It was a tale of two halves for Ben Roethlisberger and
the Pittsburgh Steelers offense in their Sunday night loss to the Baltimore
Ravens.
Roethlisberger heaved for 224 passing yards and a score
in a first half that included four gains of at least 20 yards and three scoring
drives. But Big Ben followed the opening act with a poor second half.
The 36-year-old threw for just 50 passing yards in the
final frames, leading zero scoring drives in six attempts and throwing a
game-sealing interception with three minutes to go. Pittsburgh ran 23 plays in
the entire second half for just 47 total yards. Three of those drives yielded
zero or fewer yards. On the night, the Steelers converted just two of 11
third-down attempts.
Most unsettling for the Steelers faithful was that
Roethlisberger failed to connect with his top wideouts Antonio Brown and JuJu
Smith-Schuster when the offense needed a lift. When targeting the two in the
second half, Big Ben was 3-of-8 for 17 yards and an interception.
Roethlisberger shouldered the blame for his inability to
connect with Brown and Smith-Schuster.
"I don't think I'm on the same page with anybody
right now," Roethlisberger told reporters, per ESPN. "I'm not playing
well enough. I need to play better. Today was just a bad day at the office...I
promise I'll be back to play better."
Big Ben added that above all he is "frustrated"
with himself for the offense's struggles Sunday night.
When asked by NFL Network's Aditi Kinkhabwala about their
inabilities to link up, Brown replied repeatedly, "We have to find a way
to connect."
Brown finished with 62 yards and a touchdown on five
receptions, but the receiver recorded just one reception on six third-down
targets. Brown's 272 receiving yards through four games are his fewest in such
a span since 2011. He's not even the leading receiver on the team; that honor
belongs to Smith-Schuster (416 yards).
Big Ben, Brown and the Steelers (1-2-1) can attempt to
right their offensive wrongs next week against an injury-riddled Atlanta
Falcons defense. If they can't find a way to move the ball against a team that
has surrendered 34.7 points per game over the last three weeks, then it will
officially be time to panic in Pittsburgh.
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