After dropping last night's Monday Night Football Week 2 game to the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger expressed his frustration after another grueling outing that saw his team come up short and fall to 0-2 on the season.
"Very frustrating," Roethlisberger told NFL.com about the Steelers' start to the season after Monday night's 20-10 loss to the Bengals at Paul Brown Stadium in Cincinnati. "We've got a long way to go. We're going to ... let this sink in for a day or two, then get ready for Chicago."
A video of Big Ben talking about his frustrating start to the season can be viewed here.
Roethlisberger believes that the team's success will weigh heavily on his shoulders this season and he will look to play better going forward. Last night, Roethlisberger went 20-for-37 for 251 yards with just one touchdown and one interception while being sacked twice. The Steelers were also just 3-for-12 on third down efficiency and had 14 first downs compared to the Bengals who were 7-for-17 in third down efficiency and had 22 first downs.
"The quarterback's got to play better. And he will," Roethlisberger said in his post-game, per ESPN.
Through two games this season, Roethlisberger is 41-for-70 with a completion percentage of 58.6% and has thrown for 442 while his two touchdowns equal his amount of interceptions.
Roethlisberger missed a few of his targets throughout the game, but none more crucial than when his pass intended for Jerricho Cotchery hit his fingertips and bounced up for an interception in the fourth quarter that sealed the Steelers fate and concluded what started out as a promising drive.
The Steelers struggles can't solely rest on Roethlisberger, even if he does continue to blame himself. The team rushed for just 44 total yards in the game last night and their receiving corps lacks a go-to playmaker through the first two games following the departure of Mike Wallace for the Miami Dolphins this past offseason. The offensive line also showed weakness as evidenced when Cincinnati (1-1) was able to sack Roethlisberger twice in the game.
The Steelers will try to avoid another loss with the spotlight on them as they once again play in a night game, this time on NBC's Sunday Night Football during their Week 3 clash with the Chicago Bears (2-0).
If Big Ben is looking to turn around what so far has been a frustrating season, he'll have to go through the undefeated Bears at home to do so.
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