Will Ben Roethlisberger make a full recovery in time for the 2020 NFL season?
Ian Rapoport recently hosted Steelers owner Art Rooney II during an episode of his "Rapsheet and Friends" podcast, and they talked Roethlisberger, Mason Rudolph, Devin Bush, reviewable pass interference penalties and much more.
Following are some highlights from their chat. Listen to the full episode here.
On current state of 2-4 Steelers: "Obviously, we've had some injuries at the quarterback position, which has been a challenge for us. But we've kept our heads above water here, and [there's] a long way to go. Hopefully, we can continue to improve."
On team's 24-17 win over Chargers: "I was proud of them. They could've easily said, 'Well, we got no chance in this game. We're playing a guy who wasn't even on our roster Week 1.' But, hey, they rallied around the quarterback and the defense played good. We got some turnovers that allowed us to kind of get a lead, which helped. It was a good win for us.
"I think it just shows that we've had some leadership in our locker room that's not going to let the team just give up on the season, even though we've had a lot of adversity on the injury front."
Will Roethlisberger continue to be involved? "I think Ben will be around. I think he plans to stay involved, that's for sure. I think he enjoys being a part of game day and doing what he can to be part of the efforts, so I expect he'll be around for the season and then he'll have to get into the serious part of his rehab in the offseason."
Any specifics on his surgery/injury/recovery? I can't give you much detail in terms of the injury or the specific rehab. To be honest with you, I'm not sure I know the full story on every step of his rehab. All I can say is that Ben felt good about how things went with the surgery. His surgeon gave him a good report on how things looked, so I think he feels good about doing his rehab and being available to play next year."
On Bush: "Devin is a high-energy guy who flies around the field and makes plays. He's still learning on the job, and I'm sure he still would say he has a lot to learn. But we like the progress he's making. You could see on Sunday night the impact he can have on the game."
On atmosphere in Carson, Calif.: "It was a great atmosphere. It was unusual, that's for sure. But our fans are fantastic. We've certainly seen that on the road in a lot of different cities down through the years. We do have a lot of fans in Southern California, so that tends to happen a lot when we play out there. So it's always fun to see, and really, I do think it gives our players a little bit of a lift when you're on the road and you come out and see that many of your own fans in the away stadium."
On reviewable pass interference: "We wound up voting for it. It kind of was a compromise. We certainly went into the March meeting being very skeptical about the rule. Coach Tomlin's on the Competition Committee and those guys kind of worked their way through this, and we came out with, 'OK, we'll try it for a year.' And so we're trying it for a year. Obviously, it's had mixed reviews so far. But we'll give it a whole season and see what everybody thinks."
But it needs to be flagrant to overturn, right? "I mean, I think that's what was intended and what I hope it is is that it's only ... the language is 'clear and obvious' and I like adding the word 'egregious' to it or something like that. It has to be something that's really obvious to overturn. I don't think we want these things — close calls — being overturned. And really, from our point of view, we're hoping that there aren't that many replays. [We're] not for having too many of them. But like I say, we'll go through the season, see how it looks as the season goes on and make a decision at the end."
Any update on upcoming collective bargaining agreement (CBA)? "You know, I can't really say much about the CBA without getting in trouble here with the commissioner and get fined. So all I can say to you is that we've had good talks, we've had good meetings. The good news is we've been talking, so we'll see if we can get something done."
How about General Manager Kevin Colbert's future? "[There's] not much to say about Kevin at this point other than we agreed to talk after the season, which is the way we normally had done Kevin's contract. So it wasn't anything unusual. And so, after next year's draft, we'll sit down and see where we go. Overall, Kevin's done a great job for us. [It's] certainly his decision in terms of how we proceed. I think he's at a point in his life where he's gotta make some decisions on those kinds of things. But, hey, right now, we're in the middle of the season, he's in the middle of getting ready for next year's draft and so none of us are too worried about the contract right now."
Do you feel the Steelers can still make a playoff push? "It's early in the season, long way to go. I think as long as our guys keep fighting, Mason is, again, one of those players that's learning on the job and so far he's done a good job. But we're playing some young guys at a few different positions. They need to step up and keep improving, but the bottom line is we just have to keep fighting week in and week out."
On trading for Minkah Fitzpatrick midseason: "Well, it was an unusual set of circumstances, but the bottom line is we're happy to have Minkah. He's playing well. I think he's made a difference on our defense, and our defense is playing well. So we're happy he's on our team."
To continue reading, log into your account:
