After picking up a major road win over the Buffalo Bills in Week 1, the Pittsburgh Steelers failed to build some momentum as they came away with a 26-17 home loss to the Las Vegas Raiders in Week 2.
Although there were a multitude of reasons on why the Steelers could not pick up a win in their home opener, Ben Roethlisberger sees that the blame for the loss begins with him, as he now holds a career 2-6 record against the Raiders. The Steelers quarterback did throw for 295 passing yards and one touchdown but also recorded a first half interception coupled with an 87.0 passer rating.
In speaking after the game, the two-time Super Bowl winner took full responsibility for the defeat to Las Vegas.
“Right now, my play is just not good enough,” Roethlisberger said. “If I play better, we have a chance to win the football game, so that loss, I'll take that. I’ll apologize to the fans. For that home opener, they were awesome. And it’s disappointing we didn’t get that (win).”
Roethlisberger is much optimistic that the Steelers will soon be able to build momentum at this early stage in the season, but as he constantly put it, the buck stops at him.
“The good news is it's still early,” Roethlisberger said. “There’s a long road ahead of us, a lot of time to get it fixed.
“The best way to figure out an identity (for the offense) 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 and better throws and trying to put us in a situation to win a football game.”
As the offense has had early struggles this season, there is now major concern over on the defensive end for Pittsburgh because of the number of notable injuries, including with T.J. Watt. Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin noted after the loss that Watt left the game against Las Vegas due to a groin injury. It remains to be seen whether Watt will be sidelined due to this minor injury.
For now, Roethlisberger and company will look ahead to a key home matchup against the Cincinnati Bengals in Week 3.
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