admin / June 14, 2018
Ben Roethlisberger: Backups grateful for extra reps
A family vacation kept Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger away from the start of the team’s organized team activities.
Roethlisberger returned Wednesday, but his earlier absences allowed backup quarterbacks Landry Jones, Josh Dobbs and rookie Mason Rudolph to secure additional repetitions during practice.
I know those guys really enjoyed it, and they were thanking me for it, Roethlisberger said, via the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
You’ve got to understand, too, this is football without pads on, Roethlisberger said, via the Post-Gazette. This is kind of getting back into it. That’s the way I look at OTAs and minicamps, it’s just kind of getting back into it, knocking some rust off. You start to get a feel for some young guys a little bit, but it’s all going to change once you get to camp. Once you get to camp, you get pads on and that’s when real football begins.
The Steelers wrap up 10 days of voluntary OTAs on Thursday, and then hold a mandatory three-day minicamp on June 12-14.
According to various reports, few Eagles players were planning to attend the White House event and the team is holding a workout at their facility instead.
Johnson was part of the sad avalanche of NFL superstars who saw their seasons wiped out by injury in 2017. With fresh legs, the Cardinals undergoing a transition at quarterback and millions of dollars at stake (this is a contract year), consider it a huge upset if Johnson isn’t one of the very best backs in football in 2018. His dual-threat capabilities make him a safe bet to lead the league in touches this season. For a game-changing talent just reaching his prime, a 2,000 all-purpose yardage season is in play.
Jones’ end-zone slip in the final moments of a loss to the Eagles in the Divisional Round of the playoffs acted as an effective symbol for the Falcons ‘ offense as a whole in 2017: They were right there but could never quite get over the hump. It was a frustrating season for Jones, who piled up 88 catches for 1,444 yards… but just three touchdowns. Surprisingly, Jones has never been a TD monster (he’s reached double digits just once in his brilliant seven-year career), but a healthy Jones could double or even triple his scoring output in Year 2 under offensive coordinator Steve Sarkisian, who knows his job may depend on it.