Pittsburgh happy to escape with win
PITTSBURGH — Yes, a win is a win is a win.
But why doesn’t Sunday’s 17-13 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars feel as good as it should?
Maybe the end shouldn’t have been as edge-of-your-seat exciting as it turned out to be. Maybe you’re wondering who made off with the Steelers offense at halftime.
Turns out, it was the same guys who had gained 315 yards and posted a 17-0 lead in the first half that managed all of 55 in the second half. Sure didn’t look like them, did it?
“You have high expectations for your offense,” quarterback Ben Roethlisberger explained in the less-than-euphoric Steelers locker room. “You want to come out and score a lot of points. You want to do good things and we started that way.”
Roethlisberger went on to give credit to Jacksonville’s defense, which came into the game ranked 10th in the league.
“They’re not pushovers,” Rosthlisberger insisted. “They made the necessary adjustments and found ways to get disruptive with us. We just have to keep out foot to the pedal and keep grinding.”
The Steelers (4-2) are lucky to wake up this morning on a two-game winning streak and they know it.
Nobody wanted to call it an excuse, but the wind picked up at Heinz Field in the second half and that coincided with the Steelers offense going AWOL.
Early in the third quarter, Roethlisberger passed to Hines Ward for 19 yards and a first down at midfield. That play put Roethlisberger at 200 passing yards on what looked to become another very big day for the quarterback and his offense.
Turns out, that pass to Ward represented Roethlisberger’s last completion of the game. His passes started sailing, as he attempted to take what the Jaguars were giving.
“They were rolling to Mike Wallace, so we knew we could take advantage of that,” Roethlisberger said. “My biggest thing is just don’t underthrow it, but they got up in the wind and just kept going. I’ve got to connect on them. I have to drive the ball and make the necessary adjustments. When the wind picks up, I have to stop floating it and drive it through the wind. That’s on me.”
And that’s what makes this win less palatable than most, at least for a while.
“It’s frustrating because my expectations for this offense are high,” Roethlisberger said. “I’m going to be frustrated for about another half an hour, then I’m going to be happy that we won the game.”
Imagine how frustrating this would have been had it not ended with a win.
Sports editor Mike Ciarochi may be reached at mciarochi@heraldstandard.com.