Ben Roethlisberger after Steelers’ loss: ‘I need to be better’

The first public words spoken by Ben Roethlisberger after Sunday’s game were, “I wasn’t good enough.”

Two questions from media later, the Pittsburgh Steelers’ quarterback’s answer included the phrase, “I just didn’t play well enough.”

Not long after that, Roethlisberger remarked, “I just need to be better.”

Sense a trend?

By the time Roethlisberger’s 7-minute postgame news conference was over, he had offered a variation of “needing to play better” or “not playing well enough” 10 times.

It was obvious that the 18-year veteran had clear intent to take the blame for Sunday’s 26-17 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders at Heinz Field.

“Right now, my play is just not good enough,” Roethlisberger said after posting an 87.0 passer rating on 7.4 yards per attempt in a defeat that dropped the Steelers to 1-1. “If I play better, we have a chance to win the football game, so that loss, I’ll take that. I’ll apologize to the fans. For that home opener, they were awesome. And it’s disappointing we didn’t get that (win).”

Roethlisberger finished 27 of 40 for 295 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He has guided an offense that has produced 33 points through two games this season. After not throwing an official pass to a receiver 20 or more yards downfield in the Week 1 upset win at the Buffalo Bills, Roethlisberger intended eight such deep passes Sunday against the Raiders.

He went 2 for 8 with an interception on those throws.

The Steelers offense went 5 for 13 on third and fourth downs.

“It’s frustrating because I’ve put a lot of stinking time in — probably more than I ever have,” Roethlisberger said. “I’ve got to get it fixed because I am frustrated I am not playing well enough.

“The good news is it’s still early. There’s a long road ahead of us, a lot of time to get it fixed.”

Roethlisberger hasn’t been his best over the first two games of the season, but he probably isn’t the Steelers offense’s biggest problem. The offensive line was expected to be a weakness, and so far, that’s been the case. The pass protection hasn’t been good (official NFL stats credited the Raiders with 10 hits of Roethlisberger), and the running game isn’t producing much (39 yards on 14 carries Sunday).

“We all have to play better,” rookie running back Najee Harris said.

Acknowledging the rest of the offense’s shortcomings was about as far as Roethlisberger would go in assigning blame for the lack of production. The 39-year-old seemed intent on making sure the only finger-pointing he wanted to do was toward himself.

“The best way to figure out an identity (for the offense) is for the quarterback to play better,” Roethlisberger said. “So that’s what I need to do.

“So, I’ll work on me getting myself ready to go and making better reads and better throws and trying to put us in a situation to win a football game.”

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