Mike Tomlin on Ben Roethlisberger’s physical bounce back: ‘It’s a process he is going through’

Thursday morning was a busy one for Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin. After meeting with local and national media in the morning, he hopped on the NFL Network’s Good Morning Football show to talk about all things Steelers.

Of course, one of the first questions he fielded was about Ben Roethlisberger. Everyone, including the fan base, wants to know the state of Roethlisberger’s elbow after having it surgically repaired in 2019.

Tomlin spoke openly about it, and called his physical bounce back to the 2020 season ‘a process he is going through’.

Check out the clip below:

Here is the full quote:

“In terms of physically, and how he is rebounding from this, I think that it is a process he is going through and we are preceding, obviously leaning on the expertise of the medial people and how he feels. So far so good.

“I’ve watched him throw a couple times this week. He appears to have Ben-like velocity. I’m still looking for that extremely tight spiral that I am used to seeing. So there is still some ground to cover, but we still have some time.”

Did you really think Tomlin would gush over Roethlisberger without giving something for the quarterback to glean from his comments? Just this week Roethlisberger spoke about how his arm feels, especially after increased workouts, and he said he felt good.

“You know, my arm feels really, really good. I threw a lot of balls yesterday. I was kind of waking up today to see how it was going to feel, and it feels great. That’s kind of what I anticipated because we have been working more than usual in the offseason in terms of throwing.

“I’ve put together a regimen of 2-3 days a week of throwing for the last two months, if not longer than that too.” Roethlisberger said. “I think the plan is still to kind of pitch count, if you will, through training camp. I worked really hard yesterday in terms of a lot of throws. I’ll throw maybe try about half that amount today. Then, tomorrow, I’ll just really back off again just to kind of to see how it will feel.

“Obviously, this is a little different training camp because you’re not really doing one-on-ones. You’re not really doing 7-on-7s right now. Right now, we are just building up and working on timing with receivers, tight ends, running backs, things like that. I’ve had no setbacks. It feels really good, so I’m really excited about that.

Tomlin gave him something to add on his to-do list, and that would be work on that tight spiral so many fans have seen since he put on the black-and-gold No. 7 back in 2004.

Nonetheless, Tomlin knows what is means to have Roethlisberger under center, and he knows how he responds to any type of situation where he feels like an underdog. In other words, Tomlin is ready for Roethlisberger to assume his role as Superman for the team.

“I’m excited about him doing what he does, stepping out of the phone booth, if you will, with a cape on and being the guy that he has been for us and facing the challenges this season is going to present.”