PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Lost in most of the conversations about TJ Watt and Ben Roethlisberger support for his teammate. Roethlisberger saying he believes in his offensive line, he admits there will be ‘growing pains’.
“I miss all those guys up front, obviously,” Roethlisberger said of his entire line from two years ago being replaced. “I have to have confidence in who is up there in front of me now.”
Tackle Dan Moore
A fourth round pick that has improved as much as anyone during training camp. Rookie tackle Dan Moore will protect Roethlisberger’s blind side.
“I will have faith that Dan’s going to get it done,” Roethlisberger said. “If the game is over and he’s given up seven sacks. We may have to have a talk. I don’t anticipate that happening. I will say it over and over there will be growing pains I’m sure. He takes pride in his work. I’m excited about that.”
Center Kendrick Green
Not listed as the starter until this past week, there was little doubt, especially after JC Hassenauer’s early camp knee injury, Kendrick Green would be the number one center.
Roethlisberger says he’s passionate. There are times already where Ben said he’s had to reel him back.
“I say, ‘Hey, listen,” Roethlisberger said. “’You’re the center. You’re too important to dwell on the last play, whether that’s getting feisty with a guy or you made a mistake, or you did something really well. You have to have almost a quarterback mentality. You have to move on.”
“It’s the NFL,” Green said. “Nobody cares if you are a rookie. Nobody cares if you’ve been playing for 30 years. You have to go out there and do you job. That’s how a lot of the other young guys look at it too.”
Loves their attitude
“It’s not like they are perfect or they don’t make mistakes,” Roethlisberger said. “I think when they do make the mistakes. You can see how much it burns at them. It bothers them when they make a mistake. That’s the sign of a professional. That’s the sign of a man who takes pride in his work. I’ve seen that from those guys.”
“They are both going to be exceptional football players. Once again like anything, there’s going to be growing pains. We all are going to experience them, even someone in their 18th season going to experience growing pains. The key is do we learn from those growing pains. How often do those pains come? Do we learn from them the one time?”
“We are going to have to learn on the fly, a lot of us. Learn about each other. It may not be pretty, early. We have to except that fact too.”
“I’m excited for them. I think they are nervous and excited. They have a passion for this game and this team. You can see it already. You can see those two are black and gold. It will be fun for them to get out there.”
“At the end of the day, we just have to do what we have to do to win a football game.”