PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger returned to practice Saturday and pronounced himself free of any COVID-19 issues and ready to start against the Cincinnati Bengals.
"I'm doing good," Roethlisberger said. "I feel great. If my body enjoyed the week off, my mind teaching pre-kindergarten did not enjoy the week off. It's fun to be home, but I definitely missed the guys."
The Steelers held an extended walk-through practice to give Roethlisberger more time to be involved with the game plan for Sunday's 4:25 p.m. game at Heinz Field. He spent the week participating in virtual meetings and watched tape of daily practice on his iPad.
"It's definitely different than years past," Roethlisberger said. "Typically I'm on the field, behind the quarterback, hearing the plays, hearing (Maurkice) Pouncey's call, the in-helmet perspective even if you're not out there (practicing). I watched every play in practice on my iPad at home, but it's definitely a lot different than anything I experienced before."
Roethlisberger was activated from the reserve/COVID-19 list Saturday along with linebacker Vince Williams, running back Jaylen Samuels and tackle Jerald Hawkins. That means those players had at least back-to-back negative tests during the five-day period they were on the list. All are eligible to play against the Bengals.
Tight end Vance McDonald, who was placed on the list Monday, a day before those four players, was not activated.
Roethlisberger participated in virtual meetings during the week and was able to communicate with players and coaches. But he said it's still not the same as being in the same meeting room.
"I'm old school, but there's something to be said about sitting in a meeting when you're installing stuff," Roethlisberger said. "Guys are in the same room, you can have dialogue, you can still do that through Zoom meetings, but it's still different.
"I was able to chime in during meetings, but still you don't know how wired in guys are. When you're in a meeting room, you know everyone is dialed in. The hard part was practice, I couldn't communicate at all. (I sent) a lot of texts to coach Randy (Fichtner) and coach (Matt) Canada, just trying to find any possible way to communicate."
Roethlisberger was tested every day for the virus and said his wife and kids were tested every other day. He said he wore a mask around the house and even slept in a different room all week.
"You're always a little nervous about it," Roethlisberger said. "My wife said, 'I don't care if I get it, I don't want the kids to get it.' You always worry about the kids first."
