At 36, Ben Roethlisberger is finding new (and old) ways to bridge generational gap with his wide rec
Ben Roethlisberger will do just about anything to have a chance at another Super Bowl.
If he needs to yell at players, then he will yell at players.
If he needs to call teammates out during practice, then so be it.
If it means having JuJu Smith-Schuster explain Fortnite to him in hopes of bridging an ever-widening generational gap between him and a wide receiver room that has players as much as 15 years his junior … well, every man has his breaking point.
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“I knew nothing about it when he was explaining it to me,” Roethlisberger said with a wry smile. “That’s how we try to relate … No, absolutely not. I’m not playing. I really didn’t know anything about it.”
Roethlisberger has spent the past couple of weeks trying to come up with ways to relate to his young wide receiver crew that will likely feature 21-year-old Smith-Schuster and the 22-year-old James Washington alongside Antonio Brown when the season starts in less than a month.
In fact, eight of Roethlisberger’s 11 receivers and five of the six tight ends currently in training camp are at least a decade younger than him meaning some of the old tricks he has used had to be amped up a little to get the attention of the youngsters.
You can say that Roethlisberger’s patience has been tested a time or two over the past three weeks.
“You have to find different ways to motivate guys and reach guys especially with such an age gap,” Roethlisberger told The Athletic. “Sometimes I think the hardest thing to do for an older player is to relate to a younger player. You have to find different ways to motivate guys.”
For Roethlisberger, it’s been the occasional and quite rare raise-the-voice tactic. Other times, it’s been the diplomatic approach. And it’s even been the sit-down-and-address-it-like-a-man method.
Being a father of three young kids undoubtedly has helped Roethlisberger come up with different techniques to communicate with his younger teammates.
To put in into perspective, Roethlisberger is 14 1/2 years older than Smith-Schuster. Or just about the same age gap between Smith-Schuster and Roethlisberger’s youngest son, Ben Jr.
So, sometimes Roethlisberger has used some tough love on his receivers even if that means stepping out of his comfort zone to accomplish it.
Frustration has seeped in at times most notably during a practice two weeks ago when Justin Hunter made a couple of mistakes and Roethlisberger let him, and everybody within earshot, know it.
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“If it was just a mistake made for the first time, I am not going to yell at people,” Roethlisberger said. “But if it is a mistake that keeps happening and we talked about it earlier that day, then you can’t do that. You’ve been around long enough to know that I am not a yeller, I am not a screamer. I know I had to do it the other day, but I felt it was appropriate at the time and it probably won’t happen again. It just doesn’t happen all the time.”
Roethlisberger was particularly angry at Hunter because he kept either running the wrong route or looking over his wrong shoulder during a pass downfield.
Whatever Hunter was doing wasn’t right. Now it wasn’t a glaring and alarming mistake, but a big enough error that Roethlisberger knew it could mean disaster if it happened in a game.
Roethlisberger screamed in the direction of where the wide receivers were gathered with coach Darryl Drake something to the likes of “look for the f****** ball” after Roethlisberger’s deep pass down the right sidelines fell nowhere near the streaking Hunter.
Later, he slammed his helmet to the ground. He pointed at receivers, pointed at his eyes then back to the receivers. He was hot.
In the six years Landry Jones has been working under Roethlisberger, he said he’s never seen an outburst like that from No. 7.
“Not one instance that I can pinpoint,” Jones said. “He usually isn’t like that.”
Nobody said a word to a steaming Roethlisberger for a couple of minutes after the initial outburst until Hunter made his way over to him.
It was just one of at least five different episodes that day of Roethlisberger voicing his displeasure at his receivers, or whoever else was in earshot.
“They were pissing him off, they were pissing everybody off,” offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. “We are trying to do things right around here, and we want to do things perfect.”
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A day or so later, Roethlisberger didn’t scream at Smith-Schuster but said “his head’s not here today” after a poor route that everybody could hear.
Roethlisberger showed the receivers some tough love then backed that up with some coddling. He figured he would try it both ways to see which one worked. He ended up doing what he always has done — the diplomatic way.
Roethlisberger made his way into the receivers room and explained to the group why he was angry and what he expected from them.
“They know that I don’t do it very often so when you do it it’s like, ‘Oh man, he was really upset,”‘ Roethlisberger said. “I let them know that I am not mad at them. I am just trying to get my point across.”
Darrius Heyward-Bey in his tenth year in the NFL with the past five being with the Steelers. He’s seen Roethlisberger walk into a meeting room before and the reaction has always been the same.
“Your attention goes up when he walks in,” Heyward-Bey said. “You are like, whoa, the quarterback is coming in here, so we have to step up our game. I love the fact that anytime Ben says anything because it’s going to be constructive and it’s going to help us out. Ben is being a leader he should be, and the young guys are looking up to him.”
Roethlisberger is finishing up his 15th training camp, and this one might’ve been one of his best.
For the first time in his career, he followed through with something he has always talked about doing. He trained hard during the offseason, he hired a personal chef and trainer and came into camp 15-20 pounds lighter than usual (he reported at 250).
That’s led to some little noticeable things — no braces or wraps on his knees, no bulky ice bags following practice and a little quicker-on-his-feet Roethlisberger. Other than a few days he used Kinesiology tape on his knee and/or calves, Roethlisberger has been feeling great both physically and mentally.
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And good health means more fun.
“I am having a lot of fun playing football, this is a fun group of guys, I enjoy the coaching staff and the entire atmosphere of it so why not have fun?” Roethlisberger said.
Roethlisberger said his “fun” training camp has nothing to do with this being the stage of his career that the end is much closer than the beginning. He still refuses to look past each year even though he’s mentioned to teammates and the front office that he wants to play somewhere between 3-5 more years depending on the circumstances.
Roethlisberger knows another Super Bowl win would put him rarified air. The only quarterbacks who have won more than two Lombardi Trophies are Tom Brady, Joe Montana, Terry Bradshaw and Troy Aikman — all Hall of Famers or, in Brady’s case, an eventual first-ballot Hall of Famer.
Knowing that fact, Roethlisberger has been determined as he’s ever been especially during training camp.
“I like the fire in his eyes,” Hunter said. “It shows a lot that he wants to win, and he’s all in.”
Just not in Fortnite.
Camp Chronicles
• Mike Tomlin sat down James Conner (groin) and Stevan Ridley for the second half of practice on Sunday because he said he wanted to see some of the other running backs.
• B.J. Finney (quad contusion) returned for individual work but did not participate in any team activities. Brown did not participate in the final two periods but it didn’t appear to be injury related. Also missing were Sean Davis, Marcus Allen, T.J. Watt, Bud Dupree (birth of his child), Parker Collins and Xavier Grimble, who had a cast on his right wrist and thumb.
• The defense won the Seven Shots drill, 6-1. The only score was Josh Dobbs’ read-option run for a touchdown.
• L.J. Fort had two one-handed interceptions — one to end Seven Shots and one the following period of linebackers 1-on-1 coverage against running backs.
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• Matthew Thomas was the only linebacker in the 1-on-1 coverage period who routinely stayed with and provided tight coverage on the running backs. Tyler Matakevich struggled the most in the period.
• Cam Sutton jumped into to returning punts for the first time this camp alongside Quadree Henderson and Justin Thomas.
• Dan McCullers did some first-team work at nose tackle ahead of Javon Hargrave.
• The Steelers signed tackle Zach Banner and released Kyle Meadows.
(Photo credit: James Lang-USA TODAY Sports)
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