Steelers 19, Ravens 14
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it up for questions for Ben.
Q. Mike Tomlin didn't sound very thrilled at all about that performance. Do you think it had anything to do with what transpired during the week or what was the reason for the dysfunction?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: You know, I don't know. I don't want to make excuses. We just weren't good enough at all today. I mean, obviously we won. Sure doesn't feel like it. Just not good football. It starts with me. This is a mental game. This has been a very mentally challenging and draining week.
But at the end of the day we need to step on the football field and play good football when it's time.
Q. Your receivers usually make a lot of plays for you guys. You had a whole bunch of drops. What is your thought of why that happened today?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I need to be more accurate with my passes. I need to give them better chances to make the plays. There weren't some plays made today when they needed to be.
Look at the James Washington catch. What an unbelievable play by him to go up and make the play. Really it's just my trust and belief in him, his belief in himself that he's going to make the play. He did.
I don't want to talk about the negative. I'd like to talk about that positive play that he made. Plus a lot of JuJu's plays were tough, grind-it-out plays.
Q. Did they defend you guys any differently as far as you could tell than the second half back on November 1st?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah, they did some different things. Set back some zones. A little less man. Some of that might have to do with injuries and things like that. They threw some different looks at us, some blitzes.
Give them some credit obviously for the way we played, too.
Q. You and Pouncey usually are off the same day of the week in practice. Any adjustment with Hassenauer in there from your end?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah, we've taken some snaps in the past during practice. Not a lot, but some. I thought he did a great job for being thrown in the fire. This is not an easy defense with looks and things. We had no CQ exchange issues. He needs to be commended for that.
Q. You mentioned two or three weeks ago that you were shouting to the sideline to get James Washington onto the field more often. What can you do as quarterback to get him out there more often?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: We've got a lot of guys that can make plays for us. Like I said, I didn't make the plays tonight that needed to be made. This game, I'll take the heat for the drops and things that weren't accurate.
James Washington is a guy that is getting on the field and needs to get on the field more. But it's not because anybody's not doing good, it's just because he is a player that can make plays.
We always talk about guys staying fresh. We need to rotate guys, get him on the field, because he's hungry, wants to be out there and make plays for us.
Q. This was the most pass attempts you had all season. Was that the game plan with Conner out or the way the game developed?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Just the way the game developed. Kind of what we felt we had to do.
Q. You had some uncharacteristic struggles in the red zone. Was it something that they were doing or something that you guys weren't doing to not be successful there?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Well, if I said it was all us, I'm not giving them enough credit. I'll say both. They made plays that stopped us. We didn't make the plays when we had to.
Q. You talked about the mental side of this. How challenging have the last few days been? How challenging will the next three or four days be?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Right, it has been a very challenging last few days. I guess at the end of the day we won the game, so we could be thankful for that. It has not been easy. Like I said in the postgame, I thanked the Commissioner and Baltimore for moving the game so we didn't have to play in a snowstorm yesterday.
We have to be prepared in another short week against a football team coming in that's playing well. We'll just have to do what we can. We'll go home and start preparing tonight.
Q. Conner actually is a big part of the passing game with his pass protection. What kind of adjustments did you have to make without him? How did the other guys do?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I thought the other guys did great. We got them out in some pass patterns. Benny caught a couple balls. (Indiscernible) did a good job with it, too. We were able to do more with them in terms of getting them out, letting them run some pass patterns. I thought they did a really good job.
Q. When you win in a manner like this, does it concern you at all? Does it worry you?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: The first part of your question broke up. Ask the question again, please.
Q. Winning ugly is obviously still winning. When you win like this, does it concern you at all, make you feel like you're living a little too close to the edge or speak to how strong of a team you ultimately are?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I think it speaks to the strength of the team. When we're disappointed after winning a football game, that's a feeling that not many people have.
I think part of the reason we have heavy hearts, too, is because of our chaplain lost his brother this week. Obviously not knowing what's going on with Bud. There's a lot of heaviness going on right now in this locker room. We have three football games in 12 days. Just a lot going on.
Mentally we're getting into that mental warfare, if you will. Proud of the way the guys won the game today, but we have to get ready to keep going.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports