Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger took responsibility for the offense's struggles in last Sunday's 18-12 loss to the Bengals.
What follows is a transcript of Roethlisberger's weekly chat with reporters and his breakdown of the "bad day" he had against the Bengals.
Q: What are your thoughts on the Bengals loss after having had time to evaluate it?
A: “You know what? I had a bad day. It’s going to happen sometimes. No excuse. But those days will happen sometimes. You have to learn to correct it, and I think we will. I think we’ll be just fine in the red zone, on third down, on first down on second down whatever it is.”
Q: Was it a fluke?
A: “I hope so. I hope I don’t have too many bad games. You hope you have one and get it done and get it out of the way.”
Q: Could you tell early you didn't have it, kind of the opposite of being in a groove?
A: “In the beginning of the game I went out and didn’t feel great, the arm didn’t feel good, whatever. But the first drive we went right down the field and I had a scramble and a couple of completions and I thought ‘OK good,’ kind of shook that funk off and then it just never quite came around.”
Q: Santonio Holmes said the offense moved the ball well in between the 20s . What are your thoughts on that?
A: “If you ask me I’m kind of a perfectionist. I think I struggled all the way around. I think we could have done a lot better and done more things but if you look at the tape we did move it well before we got to the red zone.”
Q: Were you pleased with your reads and basically was it just an issue with accuracy?
A: “I was for the most part. There were two or three I wish I had read out better. Yeah, it was an accuracy issue. Like I said, just having an off day. Everyone has one, mine just happened to come on a Sunday that we needed a win.”
Q: Do the Bengals gets their hands up more than most teams when they are rushing the passer?
A: “You see a lot of teams not rush me or not rush one or two guys hard for the scramble factor and I think a couple of times they just sat back and if they’re not engaged they get their hands up in the air and they batted a lot of balls.”
Q: What usually allows you to break containment?
A: “Usually when guys are rushing and our guys push them wide or push them together and there’s an escape lane, we call it, and I can get outside and make something happen.”
Q: After looking at tape, do you think you could have checked down more to the running backs?
A: “I don’t think so. I think there were a couple of times that I maybe had a back but the ball just wasn’t coming off my hand well. Like I said, a bad day.”
Q: You didn’t call the plays on the last drive against the Bengals. Don’t you usually call them in that situation?
A: “Yeah, B.A. (Bruce Arians) was and I’ll never second-guess Bruce and he doesn’t ever second-guess me so it’s not something where we said ‘Why didn’t we do this, why didn’t we do that?’ He wanted to call them and I believed in him. I just have to execute them.”
Q: Do you do anything different preparation-wise if you are coming off a bad game?
A: “To me, it’s just about looking at it, evaluating it and then moving on, not dwelling on it because if you dwell on it, I think it can carry over. It’s just about being able to put it behind, learn from your mistakes and say ‘Listen, don’t let it happen again.’ Hopefully it doesn’t.”
Q: You underthrew Mike Wallace several times against the Bengals. Was your arrm sore?
A: “That’s just Mike Wallace being fast and not being able to step into it or whatever. The ball just wasn’t coming off my hand right.”
Q: What were you thinking at the end of the Bengals game when you got the ball back with a chance to win it?
A: “When we were down 6 having the ball, I knew we were going to win the game. It just didn’t happen that way and I think one completion kind of gets the ball rolling and it’s just unfortunate that when the quarterback has a bad game it just kind of affects the whole offense. That’s unfortunate, but that’s why you can’t afford to have too many bad games.”
November 19th, 2009 - 6:50 pm
Kudos to Ben for stepping up and accepting responsibility. Never second guessing Arians is another issue entirely.
