Q. Were there times in the game where you felt like the offense was finding a rhythm or is that still kind of forward progress?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I wasn't good enough today. There were times that we looked good and a lot of times we didn't. So got to get it figured out.
Q. Do you feel like there's a lack of communication, especially between you and the receivers?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: No, I thought our communication was fine.
Q. What happened with Trai Turner there?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: You know, I caught the last, I didn't catch the very, very beginning of it, but just in talking to him, he said he got spit on, and so he didn't like that, which I understand and respect as a man, and he went and tried to say something to the guy that spit on him.
Q. Do you feel like you guys have changed enough from the offense last year that was kind of preventing you from moving the ball really well to this season?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yes.
Q. Did the Raiders do anything different than you guys expected that might have caught you off guard?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: They're a good defense. They got after us like we anticipated. I just didn't play well enough.
Q. (Question about the formations.)
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: You'll have to ask coach that. That's what he's calling, what we're going with. We got some really good football players that you want to get on the football field. So if you don't have them out there they're sitting on the bench doing nothing.
Q. They hit you 10 times and Maxx Crosby said you're still nearly impossible to actually bring down. Is there any solace in that, that the sacks were 10 sacks and how do you actually feel right now?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I'm disappointed we lost the game and I'm disappointed that I didn't play well enough to help us win the game. The bumps and bruises come with football.
Q. There were a handful of third and fours and so forth where your receivers seemed to go really deep. Did you want them to come back towards you?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I don't know exactly what play you're talking about. It could be different for every play. I'm sorry, I don't have an answer for you.
Q. There was a fourth and one less than nine minutes to go. You're down two scores. After 18 years, can you go to Coach Tomlin and say, I want to go for it?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Not when the punt team's running on the field.
Q. You didn't even have the opportunity?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: You saw me. I'm standing there. I don't have a choice.
Q. Did you want to go for it on that fourth down?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: (Smiling.)
Q. You mention you struggled. What contributed, do you think, to some of those struggles?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I don't know. It's frustrating because I put a lot of stinkin' time in, more than I probably ever have. I'm not really sure. We got to get it figured out, though, because I'm frustrated that I'm not playing well enough. The good news is it's still early. We've got a long road ahead of us and got a lot of time to try and get it fixed.
Q. Do you believe that can be a quick fix?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I hope so. Got a divisional opponent coming in here next week.
Q. The defenses, are they taking away some of those intermediate routes, the longer ones and forcing a lot of the 5-yard passes?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: No. This is team that the linebackers were kind of soft, so you saw early, you know, hitting some underneath stuff. We tried to take advantage of some single coverage on the outside and we were just a little bit off out there. So that's what's frustrating I think.
Q. You did see a lot of single high, as you referred to. Is there a way that you can crack that code? Is it just more detail or is there certain things you have to improve on yourself?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I just need to be better.
Q. Are you talking about ball placement or pre-snap or as the play unfolds, what are you looking at when you say, I need to be better?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Well, I'll maybe have a better answer for you once I look back on it. Right now my play's just not good enough. If I played better, we'd have a chance to win the football game. So that loss, I'll take that. I apologize to the fans for that home opener. They were awesome. And it's disappointing that we didn't get that.
Q. Losing those key guys on defense, how much of an emotional impact does that have on you guys?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: We don't know the injury report going into a game, but before the game started I had no idea Devin Bush wasn't playing and Joe Hayden. And Tyson goes down early and then T.J., I mean, yeah, it's devastating to us all, because they're who they are, they're a great defense and so it's tough when you don't see those guys out there.
Q. Have you been able to check in with Diontae since he went down on that last play right there?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah, I talked to him.
Q. The identity of the offense after two games, do you have an idea of where it is and where you want to go?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I think we're still working through it. I think that's the good news, if you will, is that it's still early and we can try -- we still have time to figure it out. We have got a good team coming in here, divisional opponent, we got to get it right. And it's frustrating. The best way to figure out an identity is for the quarterback to play better. So that's what I need to do. So I'll work on me getting myself ready to go and making better reads, better throws and trying to put us in a situation to win a football game.
Q. How much better do you have to get on first and second down as a team a lot of second and nines and third and eights?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: There were a lot. And it's hard. Especially when you're playing a team that everyone knows what kind of pass rush you got coming at you. So we do need to be better on first and second down. And once again that's the quarterback, whether it's a read or a throw or whatever it is, I'll take it, I got to be better.
Q. The running game, would that help out, obviously?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Well, I mean, without looking at the film and just kind of going back and saying, okay, we need to run the ball better, we need to throw the ball better, we need to do everything better right now on offense. So we don't need to point at one thing, we need to point at the whole thing.
Q. Is there an emphasis on getting a little bit more explosive? The two touchdown drives you guys had, explosive plays were a big part of that. Do you need to get more explosive, do you think?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: We need everything. There's not one thing, it just starts with the quarterback and me, I have to be better. And once we get it figured out, that helps the run game, it helps the short passing game, the explosion plays. So like I said, not watching it yet, I'll go back and watch it tonight, but just the feeling I have is I didn't play good enough.
Q. How much did going no-huddle when you guys were doing that a couple drives did that help you guys find a rhythm and move the ball down the field?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah, but we don't really have a no-huddle, it's kind of like our two-minute offense, so that was the change-up, just going kind of a two-minute, just pick it up type of pace.
Q. You said that you were going to watch it tonight. You're not going to flush it, you'll actually go and watch the film tonight?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah, I'll probably go and watch it tonight.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports