Ben Roethlisberger is ready to get back to Pittsburgh and, taking to heart the words of late wide receiver coach Darryl Drake, “shut out the noise.”
A tumultuous week of training camp practice abruptly came to an end Thursday afternoon, as weather forced the Steelers off of the fields at Saint Vincent College for a second time in three days.
“Camp was good,” Roethlisberger said. “We’re happy to finally have it over with, but it’s fun to be able to come here, to bond with guys, to see different things, see different people, different connections. So I think it was a good camp.”
The week began, Sunday morning, with the untimely death of Drake, who Roethlisberger shared a close connection with.
“I only knew him for a year of a half, but I think in that year and a half he meant more to me than some people I’ve known my whole life,” Roethlisberger said.
“He was an amazing football coach, but he was an even better man, better husband, better father and better man of God than he was a football coach.”
Roethlisberger shared that Drake, quite often this offseason, would tell the team to “shut out the noise” following a pair of seasons in which off-the-field issues appeared to bleed into on-field play.
“Shut out the noise,” Roethlisberger said. “Everything that’s not important, that’s not right here, shut it out and focus on what’s important, and that’s this group.”
Entering his 16th season, Roethlisberger has appeared to make a stronger effort to be a more attentive, hands-on teammate, something he drew criticism for during the fallout of Antonio Brown’s time in black and gold. With Drake’s death, Roethlisberger’s leadership will likely again be tested.
“Just trying to be there, listen,” he said. “I think that’s sometimes the best thing you can do for grief is just to listen. I’m just trying to be a good communicator and listen.”
As far as on the field, Roethlisberger seems encouraged from what he’s seen, but is looking for more with the regular season now just three weeks away.
“I just want to see growth and continued growth from guys,” he said. “James Washington had a good camp. (Donte Moncrief), we didn’t get to see a lot of because of the finger (injury), but he’s starting to come back. I just want to continue to get on the same page. What we’ve seen from JuJu (Smith-Schuster) is what we all anticipated, it’s something special.
“I like this group. I think we’ve got a special group of people here. That’s why I’m excited to see, when things get real, what’s going to happen.”