know what's up with it. I don't do the discussions, that's between the Steelers and my agent and the biggest thing is I want to be Steeler for life - I want to be like the Kelly's and the Marino's playing for one team for my whole career and I want to retire a Pittsburgh Steeler."
JR: "Is something imminent? Where does it stand exactly?"
Ben: "I have no idea. I hope, but you never know, I am sure everything will get taken care of when it needs to."
JR: "Something you have to be concerned about - Alan Faneca. He's meant alot to you, he's a free-agent-to-be, how do you feel about maybe playing your last game with the Pro Bowl right guard?"
Ben: "After the Jacksonville game, I walked up to him and said, 'Hey, if this is it', I gave him a hug, 'If this is it, it's been a privilege and an honor to be your quarterback', and it's hard - you never know what's happened, because there are two sides and you don't know alot of little things behind closed doors or what's going on, but I hope it's not, but like I said it was an honor to play for him. He may be one of the best lineman ever!"
JR: "You know Ben, you go back to that devastating motorcycle accident you had in '06, you came on the show, this was your first interview that you did, you talked very candidly about it, very openly about it, but I haven't really talked about it with you since then...do you still ride?"
Ben: "Nope, I have not."
JR: "Not once?"
Ben: "Nope."
JR: "Comin' back from that injury...what was more challenging, healing physically or healing emotionally?"
Ben: "Um, a little bit of both. Emotionally was easier because I have such a good support system - my family, friends, the Lord - so it was easier to do that. Physically, was tough. You know to be able to get back and, you know last year, the year after the accident, the downfall in the season was because I spent so much time in the weight room really trying to get my body back and ready I probably didn't put enough time mentally in to the game so this year it was good to be able to get my body back and to get the mental time in also."
JR: "Next up a trip to Hawaii, Ben, good to spend time with you. You made a point to come over to do the show and I appreciate that, thank you!"
Ben: "Always fun, thanks for having me!"