On March 2, Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger officially will be on the wrong side of 30. He apparently plans to commemorate that event by staying on the right side of 300.
Roethisberger recently told Ed Bouchette of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that the quarterback already has begun working out in advance of the 2012 season.
“When I talked to Mike [Tomlin], I said I don’t know how much longer I have to play, no one does; it could be two years, three years, it could be eight years. Who knows?” Roethlisberger said.
“I’m hoping that I’m just starting in my prime. I’ve already been working out with [Garrett Giemont], our strength coach, already. I’ve never worked out this early. It’s not like high-intensity, out killing myself, but I’m working out, I want to come to camp lighter than I’ve ever come, in better shape, because as you get to a certain point, a certain age in this football thing, your body doesn’t recover like it used to,” Roethlisberger said.
It’s good that he’s committed to maintain his shape (even if it’s the shape of a barrel), but he shouldn’t be quite so candid about “working out with” the team’s strength and conditioning coach. Under Article 21, Section 2(a) of the new CBA, “strength and conditioning coaches may not direct players’ individual workouts, but may supervise use of the weight room to prevent injury and to correct misuse of the equipment” during the period before the official commencement of the offseason program.
Even though his “working out with” the strength coach may have to change, Ben continues to hope the team’s offense won’t.
“Last year, I felt really good about the year, even though we had our downfalls with injuries and stuff, but I feel like I’m coming into the prime of my career, what I hope will be my best years. So I want to make sure I’m ready to go. That’s another reason I hope our offense doesn’t change because I feel like I’m just ready to hit it full stride and go with this,” Roethlisberger said.
“If it does stay the same or if we need to tweak little things, I’ve already talked to the receivers; we’re going to get together this offseason and do some stuff -- whether it’s new stuff or old stuff, because we felt we were this close.”
We’ve got a feeling that we’ll be hearing a lot more for Roethlisberger, especially if he doesn’t care for whatever “new stuff” the team may be doing on offense.