Steelers vs. Bengals: Winners and losers from Week 3 loss
By Andrew Falce
Steelers loser: Ben Roethlisberger
Yes, the offensive line has been bad, but Ben Roethlisberger is not playing good football either. While his final stats look almost respectable, his decision-making and placement on passes have been consistently off. As well, he seems far too content to just check the ball down instead of looking deep. No, you can’t fling the ball on every pass, but down by 17 points and your strategy is to dump it off to Harris? That isn’t playing winning football.
It didn’t help that his receivers were also getting injured constantly and that his line, as stated, was ineffective, but Roethlisberger needs to find a way to be more consistent and make the big plays when they can. He had James Washington wide open and deep but just slightly overthrew the pass to him. Had he connected, that easily would have been a score, but instead, it just led to another failed drive.
Add in his two interceptions, the second one of them being an absolutely mind-boggling pass right into Logan Wilson’s arms, and you have a bad day overall. While the offense has plenty of flaws, Roethlisberger isn’t doing enough to make this offense be effective right now. Roethlisberger is partially to blame for holding this offense back, and when the defense isn’t playing at an elite level due to injuries, he does little to inspire the team to win.
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This Steelers team did little to inspire any confidence after suffering a tough loss last week. This team has one strong suit right now, their pass rush, and considering the injuries suffered there, it seems unlikely this team improves much there. While there were some bright moments for the winners, the team as a whole showed little to be excited about moving forward.