November 19th, 2009 - 8:10 pm
Agreed. Ben and the Steelers as a whole do a good job of not pointing fingers. But this game was lost because Arians did not believe we could run the ball into the end zone from the 8 and 9 yd lines with four plays to do so. Particualrly when Ben was struggling throwing the ball with accuracy, we should have been playing power football with the run game. Arians is perhaps the biggest weak link on this team--with Palamalu's knee running a close second
November 19th, 2009 - 11:44 pm
No... no, Ben needs to keep his relationship with B.A. like it is. We get to second guess him. However, all things considered, things look like they're progressing well into the second half of the season. Like I said before, this team flew in from Denver on Tuesday, had to get to work on Wednesday to prepare for a Bengals team that have been at home for a month. Plus, the Bengals are a good team. They had all of the odds aligned for them you know. It's not an excuse, because one TD while in the redzone or minus that tip drill pick or minus the KO run back, things that we should have allowed to happen as a team and this game is ours. I'm mostly pissed that Cincy swept us this season and both times on a humble. But it's cool, we lost, because the Bengals played good football. I'll tell you what... I have yet to see this team play its best ball game this season yet... to me, that's a scary thought because someone somewhere down the line's gonna catch hell from this team... and I hope it comes in the SB.
November 20th, 2009 - 12:20 am
Arians must go. The Special Teams coach should follow. Tomlin basically took over and inherited these clowns and he must take the reigns and lay down the law - it will ultimately determine his legacy. Either way, Ben threw much better in college with the gloves on (his whole college career). I'm not sure what's up but the glove on the throwing hand (Cowher made him get rid of it) seems to really help him.
November 20th, 2009 - 1:24 am
Ben should always run the 2 minute offense.....no question. Too often we went for huge chunks of yards when we only needed first downs. We were outcoached in this game offensively....you beat us by employing the same defense that Phila used last year and Balt has used which totally disrupts Ben's flow. We spent weeks last year working on hot reads and getting receivers in sync....what happened to that preparation Mr Ariens...as that is how teams man handle us?? You prepare for those situations especially because the bengals have such physical and talented defense?????
November 20th, 2009 - 2:26 am
Plain and simple...Ben needs to be calling the plays when they're in their no huddle offense.
November 20th, 2009 - 7:42 am
Ben stepping up and assuming responsibilty speaks volumes to his maturity. We all could see he was off, it happens. We move on. HERE WE GO STEELERS HERE WE GO!!!
November 20th, 2009 - 7:49 am
I still believe that it would have changed things if they would have ran the no huddle.
November 20th, 2009 - 9:05 am
I think Ben is very good at accepting responsibility. I think he wanted points so badly, that he couldn't see that the rush was too good for what he wanted to do. I would have liked to se him adjust to the quicker/shorter reads earlier in his progression in that game. Ben or coaches? I don't know. I think that the game plan should have run the ball more and lean on Ben to throw on 3rd down. That would reset his brain for the shorter reads and open up play action. Ben was only a hair off of his game and the coaching needs to step in to help him out.
November 20th, 2009 - 9:47 am
Big of Ben to take the blame. He'll be back!
Teams are catching on to his patented pump fake. He will have the ball stripped at a critical time this year. His timing vs. the Bengals was late by a half second on nearly every throw.
He's the best and so glad he is a Steeler!
November 20th, 2009 - 10:09 am
Ben's done exactly what was necessary: shoulder the blame. His timing wasn't off, but his accuracy was certainly well short of its usual standard, and he had a _lot_ of batted balls in critical moments -- even the interception was a tip because it was thrown a bit behind the receiver! He just didn't look good that day, and, as a viewer, you kept hoping that he would suddenly "ignite," but that never happened. (And he's still taking sacks like they're potato chips.)
November 20th, 2009 - 11:06 am
Big Ben by far is a superior field general out there. The Cincinati Bengals defensive unit grades out A plus, pressures up the middle, coverages that resulted in sacks. Give Marvin Lewis and Mike Zimmer credit for an excellent game plan and some good calls on defense that worked well.
I have no issues with Coach Tomlin and Coach Arians at all I always prefer a QB calling the plays especially Ben, I also thought Willie Parker would spark up the game just didn't happen.
November 20th, 2009 - 11:29 am
Ben can blame his play on just bad throws, but let's face it...the Bengals have a solid D that got in his face all day long. They didn't give him many opportunities to turn his day around. Kudos to the Bengals this time around!
