Steelers Ben Roethlisberger talks about loss to Bengals

[mesaSteeler]

Steelers Ben Roethlisberger talks about loss to Bengals
September 28, 7:39 AMPittsburgh Sports ExaminerMatt Pawlikowski
http://www.examiner.com/x-2703-Pitts...oss-to-Bengals

Q: Does the winning streak against the Bengals in Cincinnati being stopped mean anything to you?
“Six years (for me). Not bad. It’s a tough loss for us. It was a tough, divisional fight. Stuff happens.”

Q: Can you put your finger on what’s not clicking with the Steelers offense?
“I thought we played well offensively. We put up a lot of yards, moved the ball and scored. We just have some room for improvement.”

Q: What happened on the pass play that Johnathan Joseph intercepted and returned for a touchdown?
“It was a miscommunication. We won’t point fingers or point blame.”

Q: It’s early in the 2009 season, but what does it mean to stand at 1-2?
“It’s adversity that we have to face, but we’ve faced similar situations before. We need to (find) our character and overcome a situation like this.”

Q: Coach Tomlin talked about the details needing to be addressed. Do you see the same thing?
“It’s one thing here or there. So, to answer your question, that’s probably an accurate statement. You’ve got to continue to improve. I’m really proud of the way our guys fought, especially in the first half. The offensive line did a great job. We only gave up one sack, and that was a coverage sack. We did a good job offensively.”

Q: Talk about your running backs:
“Willie (Parker) did a great job. So did Mewelde (Moore). The (offensive) line did a good job of opening up holes for the run game. They made things happen.”

Q: Talk about your offensive performance:
“We played good football. It was a tough situation to put us in. It was third-and-long and it was too long for us to get with a hot route. Everyone was on the same page. There are little adjustments we need to make, but things I think we can do.”

Q: This marks two weeks in a row where you could have put games away, but lost. Did it feel like you were one play away from winning this game?
“They are a great football team. I don’t want to take anything away from them. We feel like we beat ourselves a little bit. We shot ourselves in the foot a couple of times and came away with three points when we should have scored touchdowns. Some of that is my fault for missing receivers. We’ll improve and score some more points.”

Q: What did you tell Limas Sweed after the incomplete pass to the end zone in the third quarter?
“To be a professional, you’ve got to be able to put things behind you. I told him I’ll come back to him when the time comes. In no way shape or form was I going to go back to pass, see him, and not throw it to him. I’m going to have the confidence that he’s going to make the play the next time he has the chance. It was a tough play.”

Q: Does it help at all to know that you are going home to Pittsburgh for your next game after consecutive losses on the road?
“It’s going to be good to get back home to play in front of our fans.”

[stlrtruck]

“It was a miscommunication. We won’t point fingers or point blame.”

I wish some fans here would take this mentality!

“To be a professional, you’ve got to be able to put things behind you. I told him I’ll come back to him when the time comes. In no way shape or form was I going to go back to pass, see him, and not throw it to him. I’m going to have the confidence that he’s going to make the play the next time he has the chance. It was a tough play.”

So much for making him "trade bait" or "released"

[Tankus_Maximus]

Ben made great points, but the obvious reason we lost was because of the absence of Troy. Once again the Madden Curse rears it's ugly head!!

Damn you Madden......

[steelax04]

I think getting stopped twice inside the 10 was much more of a factor than Troy not being on the field. 8-point swing turns into a 28-23 win.

[Curtain_of_Steel]

First off they are not going to release Sweed as much as they are not going to release Holmes. Since he wanted to pound his chest in the SB about being great, despite 2 perfectly thrown balls(1 caught). Perhaps he might want to recant a bit?
Great wr's dont drop 4-5 key passes in 2 weeks. So while various people want to pick on Sweed, perhaps the "great" wr holmes needs to man up and shoulder the blame like BB always does.
As right now I think BB has 2 fav;s in Ward in Wallace.

Week 2 def gave up: 17 points
Week 3 def gave up: 16 points, BB int gave up 7, which was probably the great holmes's mistake.

