–The Steelers never had an understanding of Ben Roethlisberger’s rib injury in Oakland because of an outdated x-ray machine. He was cleared by the team’s medical staff to re-enter the game midway through the fourth quarter, but head coach Mike Tomlin did not reinsert Roethlisberger into the game until the Steelers fell behind late in the fourth quarter.
The Steelers did the same thing in a 2016 AFC wild-card game against the Bengals. Roethlisberger injured his shoulder in the third quarter and came back onto the sideline to watch the game. He did not enter that game until the Steelers fell behind late in the fourth quarter.
Roethlisberger led a game-winning drive to help the Steelers in the playoff game. He did the same thing against the Raiders, but Derek Carr answered his drive with a touchdown drive of his own to lift the Raiders to victory.
“We followed a very similar template that transpired in Cincinnati in the playoffs,” Tomlin said. “Because of the lack of information, we thought that the best thing to do, the most prudent thing to do, was to be only to make Ben available in emergency-like situations and that’s exactly what we did in Cincinnati a couple years ago because of lack of information.
“Obviously, he’s got to be a willing participant in that. The doctors have got to get to a level of comfort but acknowledging that level of comfort is including a lack of clarity in some instances because the X-ray was not clearly readable. Ben has been with us a long time. He does a great job of communicating. We have continuity in that regard. We did a great job of communicating throughout. Once they came back out on the field, I continued to communicate with Ben to see that effectiveness of the medication to see how he felt he would be able to perform in terms of function and being able to do the things that he needed to do. We continued to talk about it. While talking about that, obviously, the game is going on. We said that because of lack of information and the situation not being a comfortable or ideal one, we would only reinsert him into the game if we felt it was necessary.
“As the game unfolded, it obviously became necessary. We really appreciate what he was able to do and the effort that he was able to provide and those around him to give us a chance. Obviously, it didn’t end in the way we would like, but that’s just kind of an outline of what transpired.”
–The Steelers haven’t had more than 100 rushing yards since they beat Carolina on Nov. 8. They hit rock bottom on Sunday when they managed just 40 yards against the Raiders, who had the league’s worst rush defense entering the game.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is not overly concerned with the state of the running game, however. He said their short passing game in essence serves the same purpose as runs.
“One thing you have to understand is you look at a run and a pass,” Roethlisberger said. “To a lot of people a run is when you hand the ball to the running back. We look at some of our short screens, some of our short passes as run-game alternatives. I think those numbers get a little skewed sometimes when you look at what technically is a run and what technically is a pass. We need to have efficient plays regardless of what they are.”
The Steelers are down to rookie Jaylen Samuels at running back because James Conner is injured, but head coach Mike Tomlin did not indicate Samuels was the problem against the Raiders. He shifted blame toward the offensive line.
“We didn’t do a good enough job at sustaining blocks,” Tomlin said.
–The Steelers brought in free-agent kickers Kai Forbath and Matt McCrane on Wednesday for a tryout. But as of Wednesday they had not released Chris Boswell, who missed two more field goals against Oakland to bring his season percentage down to 62.5 percent. He made 91.2 percent of his kicks last season.
One reason the Steelers have been slow to release Boswell is his contract. He signed a four-year, $16.8 million deal in August. He would count $4.8 million against the 2019 salary cap if the Steelers cut him.
“We acknowledge that Chris has struggled to find consistent footing,” Tomlin said. “We are willing to explore options that give us the very best chances of that ball going through the upright this weekend. That being said, those options include Chris. This time of year, we are cognizant of what’s available and the prudent approach is to include Chris and those options and that’s what we intend to do. His performance merits us turning stones over and looking at our options, but the easy decision for us to do is to assign blame or to shoot a hostage or to do things of that nature regarding Bos. That’s not our intention. We want to do what’s right for our football team and what’s right for our football team is to ensure that we give ourselves the very best chance of winning and that ball going through the upright this weekend. So, we are looking at all options available to us, including Chris. That has been displayed to him. He will be given an opportunity to play his way into this thing this weekend and we will go as I just outlined. That is the approach that we intend to take.”
Boswell said after practice Wednesday that he’s not surprised the coaches are looking at all options.
“That’s the nature of this business,” Boswell said. “We’re judged on stats and wins and losses. If you don’t do your job they look elsewhere. It’s just the nature of the business, the world we live in.”
BY THE NUMBERS: 6 – Number of touchdown passes Ben Roethlisberger needs to set the franchise record for most touchdown passes in a season. Roethlisberger has 27 after 13 games. Roethlisberger owns the record. He threw 32 touchdowns in 2007 and 2014.
