Ben Roethlisberger checks a tablet on the sideline Sunday. - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

Steelers

Kovacevic: Roethlisberger's worst day accompanied by legit concern

Oct 8, 2017 • 10:43 pm

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There's something spectacularly incongruous about throwing 55 passes and five interceptions when facing the NFL's best passing defense and worst rushing defense.

That's a bad plan, plain and simple. And that's on Mike Tomlin and Todd Haley, plainer and simpler.

But there's something equally incongruous about the Steelers' offense as a whole putting up nine points on an afternoon in which both Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell each shows up in peak form.

And that, my friends, is on Ben Roethlisberger, plainest and simplest of all.

Honestly, I've run out of deflections for blame. I've got nothing else. Not the scheme. Not the supporting cast. Nothing at all. Because these Steelers just got bodyslammed by the Jaguars, who, while rejuvenated, had no business jumping away, 30-9, as they did Sunday at Heinz Field. And the unquestionable culprit was the quarterback throwing zero touchdowns against one ... two ... three ... four ... five interceptions:

... with two of those being returned for touchdowns.

My God, all of that actually happened. It was the worst game of Roethlisberger's NFL career and, though he couldn't recall specifically, likely his entire football life: 33 of 55 for a hollow 312 yards and a QB rating of 37.8.

The performance was so bleak that Jacksonville safety Barry Church, a Penn Hills native who had one of those pick-6s, would crow afterward that the Jaguars, who went 3-13 last year, had Roethlisberger "flustered." When pressed to elaborate, he added, "Oh, yeah, you could definitely tell when we were showing them multiple looks. He'd go to his first look, second look, third look, then he'd get flustered trying to make one of those miraculous Ben plays."

Ow.

The performance was so bleak that Mike Tomlin, who'd never publicly criticized Roethlisberger that I can recall in a decade of covering this franchise, cast at least a little shade.

"He's not playing well, man," was all Tomlin would say when asked about his quarterback. "I'll let him speak for him."

That, of course, came next. Roethlisberger eschewed the usual podium, so all the cameras and microphones gathered around his locker stall. And as he approached, it was clear that he was in no mood for anything other than further public criticism. Meaning from the figurative mirror.

You know all those times Ben blames himself, and it kind of comes with an eye-roll feel?

Not this time. I double-checked:

There was about four more minutes of that monosyllabic session, if you can believe it.

Has he allowed any doubt to creep into his thinking?

"Nope," he replied to that question. "Nobody in this room ever has that doubt. Professional athletes shouldn't have doubt."

Is he doing anything differently?

“I don’t think so. But maybe I am. Maybe I don’t have it anymore.”

Any injuries that might be bugging him?

"Not that I know of."

How are the mechanics?

"I don't know. I'm not a guru."

Any residual effect from the spat with Antonio Brown last week?

"No."

Has there been any point this season where he's felt he's played well?

"Maybe when we've won. I don't know."

How will he put this one behind him?

"As soon as I leave you guys, my kids are probably standing out in the hallway. It will be easier to forget when I get out to them."

It's that bad right now. And it's no illusion: The Steelers are 3-2 and are violently inconsistent, including the porous run defense that really shouldn't escape unscathed at the water coolers Monday morning. This team's a general mess that's somehow slithered through five games and now must travel to Kansas City next week to face the NFL's only undefeated team.

"We're going to be defined individually and collectively on how we respond to an outing like that," Tomlin said afterward in that transparently contrite tone he tends to reserve for the lousiest of losses. "I've been in this long enough to have that understanding. I think many on our team have. That was relayed to them. We chew it today. We get in the lab tomorrow."

OK, it's still today, so let's chew on this:

• Roethlisberger has now completed 61.5 percent of his passes through five games. For all of 2016, he completed 64.4. For his career before this season, he completed 64.2.

• Roethlisberger has six touchdowns against seven interceptions. Sure, Sunday skewed that ratio, but he shouldn't be absolved of only six total touchdowns against the Browns, Vikings, Bears and Ravens. For all of 2016, he threw 29 touchdowns to 13 interceptions. For his career before this season, it was 301 to 160.

• Roethlisberger is 6 of 26 on passing attempts of 20-plus yards through the air, with zero touchdowns and two interceptions. I'll repeat that's through the air. In all, he's recorded just 11 passing plays of 20-plus yards. In his previous four seasons, he completed 60, 55, 48 and 59 such plays.

I don't know about you, but that last one's legit scary to me.

I mean, we're way past the #BenBeingBen phase of his career, with all the scrambles and improvisation. Art Rooney II began the harnessing process with the hiring of Haley and, ever since, the process has kept him mostly in the pocket. Not everyone embraced that, naturally, including Roethlisberger at the outset, but he eventually did, and he's ranged from good to great in the system.

But this, I dare say, is different. This is dropping back, seeing an open man and flat-out missing.

Review each one of those above interceptions, and you'll find, as I raised with Roethlisberger himself, some rotten luck. Two of them were tipped. Another time, his target was tripped without a flag. Another time, his hand was dumped from behind. But I also saw that, on the first one up there, he opted to throw to Vance McDonald, a tight end who can't catch a cold, being covered by Jacksonville's stud corner, Jalen Ramsey. Nothing good was going to come of that. I also saw him throwing over AB on another. And making a bad read on another.

So while Roethlisberger was fair to respond to me, "That's the way the ball bounces sometimes," it was clear to all concerned it didn't need to bounce as it did.

And yeah, from the broader scope, this is scary. I think that's a fair term at this stage, without being hyperbolic.

Because let's just get this right out there: Roethlisberger's 35. And, as we've seen with professional athletes forever, even the great ones, when the end comes, it comes not with a decline but with a precipitous plunge.

What's more, Roethlisberger invested what he described as "serious thought" toward retiring in the offseason. And any Pittsburgh football fan of age will recall what Chuck Noll famously spoke on that sort of thing: "If you're thinking about retiring, you've already retired."

It's also scary from the standpoint of the Steelers' season, one that most rightly have seen as their best shot in a while at a seventh Lombardi Trophy. All along, the single scariest element regarding contention was the prospect that Roethlisberger would get hurt, and that very much remains the case. But it's almost like none of us had considered, not for a solitary second, that he could simply regress.

Well, I'm not all the way aboard that train yet. I've got too much respect for Roethlisberger's talent and resolve, and it really hasn't been all that long since we've seen his best.

Heck, this was the first offensive snap on this very Sunday:

But some stuff needs to change.

For one, Tomlin and Haley need to get a hell of a lot more creative with this offense. They need to focus more on producing points than proving points about their machismo. Having Bell run the ball 15 times against one of the NFL's worst run defenses is Hall of Fame dumb.

Tomlin said this game "probably played out to their vision of play," meaning the Jaguars.

Of course it did! All they do is stop the pass and give up the run, and all you did was pass!

Roethlisberger shouldn't be the only one looking in the mirror.

For another, the offense needs to lift up the quarterback in Kansas City. Just like a hockey team occasionally has to defend its goaltender. Just like a baseball team needs to go to bat for its starting pitcher. Maybe the offensive line can start performing up to its preseason hype. Maybe a tight end can get open across the middle. Maybe Martavis Bryant can break one bleeping tackle all season.

"He's our general," AB said of Ben. "We rally around him, good and bad. It wasn't all his fault out there. He didn't go out there by himself. I left a couple plays out there. Everyone feels that way. We'll all get better."

Only if he does. The order doesn't matter.

MATT SUNDAY GALLERY

Steelers vs. Jaguars, Heinz Field, Oct. 8, 2017 - MATT SUNDAY / DKPS

WHAT'S BREWING

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