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Less apparently is more when it comes to preparation time for Ben Roethlisberger.
Much like Allen Iverson did two decades ago, Roethlisberger said on Sunday the practice was overrated. The 17-year-old veteran didn’t look like a quarterback who hasn’t snapped a photo all week in training judging by the way he slid the ball around Heinz Field in the 36- win. 10 Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Cincinnati Bengals.
A day after being activated from the reserve / covid-19 roster, Roethlisberger hit season highs with four touchdowns and 333 passing yards to help the Steelers keep their perfect 9-0 record intact.
“I felt good and rested arriving today,” Roethlisberger said. “I’m trying to convince the coach to see if I can also take time off next week.”
It couldn’t hurt. Not after the Steelers claimed their most decisive victory since they last played at home – on Oct. 18 – when they beat the Cleveland Browns, 38-7. This saw the Steelers become the 21st team since the 1970 merger to win nine in a row at the start of the season.
Roethlisberger threw two touchdown passes to rookie Chase Claypool and one to Diontae Johnson and JuJu Smith-Schuster. Chris Boswell threw three goals from the field.
Roethlisberger completed 27 of 46 passes before giving way to substitute Mason Rudolph in the fourth quarter. He didn’t throw an interception for the third game in a row and hasn’t been sacked for the third time in the last four games.
“There was perhaps less anxiety with him in these circumstances than some of the circumstances he and I have gone through in the past where his health was a factor in terms of availability,” said coach Mike Tomlin. “His health wasn’t a factor, so we had very few reservations about his ability to perform once we got him to the stadium.”
For the season, Roethlisberger threw 22 touchdown passes against four interceptions.
When Roethlisberger was placed on reserve / covid-19 on Tuesday, it took him out of the training equation for the week. He takes off on Wednesdays during the season so that wasn’t a problem. But Roethlisberger also rested Thursday before throwing 50 passes on Friday while in quarantine at home.
He joined the Steelers on Saturday for an extended tour designed to update Roethlisberger on the game plan against the Bengals.
“I kind of wanted to let it sit,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s that time of the season when not pitching is a good thing. I froze it a lot.
Johnson caught six passes for 116 yards, Smith-Schuster had nine receptions for 77 yards and Claypool had four catches for 56 yards.
The win was the Steelers’ 11th in a row in the series, counting the playoffs, and they have beaten the Bengals in 14 of the last 15 games.
Rookie first pick Joe Burrow did no better than his predecessors in his indoctrination to the series. Burrow completed 21 of 40 passes for 213 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions, and he’s been sacked four times.
“I think it’s very important to host quarterbacks in AFC North in a proper way,” said TJ Watt, who had two sacks.
Although the Bengals rushed for 139 yards, the Steelers didn’t allow Cincinnati to convert a single third in 13 downs.
Unlike the previous two weeks, when the Steelers came back from 10-point second-period deficits in Baltimore and Dallas, they never lagged behind the last-place Bengals (2-6-1).
A trend, however, carried over from the previous two games. The Steelers once again struggled to find a racing game. The Steelers missed the 50-yard mark for the third straight game, finishing with 44 yards on 20 attempts.
“Obviously we didn’t run the ball well today, but we did other things well,” said Roethlisberger. “We put dots on the board. We scored when we needed to score. We converted when we had to. So we shouldn’t be so caught up in yards per carry or total rushing yards or things like that, because it’s really about winning the football game first, which we did, and everything. falls into place from there.
The Steelers took the lead in earnest after a fumble recovered on a punt return to score Boswell’s 41-yard field goal within four minutes of play. They were leading 12-0 after the first quarter, 22-7 at halftime and 29-7 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Roethlisberger’s start, however, was as turbulent as the 22 mph winds that blew towards the southern area at kickoff. In the first four series, he had five successes in 10 attempts for 42 yards.
Things started clicking after that. Roethlisberger finished the first half 17 of 27 for 243 passing yards, the ninth highest first half total in a 17-year career.
The Steelers held a 6-0 lead when Roethlisberger pushed the Steelers onto the field with three completed passes for 74 yards that culminated with a 12-yard touchdown pass to Johnson with 1 minute and 51 seconds left in the first quarter.
Roethlisberger opened with a 46-yard finish to Johnson on a deep throw down the left sideline.
“That was the spark that pushed us deep into the pitch like that,” Johnson said. “Put us in a good position on the pitch and meet us in the end zone. It gave us the lead we needed and we kept adding to it for the rest of the game.
Joe Rutter is a staff writer for Tribune-Review. You can contact Joe by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
Categories:
Sports | Steelers / NFL
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