Ben: Physical practices taking a toll on Steelers

Ben Roethlisberger: Physical practices taking a toll on Steelers

Posted by Darin Gantt on October 12, 2016



The Steelers aren’t afraid of physical practices, and coach Mike Tomlin seems to take no small measure of pride in their being different than most teams in that regard.

But now that injuries are beginning to stack up, his quarterback wonders if they’ve gone too far.

Via Ed Bouchette of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Roethlisberger said during his weekly radio show on 93.7 The Fan there could be a correlation between the two.

“We have a lot of injuries,” Roethlisberger said. “I think a lot of our stuff stems from we’re one of the most physical football teams in training camp, in practice, you know. We do more hitting than most teams do and more [practices in] pads.”

to read rest of article:

http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2016/10/12/ben-roethlisberger-physical-practices-taking-a-toll-on-steelers/

Ben is definitely

I think guys need to shut up and quit spitting this stuff out to the media. Keep that kind of stuff in-house because the media blows it well out of proportion and then it becomes a distraction.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

I think guys need to shut up and quit spitting this stuff out to the media. Keep that kind of stuff in-house because the media blows it well out of proportion and then it becomes a distraction.

I agree that things should be kept in-house.

That's why this feels so strange to me. Ben is saying this publicly for a reason. It makes me wonder if he already went to coach Tomlin or within the organization, and they are doing more in practices than what is allowed in the CBA.

It's hard to explain if there is nothing outside the rules going on. All teams are only allowed so many practices with pads.

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes or if Tomlin or the organization comments on this.

pczach wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

I think guys need to shut up and quit spitting this stuff out to the media. Keep that kind of stuff in-house because the media blows it well out of proportion and then it becomes a distraction.

I agree that things should be kept in-house.

That's why this feels so strange to me. Ben is saying this publicly for a reason. It makes me wonder if he already went to coach Tomlin or within the organization, and they are doing more in practices than what is allowed in the CBA.

It's hard to explain if there is nothing outside the rules going on. All teams are only allowed so many practices with pads.

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes or if Tomlin or the organization comments on this.

Tomlin commented on it. He was his usual self, avoided the roots of the question in his answer, and said that Ben has every right to an opinion on the matter.

Either way I'm getting sick of guys like Ben, and Brown blabbing to the media. The media has a heyday with it, they blow it well out of proportion, and it becomes a distraction to the team, and a talking point with the fanbase. It's dumb, I get it if he has an issue, but talk to your coaches behind closed doors, or talk to the NFLPA about it. Go about it the right way. Ben is the leader of this team, and when he does and says things like this it opens the floodgates and more players join in. I believe it was Gilbert who reiterated what Ben was saying. I highly doubt guys like Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, and Joe Greene were whining about practices being too physical. It's football, you play like you practice. I would argue that less practices, and less hitting adds up to more injuries during the regular season.

At the High School level I felt like we had more injuries and what not after they did away with the true two-a-day practices. I could definitely be wrong, I'd love to see some solid statistics, but in my unprofessional opinion there are more injuries during a season with less practices, and less physicality in practices.

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

pczach wrote:

IowaSteeler927 wrote:

I think guys need to shut up and quit spitting this stuff out to the media. Keep that kind of stuff in-house because the media blows it well out of proportion and then it becomes a distraction.

I agree that things should be kept in-house.

That's why this feels so strange to me. Ben is saying this publicly for a reason. It makes me wonder if he already went to coach Tomlin or within the organization, and they are doing more in practices than what is allowed in the CBA.

It's hard to explain if there is nothing outside the rules going on. All teams are only allowed so many practices with pads.

It will be interesting to see if there are any changes or if Tomlin or the organization comments on this.

Tomlin commented on it. He was his usual self, avoided the roots of the question in his answer, and said that Ben has every right to an opinion on the matter.

Either way I'm getting sick of guys like Ben, and Brown blabbing to the media. The media has a heyday with it, they blow it well out of proportion, and it becomes a distraction to the team, and a talking point with the fanbase. It's dumb, I get it if he has an issue, but talk to your coaches behind closed doors, or talk to the NFLPA about it. Go about it the right way. Ben is the leader of this team, and when he does and says things like this it opens the floodgates and more players join in. I believe it was Gilbert who reiterated what Ben was saying. I highly doubt guys like Jack Lambert, Mel Blount, and Joe Greene were whining about practices being too physical. It's football, you play like you practice. I would argue that less practices, and less hitting adds up to more injuries during the regular season.

