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April 21, 2010
SouthAmerica: This basket case definitely belongs with the Oakland Raiders.
Al Davis should call immediately the Pittsburgh Steelers and offer to trade Oakland Raiders' quarterback JaMarcus Russell with Ben Roethlisberger.
The best home in the NFL for a basket case such as Ben Roethlisberger it is on the Oakland Raiders.
What Al Davis is waiting for to make that call?
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âSteelers signal Roethlisberger's on his ownâ
By ALAN ROBINSON (AP)
Associated Press â April 21, 2010
PITTSBURGH â Ben Roethlisberger is on his own this time.
The Pittsburgh Steelers stood behind their quarterback when he wrecked his motorcycle while riding helmet-less in 2006, tsk-tsking his immaturity yet eagerly welcoming him to training camp a month later.
Coach Mike Tomlin and director of football operations Kevin Colbert lined up with Roethlisberger last year at a news conference when he angrily denied assaulting a Nevada hotel employee. The look in their eyes said: Ben's still our guy.
Nobody is standing with Roethlisberger now.
His teammates are publicly supporting him but, of course, that's what teammates do. But if Roethlisberger anticipated one of the most image-protective franchises in pro sports treating his six-game suspension for violating the NFL's personal conduct policy as routine business, he got a surprise.
The Steelers are mad. They're out of patience. They're so determined to put Roethlisberger's off-field problems behind them, they spent time Wednesday weighing whether they'd trade their two-time Super Bowl winner if they got the right offer.
If Roethlisberger's pending behavioral evaluation and the knowledge he can't play until October don't scare him straight, the Steelers reason, perhaps the thought of being traded to a last-place team will do it.
"I agree and support the decision the commissioner made, the discipline for Ben Roethlisberger," Steelers president Art Rooney II said. "I commented last week that discipline was appropriate in this case and we were prepared to impose discipline if the commissioner felt it appropriate to go that way."
If Roethlisberger wants to go on playing, Rooney said, he must do it the NFL's way. The Steelers' way, too.
⦠There's a new quarterback to break in, albeit a familiar one: Byron Leftwich, reacquired the night before from Tampa. A backup in 2008, he is expected to compete with Dennis Dixon to start the four games, and perhaps the six, Roethlisberger will miss.
As Leftwich walked into the Steelers' cafeteria, a half-dozen fellow players shook his hand or gave him hugs.
"He was a pretty obvious choice to bring back," Rooney said.
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