Pittsburgh Steelers: Five players that stood out against Tampa Bay

Ben Roethlisberger

The Steelers don’t win this game without the play of Ben Roethlisberger. Period. Outside of an early, poorly thrown interception, he was as close to perfect as possible. Even with the interception on the stat sheet, his quarterback rating was 120.7.

For the second week in a row, Big Ben took the offense on his back and ran it. He spread the ball around, made throws under pressure, and was highly efficient. He completed 30 out of 38 passes on the night, throwing three touchdown passes as well.

One of the highlights of the night was the two-minute offense he ran at the end of the first half. He led the offense at a quick pace down the field, completing passes to several different receivers, ultimately finding Ryan Switzer in the end zone at the end.

Big Ben’s biggest play of the game came near the end of the game, trying to put the game on ice. With 2:31 remaining, Ben pulled of a typical “Big Ben” play on 2nd-and-10, avoiding pressure and finding JuJu Smith-Schuster for an 18-yard gain. That made Tampa Bay use their last timeout. The offense sealed the game afterward.

After a shaky week one, Ben has been more like himself in the past two weeks. He’s still missing some throws he usually makes, some in Antonio Brown’s direction, but overall, he has the offense clicking much better than at the season’s start.