Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger says he is the problem with the Steelers offensive.
After the team’s defeat against the Buffalo Bills on Sunday evening, Roethlisberger put the problems of the offensive on himself and said: “If I don’t play football well enough, I have to hang up,” according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Roethlisberger fought the Bills, completed 21 passes for 187 yards and threw two touchdowns against two interceptions in the 26-15 defeat. Pittsburgh’s conservative game call was a big problem as Roethlisberger’s 5.05 yards per try was his lowest value of the season.
After two defeats in a row, the 38-year-old Roethlisberger realizes that this has to improve. If not, Roethlisberger will not play football much longer, according to the Post-Gazette.
“I don’t play football well enough to win,” said Roethlisberger, without naming the few dozen team-mates who could swear by the same statement. “If I don’t play football well enough, I have to hang up. I will do everything I can to get back on track. “
It is believed that Roethlisberger would wait until the off-season to leave the game. It is also assumed that Roethlisberger didn’t mean it all seriously, and this was a way of motivating himself and his teammates.
While Roethlisberger hasn’t been great against the Bills, the rest of the Steelers’ offensive hasn’t done him many favors lately. The Steelers receivers dropped seven passes when the team lost to Washington Football Team in Week 13. It reached a point where head coach Mike Tomlin told recipients they would be put on a bench if they couldn’t get their job done. Tomlin made up for that threat on Sunday when Diontae Johnson was replaced with James Washington after Johnson suffered some early falls against the Bills.
Steelers lose their footing at the top of the AFC playoffs
With the defeat, the Steelers fell out of the top playoff seed of the AFC. The team went 11-0 in Week 13 and had control of the home advantage in the playoffs. But after two straight defeats, the Steelers gave way to Kansas City’s 12-1 bosses. If that could hold out the rest of the way, the Chiefs would host the Steelers at Arrowhead Stadium when the two teams met in the AFC championship game.
The story goes on
Things could get worse for Pittsburgh if the team can’t work together soon. After the 2-10-1 Cincinnati Bengals in week 15, the Steelers must beat the 9-4 Indianapolis Colts and 9-4 Cleveland Browns for the final two weeks of the season.
If the Steelers lose any of those games, they could be replaced by the 10-3 Bills for number 2 in the AFC. After Sunday’s game, the Bills hold the tiebreaker over the Steelers when their records are equal.
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