A trimmed-down Big Ben appears to be a positive for Pittsburgh.
Ben Roethlisberger shed pounds this offseason after cutting sugar and carbs from his diet. The result? His finest training camp to date, according to offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner.
"How do I feel, whether that's my arm, my shoulder, my elbow, knees, ankles, just the general feeling of my body?" Roethlisberger said, per the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "I think it felt great. My arm feels stronger than it ever has."
Roethlisberger has yet to appear in a preseason tilt, but that should change Saturday when Pittsburgh logs its regular-season tune-up against the Tennessee Titans.
"I hope I don't get hit," Big Ben said, "but it's always good to knock that rust off, too, at some point."
Roethlisberger verbally toyed with retirement in recent years, but firmly reversed direction in May, saying: "I really feel I can play this game another three to five years."
These words came after the Steelers used a third-round pick to nab big-bodied signal-caller Mason Rudolph out of Oklahoma State. As with Joe Flacco in Baltimore, the presence of a talented rookie quarterback appears to have injected a dash of motivation into Roethlisberger.
