Ed Bouchette: Bradshaw Visits Steelers in Latrobe

Bradshaw revisits the scene of his prime

Interviews Big Ben, sees better season, finish for 2nd-year QB

Thursday, August 04, 2005
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Long before there was Big Ben, there was the Blond Bomber, and yesterday Terry Bradshaw made his first visit to the practice fields at St. Vincent College since his career virtually ended in Latrobe in 1983.

He returned to Steelers training camp for the same reason many in the media make the pilgrimage -- to interview quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Bradshaw, the only quarterback with four Super Bowl rings, does not envision a sophomore slump by 2004's NFL Rookie of the Year.

"I think he'll have a better season," said Bradshaw, who watched practice from the sideline with former teammate Joe Greene, now a Steelers scout. "Do I think they'll be 15-1? That's asking a lot."

Roethlisberger broke Dan Marino's rookie records with a 98.1 passer rating and completing 66.4 percent of his passes. He became the first quarterback in NFL history to go 13-0 as a starter in the regular season. But he tailed off near the end of '04 and in the playoffs. Bradshaw said that was understandable.

"He'll have his bad days, but I think he'll finish stronger than he did last year, just because he's been through the 16, 17, 18 games.

"I thought he got tired at the end of the year, just wore out. Not so much physically, but just all of this," Bradshaw said, casting his hand over the gaggle of media along the sidelines at St. Vincent College. "It just beats you up. If they would have finished 8-8, it wouldn't have been as bad on him. But, when you get on a roll like that week in and week out, all the expectations -- 'carry the team, da, da, da, da, da.' "

The expectations on Roethlisberger and the Steelers are likely to be that much more after their superb '04 season.

"Yeah, rightfully so," Bradshaw said. "But in the ever-changing NFL, the team that maybe wasn't as good last year is going to make acquisitions in the offseason. Cleveland's going to be better, perhaps; Cincinnati's definitely going to be better. You look at all of that.

"The Steelers are going to be really good."

Bradshaw interviewed Roethlisberger and coach Bill Cowher for "Ten Yards With Terry," which will be shown on Fox during the season. He had not been back to St. Vincent College since his last training camp 22 years ago. He pointed to a spot on a practice field where he says the injury to his right elbow that forced him to retire after the '83 season occurred that summer.

"I hurt my arm in practice right over there," Bradshaw said. "That's when we played the [New England] Patriots in Knoxville [in the preseason], and I didn't play. What happened was, this thing was killing me so a friend of mine shot it up. My ulnar nerve splits, and we didn't know it. So it leaked into the ulnar nerve."

Bradshaw walked onto the field and his hand was so limp he could not pick up a football. He dreaded having to tell coach Chuck Noll what happened.

"So then I had to go and tell Chuck: I can't play. My elbow was shot up and it's numb. That wasn't fun. Yeah, he gave me the look. You know the look, huh?"

It was a look not unlike one Cowher can shoot to a player as well.

"Yeah, I know," Bradshaw said, laughing. "I don't have a problem with this guy, he can't bench me."

Bradshaw never held out of training camp other than to honor the Players Association strike of 1974 camps, but he saw several teammates boycott camp over their contracts so he can empathize with the current holdout of receiver Hines Ward.

"If Hines wants to stay out, he has to do what he feels is in his best interests, and, whether we like it or not, it's his decision. ... It's your call, man. Do what you have to do. That's just how it has to be. You're here for so long and then you're gone.

"If you don't get it, then I think an athlete gets on the field and plays. And if he's a superstar, he'll play like a superstar. That's a given. I don't question that. You just don't want the locker room to be divisive. Let management do their job and, hopefully, you get the player happy."
Bradshaw offered one piece of advice for Roethlisberger, though, about his motorcycle.
"Ride it when you retire. That's the way I feel. Those things are dangerous."

(Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.)