If this team as an offense can't overcome mistakes and beat teams with lessor defenses, than its going to be a long season.
Our sack out put is hideous. Harrison, one(luckily), Woodley zero. The offenses are living on dink passes against our def.
As usual, late in the game, the Steelers went into a soft prevent, and they constantly hit for 7-10 yard passes. This has been the MO for years and only complaint I really can say I have had over the years. With Cowher, they would do it, and Cowher lacked the "go for the jugguler" mentality that Belicheck has. Teams need to be finsihed off, we controlled week 2 and 3 and let them go.

I counted no less than 7 holding calls in the 4th quarter and the jerseys in part were clearly grabbed. 92, 91, 98.
The bungholes complained on every play when they didnt get a penalty call.
If the bungholes lose out, we made their year.

Ending on a positive note. Wallace so far has been huge. Hopefully he progress's and he and BB keep staying on the same page. He has the speed, and his hands are better then Holmes through 3 games. Although I thought he was bigger than 6 foot but he is playing big. 3 years at 1.7, is a steal so far.

[SteelerFanInCA]

Originally Posted by Curtain_of_Steel

First off they are not going to release Sweed as much as they are not going to release Holmes. Since he wanted to pound his chest in the SB about being great, despite 2 perfectly thrown balls(1 caught). Perhaps he might want to recant a bit?
Great wr's dont drop 4-5 key passes in 2 weeks. So while various people want to pick on Sweed, perhaps the "great" wr holmes needs to man up and shoulder the blame like BB always does.
As right now I think BB has 2 fav;s in Ward in Wallace.

Week 2 def gave up: 17 points
Week 3 def gave up: 16 points, BB int gave up 7, which was probably the great holmes's mistake.

If this team as an offense can't overcome mistakes and beat teams with lessor defenses, than its going to be a long season.
Our sack out put is hideous. Harrison, one(luckily), Woodley zero. The offenses are living on dink passes against our def.
As usual, late in the game, the Steelers went into a soft prevent, and they constantly hit for 7-10 yard passes. This has been the MO for years and only complaint I really can say I have had over the years. With Cowher, they would do it, and Cowher lacked the "go for the jugguler" mentality that Belicheck has. Teams need to be finsihed off, we controlled week 2 and 3 and let them go.

I counted no less than 7 holding calls in the 4th quarter and the jerseys in part were clearly grabbed. 92, 91, 98.
The bungholes complained on every play when they didnt get a penalty call.
If the bungholes lose out, we made their year.

Ending on a positive note. Wallace so far has been huge. Hopefully he progress's and he and BB keep staying on the same page. He has the speed, and his hands are better then Holmes through 3 games. Although I thought he was bigger than 6 foot but he is playing big. 3 years at 1.7, is a steal so far.

I also thought Mike Wallace did a good job. That guy can run. Looking forward to watching him play in the weeks ahead.

[steelrush]

Arghhh.... I think that Ben is extremely humble. Never talking down on team-mates, never throwing blame around, never pointing fingers.

Having said that, I tend to think that instead of:

Q: What did you tell Limas Sweed after the incomplete pass to the end zone in the third quarter?
“To be a professional, you’ve got to be able to put things behind you.

...he rather went something like:

"To be a professional, you've got to hold onto the ball, for crying out loud!"

[saveus1011]

One thing I've always admired about Roethlisberger is how he takes the blame after every loss and never throws his guys under the bus. Can't do anything but respect that.

[Curtain_of_Steel]

Steelrush, your right and might have been said already.
However if it was Bens mistake on the Joseph INT, Ben would say it, we all know this.

Its time people on this team stop letting Ben shoulder the blame. He has taken way to must to deflect from these guys.

[steelerdave1969]

I think that the 1st half was a good half of football for our Steelers. The 2nd half we left too much on the field. Yeh they moved the ball up and down the field all day it seems like, I think that Sepulveda had 2 punts, someone can correct me if I am wrong, but I think thats right. Troy Polomalu has hurrt not being in there, but him being Hurt is not the Reason we lost yesterday or the sunday before. We got out played in both 2nd halfs and that is uncalled for by our coaching staff. I think Tomlin makes pretty good changes along with the rest of the coaches most of the time, but we have to put the ball into the endzone when we get down there in the RedZone.. Limas Sweed needs to be put on the Practice Squad and let him catch about 200 balls a day, whether it be a 4 hour day or a 24 hour day that is what needs to be done to get this guy going, or its time to let McDonald in to make some plays as our no.4 WR.. the guy is proven that he can catch the ball.. Sweed is Not