Now, teammates such as Willie Parker are lobbying for the 25-year-old Roethlisberger to be a team captain.

Roethlisberger attended all the offseason workouts, helping new offensive coordinator Bruce Arians rewrite a playbook that gives the QB more responsibility and options. Look for more no-huddle looks, spread formations and multiple receiver sets that should allow Roethlisberger to throw shorter and more accurately and avoid the numerous downfield interceptions of a season ago.

Roethlisberger will make all the calls and checkoffs at the line of scrimmage, including those for the blocking schemes. It’s another big change during a season in which he’s dealing with a new head coach, coordinator, quarterbacks coach (Ken Anderson) and, even, a new center (Chukky Okobi or Sean Mahan).

To show how ready he is to move forward, Roethlisberger jumped in Monday and ran the 14 110-yard runs that Tomlin required of the players who missed some offseason practices, even though the quarterback was excused from doing so.

“He’s always been a captain, now he’s got to be a bigger captain,” Parker said. “We’ve got to rely on him a little more now.”

Roethlisberger is ready for that, too.

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“It’s good to be able to come here and just concentrate on football,” said Roethlisberger, who was answering endless questions about his crash a year ago. “I feel better than I’ve ever felt, even better than I did coming out of the draft and getting here my first year.”

Wide receiver Hines Ward senses he is watching a changed quarterback.

“I know he wants to bounce back,” Ward said. “Last year, Ben put a lot of pressure on himself to win games himself. This season he’s eager to let us be ballplayers and let us take the pressure off him.”