PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – If you are thinking, if Philip Rivers can return after five years away from the NFL, Ben Roethlisberger could after four. Before he was honored at halftime Monday night, Roethlisberger had a quick response.
“Zero chance.”
“My right arm is working just fine, I promise you that,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s the rest of my body I worry about.”
Roethlisberger is still sixth on the all-time passing yardage list, passed by Rodgers this season. He’s eighth in career touchdowns with 418 and third in career fourth quarter comebacks with 41. It’s the last stat that he still thinks about.
“18 years, I got to do it so much,” Roethlisberger said. “I realized last night, which is crazy, that I’ve played 249 games. Do I come back for one more to get 250 for a round number? No, it’s too much now. Every once and a while I think about the fourth quarter, having the ball in my hands. Other than that, I don’t miss it.”
Roethlisberger said it hasn’t been tough transitioning to retirement. He’s good with being a dad and armchair quarterback.
“I’ve enjoyed being home with my boys, watching it, talking through plays with them,” Roethlisberger said. “’Watch this’, here is what is going to happen here. Here is what could happen here. Here is what I would think here. It’s been fun to pass that information and knowledge on to them or people I am sitting with.”
“It’s just fun to think about all of the things I’ve been through and the situations. What would I do in that situation?
“Obviously watching the Steelers, there is a guy out there who is one of the GOATs. I love to see what he (Aaron Rodgers) is doing. What would he do and what I would do. Which is kinda why I was wanting Baltimore to score that touchdown because I wanted to see how Aaron, as a fan of him and the game. I wanted to see him put together a drive and watch how the master orchestrated it.”
In a manner of speaking Roethlisberger is a part of the media, at least social media hosting a weekly podcast. He was part of a number of former players who questioned Mike Tomlin’s future with the organization after the loss to the Bills.
Roethlisberger wanted to be clear how he views his opinions.
“I don’t think I say anything negative,” Roethlisberger said. “I don’t critique the player, I will critique the play. Just because I said there is a time for maybe some new things, that is just saying that I think Coach Tomlin, if he wants to move on. It’s not they should, it’s up to him. He’s earned that right. If he wants to go do something else, he can and should and we should honor him when that time comes, whenever that is. Maybe he wants to coach another 10 years, that’s fine too.”
“I don’t ever think I critique a player. I will critique a play. I think that is acceptable. I think all y’all do that too. Some of y’all critique players as well which isn’t fair necessarily especially if you never played it. I’ve played it and I think I’m able to critique players if I want. I still think we all go out there and give it everything we have every week and every play. It’s not like guys try to do this or do that.”
“As long as we don’t critique the player and criticize them, I think it’s ok.”