Pittsburgh Steelers 10, Cincinnati Bengals 24
Q. ...starting so slow and then have to pick it up like that?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I don't think so. I wish there was. If we had the answers, we'd do everything we could to fix it, but right now, I think it's lack of execution, for whatever reason.
Q. How much of the penalties are hurting you, especially the offensive line holdings and false starts?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah. Penalties kill you. You know, there were some drive killers in there. So, yeah, it's huge. Can't have them.
Q. You guys moved pretty consistently between the 20s in the 4th quarter. Was that reflective of the score and how they were playing you, or did you find a little something as the game went on?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Probably a little bit of both. You know, just they were sitting back trying to prevent the big play. We got a couple decent chunks in there, but, you know, just kind -- at that point, you've got to go throw the ball every play pretty much. Got to make some plays. And guys made plays when we had to, but I and we didn't make enough.
Q. What was the fourth down play? Was that the call, a little swing past Najee down there?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: They have a type of defense -- we call it a picket fence -- where they just sit back. And, you know, we anticipated that. That's what they showed. So we were going to try to get it to him to get guys out front to block for him, see what we could do. You're a little limited from that far out on what you can do except maybe throw a ball up or, you know -- in hindsight, we wish we would have taken a shot in the end zone. I wish I would have done that.
Q. Second interception, what did you see? You were throwing across the street the middle?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: I thought he was going the other direction. Saw JuJu. The defender was kind of moving to his right, my left. And, you know, just awful play by me.
Q. The injury was pretty painful. How was it during the game and how do you feel now?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Everything hurts.
Q. The first interception you got your arm hit. Did that affect you the rest of the game?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: No. You hate those kind of turnovers. You get hit and the ball pops up in the air, Chase is going to be open on the sideline. Guy made a great play, unfortunately. Bad for us.
Q. Ten sacks in three games. I think it was 14 all of last year. How much of that is what's happening in front of you and how much is you just figuring out when you're making your progressions, maybe not getting rid of the ball in time?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah. There were coverage sacks today. When you drop back and throw it 50 some times -- I don't know how many times we threw it today -- those are going to happen.
I thought the guys put forth some good effort today. It's not easy when you're blocking a group that put a lot of money in their D-line. We knew coming in that was a good group. And, you know, it's not all on the guys up front by any means.
Q. Attention to Najee today, especially with the passing game, a lot of what they were doing, taking --
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yeah. Taking away a lot of the deep stuff. So he's going to be open underneath. I thought he did well. He's understanding -- I don't remember watching a lot of his college tape to know how much they asked him to catch out of the backfield. I don't believe it was a lot.
So he's learning and growing on the urgency out of the backfield and how fast the ball can get to him and then how fast they can close on him when he gets the ball.
Q. How do you lead your group coming out of this? Pats on the back or kicks on the backside?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Yes. Both. But it's got to start with me. I'm not going to point the fingers at anybody else. I'll point the thumb at myself and try and get it figured out.
I'm a little stumped by it. I'm frustrated. I'm hurt. I hate losing. Never going to quit and give up.
You know, I think it's just -- it's frustrating because I know the work that we all put in. And myself and other guys and Coach Canada and the other coaches, we're busting our butt. We're having great days of practice, we're having great walkthroughs, good meetings. Just hope at some point it clicks for us.
Q. Ben, you're falling on your sword now. You fell on the sword last week. It's not in a vacuum. Mike Tomlin talked about all the penalties on the offensive line. The run game still hasn't really gotten going. The receivers aren't necessarily getting coverage. When there are so many things kind of ailing this offense, should everything just be ripped up? Or why do you have faith just keep on doing it it will eventually break?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Because we believe in each other. We believe in what we're doing. And we're not going to quit on it. We're not going to quit on each other.
And so that's what -- we'll see when we come in tomorrow. I'm going to look guys in the eye and make sure no one else is quitting. I don't believe there will be any. Won't get a quit from me or the coaching staff.
You know, we did, we had a lot of penalties. We had some things I think we probably need some clarification on in terms of rules. You know, when a guy is pressed on a receiver, you're supposed to be able to block him right away. So we've got to get some clarification on some things. There were some killer plays out there today. And obviously I can't turn the ball over.
Q. After putting in all that work, what are you saying to the young guys at this point? It's not their first loss, obviously, of their career, but when you guys are putting in the work and not coming up with the results that you want, what do you say so those guys' confidence doesn't wane?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Just don't quit. You know, there's a little something called pride when you pay for the Pittsburgh Steelers, when you put black and gold on. And you may not have the best day. Things may not be going your way. But you don't quit, and you get back up and you fight.
That was instilled in me when I got here. And I hope I can keep passing it on to guys. I know the guys in the '70s and the Steel Curtain, just everybody that has put this jersey on knows what it means to be a Pittsburgh Steelers through wins and losses. And so we've just got to keep instilling that message to everybody.
Q. When you get quick pressure -- the run game, how much does that limit either what you want to do on offense or even the game plan when you're coming in? Just change it or --
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: Well, you'd like to not change yourself because of what they do. You want them to change because of you. But, you know, we made an effort today to try to run the ball often and early. Get the ball out early on some shorter passes, some screens to Naj, things like that.
But, once again, when you get behind the chains, it's really hard to -- it's hard to do your game plan when you're behind the chains.
And, you know, we've got to also understand that they're -- they get paid. They're a good defense. They got a good front. So it can be frustrating. We just have to keep our composure all the way through.
Q. Deep shots this week. Did you feel like you took enough of those to have a chance to be successful? And was the protection a factor there?
BEN ROETHLISBERGER: We took our shots. Hit some, didn't hit some. Like I said, I -- I wasn't disappointed with the way the line played today. When we dropped back, as many times as we do against that defensive line and that group, I thought they did a good job. And I told them that. I just told them I appreciated their efforts.
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