It’s safe to say that Ben Roethlisberger doesn’t need additional motivation for the 2020 season, but he does have it anyway. The 38-year-old is preparing to return to the field after missing 14 games in 2019 due to an elbow injury that required surgery to repair, marking the first time he has been sidelined for more than four regular season games. in his 16-year-old NFL. race. It’s new territory for Roethlisberger when he also takes into account the Father’s Time variable, but the two-time Super Bowl champion has re-pitched without limitation and now admits that his 2019 injury was not the only battle he has recently faced.
Speaking to Tunch Ilkin, a former Steeler and co-host of the annual “ManUp Pittsburgh” event, Roethlisberger made it clear that he has also struggled with addiction.
“It’s not always easy,” he said, through ESPN. “People don’t realize all the time that we athletes are human. We sin like everyone else [and] I am no different We make mistakes.
“We become addicted to things. We sin. We are human. I think sometimes we are put on this pedestal where we cannot make mistakes. I have fallen as short as anyone.”
“I have been addicted to alcohol. I have been addicted to pornography, which makes me the best husband, the best father, the best Christian I can be. But you must dedicate yourself and understand that you can get out of it by the grace of God and of him saying, ‘Listen, you’re good enough to me as you are. You don’t have to be perfect.’ “
Roethlisberger has not led a career without headlines, but he is not ashamed to admit that he was a different person in his youth.
Now married with three children, his focus and maturity are a long way from 2010, when he was charged with sexual assault on two separate occasions and finally suspended four games to start the season for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. As he worked to improve in recent years, calling the first part of his off-field career “selfish,” Roethlisberger points out how humiliating the 2019 injury really was.
“Last year, we went through a crazy offseason,” he said. “All I thought was going back to the football field, and I thought, ‘God, you’re going to give me all this redemption. I’m going to go out, I’m going to prove everyone wrong, I’m going to win a Super Bowl, and we’re going to give you all the glory, and this is it. This is my year back. “And in the second game, I broke my elbow. That was God saying,” Wait, it’s not your plan to come back. It has to be my plan. ”
“So I had to accelerate the brakes. I am so thankful that this injury happened during my walk that I am now. I don’t know if I could have handled it a few years ago, five, six, seven, 10 years ago.”
The Steelers are eager for their comeback in 2020, and they appear to be more prepared than ever.
