Steelers' Foster More Confident In Landry Jones Than A Year Ago
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- The Steelers were (and still are) dealing with a rash of injuries heading into last week's bye. That being said, the off week came at a great time for Pittsburgh to get healthy and close to full strength.
It is still unclear whether starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger will be able to play this Sunday against AFC North rival Baltimore, leaving backup Landry Jones as the presumed starter if Roethlisberger cannot go.
Steelers offensive lineman Ramon Foster joined "The Fan Morning Show" in his weekly spot on Tuesday and said his confidence in Jones has grown since he was forced into action last season.
"Last year, I had that timid look [when Jones came into the huddle], this year I'm like, 'Okay I know this guy, he can do it,'" Foster said. "When you're dealing with a backup quarterback who's not the Hall Of Fame, Pro-Bowl quarterback that you have, there's always going to be some like, 'Ah I don't know,' but with Landry, he's four years in now, he's been under [Steelers quarterbacks] coach Randy [Fichtner] and coach Todd [Haley] for a while now. I'm okay with Landry Jones being in there. His confidence this year is way better than it was last year," Foster said.
Roethlisberger may come back from a torn meniscus this week against Baltimore. Foster says, as Ben has done, he has learned more about playing through injuries and how to treat them through experience.
"Being older and realizing that this is a marathon and not a sprint is how I treat the game now," said Foster. "Those injuries you have out on the field, you can get exposed big time if you don't take care of yourself. I'm sure teams look at that injury report and maybe aim at a spot or two here and there if they're smart."
Foster does admit that the bye week has helped the team, but the Steelers need to buckle down from this point in the season.
"Right now, the bye comes at a good time," said Foster. "I don't want to call it a second season, I want to feel like we as a team are on the upward trajectory as far as this season is going. The games we have in front of us are a lot of AFC North football games and some games in primetime that we have to win. We've dropped some games on national TV to where we can't allow that anymore, this second half of the season we have to be the team that we want to be, there's no excuses going forward is how I see this thing," he said.
Foster tries to take things on day or game at a time, but he can't help but to look at the upcoming schedule and notice a trend other than a healthy amount of AFC North matchups: road games. Three of the Steelers' next four, and five of their next seven games are away from Heinz Field.
"We have to be a really good road team," said Foster. "We win the division, we will get one home playoff game, but the rest of the time unless we are a one or two seed, we're going to be on the road and our road performance has to pick up. We have to be a team where as Coach [Mike] Tomlin says 'Location doesn't matter.' That's just my understanding of what we need to do moving forward. Getting wins on the road is going to be big for us and we have to start doing it this weekend coming up with Baltimore," he said.
You can hear the entire interview with Ramon Foster on The Fan Morning Show below.
