From Big Ben to Bad Ben
BALTIMORE – The door didn’t slam shut on the Steelers’ playoff hopes Sunday but it did close quite a bit.
With their fate in their own control, the Steelers went to Baltimore and spent an afternoon giving the game away, failing to slow the Ravens’ running game and sputtering on offense.
In a game with many culprits, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was probably the biggest.
The quarterback often gets too much credit for a win and too much blame for a loss. In this case, the blame lies firmly on Roethlisberger’s hefty shoulders.
With a playoff berth on the line, he went from Big Ben to Bad Ben, throwing two interceptions and being outplayed by Baltimore’s Ryan Mallett, a player released by quarterback-starved Houston last month and signed by the Ravens two weeks ago.
“That’s our fault, my fault,” said Roethlisberger, who has thrown only two touchdown passes and seven interceptions in five road games this season.
“We controlled our destiny, but we gave the ball away, and we can’t do that. I can’t do that.”
But he did. And now the Steelers are on the outside looking in on the postseason.
Roethlisberger has been the reason why the Steelers have won so much throughout his career, so it’s surprising when he struggles. But struggle he did against the Ravens, a team supposedly decimated by injuries.
Baltimore, however, looked like the team with a 9-5 record and playing for a postseason berth and the Steelers appeared more like a team that was 4-10 and looking at a top-five draft pick.
There was a flatness to Pittsburgh’s play, and it started and ended with the quarterback, who seemed to be off from his first pass to his last.
Blame the Ravens for some of that. For whatever reason, the Steelers always treat the Ravens like they’re playing the best defense in the league. They turn the game into a knock-down, drag-out tussle even when it doesn’t need to be.
Baltimore was without 19 players who were placed on injured reserve. The Ravens introduced their offensive starters Sunday before the game and the guy brought out last was guard Marshal Yanda. Yanda’s a very good player, a multiple Pro Bowl selection, but let’s be serious, if he walked into the local shopping mall, would anyone notice?
The defense, without leader Terrell Suggs, who missed most of the season, doesn’t have a lot of household names, either.
But the Ravens won this game because when the Steelers see those ugly purple and black uniforms, they believe it’s 2008 and they have to make the game a defensive struggle.
Sure, the Ravens’ defensive scheme had something to do with that. Baltimore was playing its safeties 25 yards off the line of scrimmage, daring the Steelers to run the ball and throw short passes.
Instead of doing that, Roethlisberger got greedy and forced throws. Roethlisberger threw two interceptions, but he had another easy one dropped and one that went for a 101-yard touchdown return negated because linebacker Courtney Upshaw lined up offsides.
The two interceptions Roethlisberger did throw were forced passes into coverage, trying to get the ball to wide receiver Antonio Brown.
“We’ve always said that we can only beat ourselves,” said Roethlisberger. “Obviously, turnovers hurt us today. It’s a game of inches. I got Antonio Brown down the middle and you can never throw it short down the middle. I left it a couple of inches short and their guy makes the play. The second one to Antonio was a pass we’ve completed a thousand times before and I didn’t put it outside a couple more inches and (Jimmy Smith) made a great play on it for them. A few more inches outside and it’s not a pick.”
But it wasn’t a few more inches outside and it wasn’t a few inches higher.
The Steelers head into the final weekend of the season needing a win over Cleveland and some help to reach the postseason.
“The only thing we can do now is play, win, watch and hope,” Roethlisberger said.
That’s a shame because this is a solid team, one nobody wants to play if it reaches the postseason – unless Bad Ben shows up again.
F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.