The Pittsburgh Steelers were amazingly enough one of the biggest storylines during Super Bowl week a year ago, thanks almost entirely to the bonker behavior of the blonde-mustachioed Antonio Brown, who only continues to fly further off the rails as time progresses.
While things are much quieter so far this offseason, the team has still had a strong and active presence in the offseason, especially with their representation among the Centennial Slate of the Hall of Fame, with hopefully two more names to follow later tonight.
They’ve also made their presence known during Super Bowl week with both JuJu Smith-Schuster and Cameron Heyward doing the media rounds. Both of them served as the team’s voice during this time of the offseason a year ago as well, so this shouldn’t be surprising.
While speaking with CBS during the week, Heyward was asked about quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, soon to turn 38 years old and coming off of a serious elbow injury on his throwing arm that required surgery. News of his current condition could be just around the corner, but in the meantime, Heyward was asked about where he feels the quarterback is mentally as a competitor.
“I think he wants to win a Super Bowl. We all have that in mind. That brings us all together. He’s in a different stage of his life than a rookie, but for him, he’s had accolades. He’s got Super Bowl already”, he pointed out. “Then you start seeing, where can I differentiate myself, where can I put myself ahead of somebody else? Ben’s a competitor. He wants to win. He was like a three- or four-star athlete growing up. He’s always competitive in everything he does. He’s never lost that drive. And I think, as he’s been our leader, he’s only grown in that. And he understands that, ‘I’ve got to bring guys with me to accomplish that’”.
In terms of more career-long accomplishments, Roethlisberger already ranks in the top 10 in most major quarterback statistics, including attempts, completions, yards, touchdowns, but fortunately not interceptions (he ranks 32nd, but third among active players).
With Eli Manning retiring, that’s one more quarterback with two Super Bowl titles out of the picture, and he could soon permanently surpass him on many of those statistical lists. Realistically, he could hit the significant benchmarks in 2020 of both 5000 completions and 60,000 yards. 400 touchdowns would be pushing it, as he needs 37, and he’s never thrown more than 34 in a season.
Of course, his priority would be on winning a third Super Bowl. Only four quarterbacks have won more than two, those being Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana, Troy Aikman, and Tom Brady. You know he would very much like to be part of that company.
