You could hardly have blamed him if he had played poorly. Since last Sunday, Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback Ben Roethlisberger had spent most of his time fending off reports that he wanted to seek a trade at season’s end.
Whether the report turns out to be true or not really doesn’t matter right now. Roethlisberger told us this is where he wanted to be and where he wanted to retire and the way he played on Sunday left no doubt about his desires.
Roethlisberger completed 29 of 45 passes for 367 yards and four touchdowns as the Steelers rallied to defeat Detroit in the Steel City 37-27. It was a tale of a game where the beginning and end where all Roethlisberger.
He and Antonio Brown got the Steelers to a 14-0 and eventually a 17-3 lead with two passing scores.
The second quarter saw the offense sputter and the defense basically collapse as they gave up 27 points to the Lions. To their credit, they recovered and held the Lions scoreless the rest of the way.
The story though was Roethlisberger who faced uncalled for attention all week yet proved himself ready to play and ready to carry a team desperately in need of a victory. He was sacked just once which is amazing considering the make-shift offensive line and tremendous defensive line of Detroit.
The Steelers wisely spent most of their offensive day in the no-huddle which proved most effective in the first and fourth quarters. Steeler’s tight end Heath Miller put it best today when he said, “A lot of the credit goes to our quarterback. He put us on his back, called a great game. We were in no-huddle most of the day.”
Despite being in the no-huddle, the running game never got any traction which made Roethlisberger’s day all the more amazing. The threat of the run to the Lions was non-existent and everyone knew it but their pass rush rarley got to Big Ben.
Although the NFL Network and Ian Rapoport were at it again today on their pre-game show, Roethlisberger reiterated following the game that this is where he wants to be. After today’s performance, how could anyone doubt him?
Marc Uhlmann writes for and co-owns www.steelcityblitz.com. Follow him on Twitter @steeldad and follow the website at @SCBlitz. He can be heard Mondays on Trib-Live Radio at 630pm ET talking Steelers and is a blogger for ESPN 970 in Pittsburgh.
2 comments
The NFL Network attributed the Steelers comeback to that failed attempt by the Lions’ coach at a faked field goal in the third quarter which eventually allowed Ben and the Steelers to go ahead 30-27, and noone could understand what possessed the Lions’ coach at the time.
It’s certainly not a play I would have been in favor of but whether it cost Detroit the game I can’t say. If they kick the FG then Ben still has a shot to go down and tie the game. He’d be able to do it from the 20 rather than the 3 yard line too!