Days removed from a heartbreaking loss to the New England Patriots, it seems like the Pittsburgh Steelers still aren’t completely over it.
Driving for a potential game-winning touchdown, Ben Roethlisberger hit tight end Jesse James for what looked to be the go-ahead score. But upon further review, officials indicated that James didn’t have possession of the ball. It’s led to some major debates around the football world, with some questioning the NFL’s definition of a catch.
On the very next play, Big Ben threw an interception on a slant route intended for wide receiver Eli Rogers. The play call itself was questionable, at best. Why throw a high-risk pass on that situation when a field goal would have tied the game up and sent it to overtime?
It now looks like Roethlisberger is somewhat throwing his coaches under the bus for the game-ending interception.
Ben Roethlisberger says Steelers had just one play ready to go after that Jesse James TD was overturned: "I wish we would've called two plays. I wish we had two plays ready to go."
— Aditi Kinkhabwala (@AKinkhabwala) December 19, 2017
To be fair, there was over five minutes of stoppage time between the two plays as officials reviewed the James’ catch. Why Pittsburgh didn’t have more than one play called with a possible audible for the two-time Super Bowl winner remains to be seen.
Even then, to take this public stance probably isn’t the best of ideas. It’s something Big Ben should have talked to head coach Mike Tomlin and Co. about privately. Potentially to avoid the same issue later in the regular season or in the playoffs.
Either way, we can be sure that Tomlin will have a talking to with his quarterback. The media isn’t exactly the forum to be having strategic in-game discussions like this. That’s for sure.