November 20th, 2009 - 11:37 am
You know, I was watching the game (as we all were) and I kept saying "Ben's off today" - he was firing high, firing wide. It happens, just too bad it was against "the Bungles - hmm-ha" "oi - double oi"!
November 20th, 2009 - 7:42 pm
Maybe Ben was unwittingly thinking about competeing with Peyton and Tom, that he pressed too much.That is OK in a game with other teams, but not with the Bengals or Baltimore.
November 20th, 2009 - 10:58 pm
big ben had a day off but an off day by ben is somewhat ok, he certainly does more than make up for any short falls that may occur during any game, and has proven that time after time, kc is no pushover, they are a pro nfl team like all the 31 other teams out there so just showing up isn't an automatic w. but we will all hope that ben will bounce right back into a groove, after all, its that time of year that he usually does.
pitt - 19
kc - 10
November 20th, 2009 - 11:46 pm
The bengal defense was merely ok. Their corners did a good job of taking away the wideouts, but by far the biggest issue was Ben's inaccuracy. I was among those screaming that Arians should go, even through the Super Bowl win. I'm not sure I was right though. I've been impressed in the way he and Ben have combined to call games. We're not being beaten schematically, we're beating ourselves through poor execution. The line is much improved, which we saw toward the tail end of last season. They needed time to gel together, and they have. We're still the odd's on favourite to win the division. If we win out, we will be division champs. No way the bungles don't lose at least 2 games down the stretch. I'm betting they drop 4 of their games. They don't have the mentality, and have far too much losing experience to suddenly play clean ball the rest of the way. Honestly, they hardly "lit the Steeler's up" as Carson Palmer put it. If they thought they played winning football, great for the Steelers, because had the Steelers won they'd still have been talking about all the deficiencies in their game and the need to continue to improve. Cinci thinks they've already made it to the top.
November 20th, 2009 - 11:46 pm
Ben was off the entire game, it was obvious, Arians and Tomlin should have realized this and made the adjustment to make a commitment to establish the run. 42 pass plays to 17 running plays is not balanced, we played into the Bengals hands. The offensive line has said in interviews this year, "we want to run the ball". So run the ball Bruce, possess the ball, keep the defense off the field!
Arians is a good, not a great in-the-game coach. Adjustments should have been made, they were not, we lost. Hopefully Tomlin's eyes are wide open.....
November 21st, 2009 - 11:07 am
Ben didn't play well, but the real problem is Arians. This guy just doesn't understand the importance of a running game. The Steelers MUST commit to the run, and do a better job of being unpredicatable in their play calls. I know they like running to the right, but they also have 700 lbs of humanity on the left, and need to put them to work. Too many playcalls are very predicatable, though with Mendenhall the cutback is now available. Arians is incapable of engaging in strategy, and without Ben's ability to improvise, our offense can be contained. We also don't have enough athletes on defense, and without these athletes, we also don't have the people to perform on special teams. We need more Lawerence Timmon's types to bolster our special teams.
November 21st, 2009 - 12:32 pm
Ben is a great steeler quarterback but he needs to take his game to the next level. When the offense is struggling, Ben needs to refine his play timing. He should roll more from a protected pocket to open the field and find recievers which is his strength. Also, he needs to throw to the RB's beyond the first line of defenders to open the field. We have some great recieveing RB's that are now under utilized. His long throws are usually underthrown, release the ball sooner!.. it will lengthen your throw and let our speedy recievers run to the ball. If he elevates his game to the next level NO one can beat our defense.
November 21st, 2009 - 10:37 pm
Bruce Arians needs to go. I have not been a fan of him since he became offensive coordinator. He makes very questionable plays. Ben should have went to no huddle on the last 2min of the game when we got good field position b/c of Logan and down 6 with plenty of time to score a TD. Why throw those deep balls when the most important thing to do is move the chains.
