First Call: Ben Roethlisberger's Twitter turn. D.C. for Antonio Brown?

Thursday’s “First Call” gives an update on Ben Roethlisberger’s notorious Twitter account, the latest on Antonio Brown’s job hunt, what might happen to the Steelers-Cowboys Hall of Fame Game, and someone steps into Sidney Crosby’s elite company.

Welcome back?

If Ben Roethlisberger’s offensive line blocked as well as his social media manager, he’d never get sacked.

Yes, the Steelers quarterback is renowned for claiming “he doesn’t do social media.” But he certainly has someone who operates it on his behalf. Big Ben’s Twitter account “@_BigBen7” is legendary for blocking almost as many people as there are fans who follow it.

It seems as if the most delicate slight will get you blocked.

Whether you are just a regular fan …

Ben Roethlisberger has me blocked... I truly don’t- pic.twitter.com/A0xhR0FNJ0

— MLE (@emilyprengaman) June 10, 2020

… or, say, a cynical media member that covers the team and may take a sarcastic shot or two.

Not that I’d know.

The Twitter tactics of Roethlisberger’s page have become a point of national conversation over the years. On occasion, if Roethlisberger would put out news or a statement on Twitter, a lot of journalists would be surprised that they missed it. That’s because they were unaware Roethlisberger’s manager had blocked them for some seemingly nominal reason.

If one could be found at all.

As a result, @_BigBen7 became the butt of many social media jokes and threads over the years.

Now it appears that Big Ben is telling his quick-draw media manager to loosen up. Pro Football Talk is reporting that the Steelers quarterback has ordered many people on his “block party” list to be paroled from Twitter jail.

A source tells PFT that “the plan is to unblock all accounts, and implementation was due to commence on Tuesday.”

Well, the task may be pretty dense. Because I’ve seen a lot of people claim to be unblocked. But I’m also seeing a lot of people insisting that they are still blocked.

I’m going to have to be patient. In coronavirus parlance of the day, I’m probably going to have to wait until “stage three” of Twitter probation.

I’m pretty sure if there are 1,000,000 people on the “blocked” list, I’ll be 999,999th to be unblocked.

Antonio Brown will, of course, be 1,000,000th.

A.B. in D.C.?

Speaking of Antonio Brown — since we always are — Washington Redskins head coach Ron Rivera commented on the prospect of A.B. going to D.C.

That talk started when the out-of-work wide receiver had an informal workout session with Redskins quarterback Dwayne Haskins recently.

But it sure sounds like Rivera is tamping down the buzz around that connection.

“If you bring in a veteran right now, you’re going to stunt the growth of somebody young,” Rivera told media members during a conference call. “We’ve got some young guys at wide receiver that have shown potential over the last season and now into the offseason. We haven’t really had the chance to watch them.

“I know who Antonio Brown is, I know he’s a great player. He’s an impact guy. … He’s also a veteran guy, and we’ve got some young guys that we need to find out about.”

There’s also a looming suspension that they’d need to find out about for Brown. That’s going to play a factor in the analysis as well.

Now I’m confused

As of now, the Steelers and Dallas Cowboys are still scheduled to play each other in the first preseason game of the year. That’s supposed to be the Hall of Fame Game in Canton, Ohio, on Aug. 6.

On Tuesday, Yahoo posted a story quoting Hall of Fame vice president of communications Rich Desrosiers as saying the contest was “still scheduled and with fans in the stands.” He also referred to the matchup as a potential “test case” for the NFL in the coronavirus era.

But later on Tuesday, the NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported that NFL and the NFL Players Association are discussing the possibility of shortening the 2020 preseason.

Via Pelissero, “There have been talks about implementing an earlier report date to allow for a longer runway for players to better acclimate themselves to the physical requirements necessary to participate in training camp and actual games.”

The belief is the preseason could be sliced from four games per team down to two.

Or, in the case of Dallas and the Steelers, five games to two.

But one would think that the Hall of Fame Game would be the first game to be dropped.

Unless, of course, it is pushed back a few weeks and the Steelers and Cowboys play it anyway as a third game while everyone else plays two.

Good company

The presumptive No.1 pick in the NHL draft is Alexis Lafreniere.

And he just did something only Penguins star Sidney Crosby has done in the past.

The 18-year-old winger was just given the Canadian Hockey League’s Dave Branch Player of the Year Award for the second consecutive season.

Crosby is the only other player to have won that honor in back-to-back seasons.

Both players are alumni of Rimouski Oceanic. This year, Lafreniere led the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League with 112 points in 52 games.