At the High School level I felt like we had more injuries and what not after they did away with the true two-a-day practices. I could definitely be wrong, I'd love to see some solid statistics, but in my unprofessional opinion there are more injuries during a season with less practices, and less physicality in practices.

1st - I have to say you're bang on.

2nd - this is only mainstream because its Ben saying it. If this was anyone else that was further down the depth chart no one would think twice about it, they'd laugh it off and move on. But due to Ben being the be all end all (sans him there's not much chance of 'winning') it gets blown out of proportion.

Having said that is he right? it's possible. Should he have said anything? that's debatable, but at the same time none of the 'injuries' of note happened in practice they were all in games.

3rd - I prefer when my team isn't in the media the old addage is 'no news is good news'

I thought Ben had turned the corner and was finished making stupid decisions off the field. Guess I was wrong. Sounds like a whiner. Apparently he thinks this team should be more like the Lions. LOL

I would be interested to hear how physical practices are actually. When its training camp and guys are fighting to make the 53, that is a benchmark of say 100% intensity. When its during season I would say that guys still practice physically, but its likely more like 70-85% intensity.

Anyways, Tomlin learned from his first season to his 2nd of how physical to be in order to not wear his guys out. That 2nd season and SB victory was a physical group of guys and arguably the most physical defense in the NFL that year.

We have physical practices but are one of the less physical teams IMO. The defense doesn't scare anyone (we make plays on placement- not brute force) and our offense isn't the cram it down your throat kind.

I have no problem with BR7 saying it. It's no mystery that the Steelers are getting hurt in high numbers.

I kind of read Ben as saying "we're a physical football team" in a kind of "we're better than other teams" way.

I.e. someone asked him about the injuries they had, and he turned it into a positive about aggression and hitting.

Could Ben answer the question better? Definitely. But I think it's a non-issue. He's not talking something new. The Steelers are physical team. It's in their blood. Everyone knows it. And being physical means easier to get injured. It's just common sense.

They know each other long enough to understand what's going on and Tomlin handles the question perfectly.

Agree with the above comments that Ben needs to keep it in house. Ben feels compelled to give sports talk radio hot takes on his weekly radio show and this is the latest example (another mess last season involved his convoluted explanation of whether he had a concussion in the Seattle game) of his need to provide "news" getting in the way of not showing up someone else.Tomlin is paid well to put up with this sort of bullshit from his franchise QB but if I was Tomlin I would be pissed off about being called out about how he conducts practices.

we talkin bout practice?

I always felt like our best practices in football were the physical practices with the pads on. You get out there and hit your teammates, and then you get your chance to take it out on opponents. We weren't the greatest my senior year, we actually underachieved, but we were a damn physical football team and teams that played us definitely felt it the next day. Top team in division 3A, we injured 7 of their players. Not dirty hits or anything like that, just hard-nosed physical football.

One of our starting LBs, a buddy of mine hit a KR for the other team so hard he knocked him unconscious. Nothing dirty about the hit either. Perfectly clean. We got a letter from the other school saying that kid would never play again. Felt bad for him honestly, definitely a bad break for that kid, but it was a clean hit, it was just a brutal one.

Guess my thoughts are that if you want to be the best, and be the most physical, you've got to practice that way.

It's fine if you want a physical defense and want to being as physical as you can during the practice. It's another story for the offensive unit. They're the one who take the beating, especially the OL. And so far 2 linemen are on IR. Cody Wallace has not yet to play a game. Both Gilbert and Foster have missed time. Ben is the team offensive captain and his comment likely is not raised by his own only. Logic is that they have discussed with the coaches internally already. And players may think that the coaches don't take it serious enough.

Like Tomlin's response, they have to find out where the fine line is. Right now the players don't think the team has drawn the right line.

Well I don't know if it has anything to do with the practice. I just know that at this rate the Steelers may need to field another 53 guys to play in December.