Former Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is not a fan of where the franchise stands, and even took a jab at head coach Mike Tomlin.
Roethlisberger was critical of Pittsburgh’s performance in the “Thursday Night Football” loss to the New England Patriots on his podcast, “Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger.” The longtime Steeler took issue with Tomlin’s use of timeouts in the second half, as Pittsburgh didn’t have all three timeouts as it attempted to tie or win the game in the closing minutes of the game.
“You can’t afford the second half of games to burn silly timeouts and not to have them late in the game,” Roethlisberger said. “To me, that’s bad coaching.”
Roethlisberger then went into how the coaching blunder affected the possible game-tying drive in the fourth quarter.
“When it’s fourth and one, you have to take a timeout to figure out if you’re gonna go for it or not go for it like some of that stuff. Preserving timeouts at the end of a game are so valuable,” he added. “If we have one more timeout there, we get a completion, we can work the middle of the field and all you got to do is give (Chris Boswell) a 60-yard chance.
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“Give him a chance and he’ll tie the game. I like my chances in overtime because they scored all their points early and the momentum had shifted.”
Ben Roethlisberger: Maybe Pittsburgh Steelers tradition ‘is done’
Aside from the criticism about the loss to New England, Roethlisberger questioned the state of the franchise as he doesn’t see it being the same team for which he played 18 seasons.
“Maybe the tradition of the Pittsburgh Steelers is done,” Roethlisberger said.
He said there doesn’t appear to be a leader that’s keeping up the franchise’s longstanding tradition of being viewed as a tough team. The defense has been one of the best units in the NFL season, but the offense has struggled mightily, ranking in the bottom 10 of the league in several offensive categories.
“Who is grabbing someone by the face mask and saying, ‘That’s not what we do.’ Is that happening?” Roethlisberger said. “Yes, you have guys on defense doing it, but you need guys on both sides of the ball doing it. You need someone to stand up in that room, on offense, and be like, ‘Hey, this isn’t what it means to wear the black and gold.”’
Roethlisberger continued by saying the tradition is “something that’s been lost on this team,” as it was something that former teammates like Jerome Bettis and Alan Faneca made sure to pass down.
“This isn’t what has been handed down from those teams of the ’70s. The Steel Curtain, the four Super Bowls, the Nolls, the Bradshaws, the Blounts. All those people, it’s unbelievable,” he said. “I’ve felt that certain guys on the team aren’t in it for the team, they’re in it for themselves.”
Pittsburgh is currently 7-6 on the season, but suffered back-to-back losses against teams well below .500. They sit at the No. 6 spot in the AFC playoff standings heading into Week 15, but are in a six-way tie for the final two playoff spots with four games left in the regular season.
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