I also think something needs to be done to special teams. Whether its a new special team coach of adding players. Last yr we did great, and this yr we have been HORRIBLE
November 22nd, 2009 - 4:29 am
Allen
The game is over. We should have won - but didn't. We should have more confidence in our running game. I think our "O" line is more confident in their ability. Jeff Reed has been criticized enough to have experienced a "wake up call". I hope that he can make me "eat my words" about his "not having heart" and I hope that he has practiced on kicking the ball out of the end zone so that we don't have to worry about runbacks. I still think that we have the best Quarterback in football AND the BEST TEAM. Our best games are yet to come.
November 22nd, 2009 - 8:11 am
It isn't that Bruce doesn't think we can run the ball in the 5yardline it's that he knows fumbles are more probable and most likely will occur. It is a proven fact that 34fumbles quite frequently in the zone so if the is ba s thinking I am with him on that.
November 22nd, 2009 - 9:22 am
Actually Tomlin appointed Arian's offensive coordinator and claimed last year to be running the special teams himself so who does he point fingers at? It is the head coaches job to first recognize when the game plan isn't working and then assist in making the necessary adjustments. How many adjustments did we see Sunday?
Of course the Bengals are a good team and they didn't need Bruce's help by making zero adjustments during the game, ok he made two which were to ignore the running back and short pass plays which would have moved the chains. Maybe somebody should explain to Arian's that moving the chains and maintaining possession especially in the 4th quarter is a good thing. Didn't we have more 3 and outs this game than any other this year? Maybe somebody should explain to Arian's that when your QB is having a bad day and the big plays aren't there you use the running back and Heath on short plays to help Ben out. The defense did more than enough to win this game it was the offensive coaches and by extension Tomlin by their inability to make the necessary adjustments, who lost it.
November 22nd, 2009 - 9:23 am
Ben has been taking notes from Mike Tomlin's book of accountability.
I know this thread is about Ben, but Coach's attitude is filtering down to the players. Ben is now superb with the media, and I haven't seen any player gaffs since late last year when a D back patted himself on the back after a pick-6 and Santonio's immortal "This is how we be great!"
November 22nd, 2009 - 5:27 pm
Just listening to another Steeler lackluster collapse.
Looks like the team the last time they won the super bowl. They act like they don't have to play hard to win. No heart...no playoffs
When will Ben learn he is hurting his team when he holds the ball or forces it into coverage. Another game that he threw away.
His excuse is that he loses yards and throws picks sometimes and makes big plays sometimes...Ben how about you lose games sometimes and lose yards the other times.
Cut the excuses and wake up, you guys are paid tons of money to play like its a walk-through.
Next week is Baltimore who is playing with a sense of urgency. maybe you can learn from them or the chiefs.
Is Troy the only player with a large support cast? Looks like it.
November 22nd, 2009 - 6:47 pm
As long as we have coaches that do not understand that you need to run the ball to win championships, let alone a game, we will not win. I hate to see this team in 5 years. This coach wanted to put his signature on the team somewhere; he chose special teams. We see how good the special teams are. All this guy did was take Cowher's team to a Superbowl win. It's time for a change.
November 22nd, 2009 - 9:07 pm
Whos gonna shoulder the blame for the Chiefs loss, "MAN" what in heck are the Steelers doing, losing to the Chiefs....!! Get your heads in the game and get it going before its too LATE!!! In the past the players have said we "arent in crisis mode" WELL guess what its time to put it into CRISIS mode, cause you guys aint doin crap out there!! Everyone wants to beat you, ur the SUPER BOWL CHAMPS, now start playing like it....you got two games against the Ravens coming up, lose those two and might as well pack it up!
November 23rd, 2009 - 12:54 pm
Sounds like you guys miss the good ol' days when the Steelers were happy to sit on a 3 point lead and pound the ball.
We used to win close games, now we lose them. We are terrible on special teams, but inconsistent on defense. At the beginning of the season, everyone was scrutinizing the defense. A sloppy team like the Chiefs (or Lions) shouldn't be able to score.