Battered Ben
PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger looks at what has occurred in his life since winning the AFC championship game in Denver and almost can't believe it's been less than 10 months.
Becoming the youngest quarterback to win the Super Bowl. The motorcycle accident that left him with a surgically repaired face. The two concussions. The emergency appendectomy that kept him out of the Pittsburgh Steelers' opener. His five losses in six starts this season — or one more loss than in his first two NFL seasons combined.
"It's tough because you set the bar so high the first two years that you'll forget you won the Super Bowl last season," Roethlisberger said as he looked to Sunday's rematch in Pittsburgh with the Broncos. "But, hey, that's the way it goes. You've got to start playing better. I've got to start playing better."
He also needs to stay healthy, and he knows it. Maybe that's why he disclosed Wednesday for the first time that he's not riding a motorcycle any longer. Previously, he said only that he would put on a helmet when doing so.
Roethlisberger's motorcycle crash June 12 left him with the first of two concussions he's had this year, a battered face that required seven hours of surgery and other more minor injuries. He returned for training camp, but his season has been disrupted by the appendicitis attack and a second concussion, this one on the field, Oct. 22 in Atlanta.
Asked if he wishes he hadn't gotten on a motorcycle, especially without a helmet, the 24-year-old said, "Not at all. I'm not going to sit there and regret things that I've done. That was a decision I made and I'm not going to look back and regret it."
Roethlisberger was cleared to play last weekend in Oakland, but responded by throwing four interceptions — two for touchdowns — in a 20-13 loss to a team widely considered the AFC's worst. It also was the worst game of his three-season career, and coach Bill Cowher said Tuesday that three interceptions were preventable.
Roethlisberger agreed he must make better decisions, but doesn't sound like someone who regrets taking some risks on the field, either.
"You just go out there and play the game the way you know how to play it," he said. "That's how I play and I'm not going to change. That's how I play football. It's worked for me and hopefully we'll turn it around."
Roethlisberger is going against a Denver defense that allowed only two touchdowns in six games before giving up three, all by Colts receiver Reggie Wayne, in a 34-31 loss Sunday to Indianapolis.
That Denver defense has undergone some schematic adjustments since losing 34-17 in the AFC championship game, when Roethlisberger threw two touchdowns passes while leading Pittsburgh to a 24-3 halftime lead. He was 21-of-29 for 275 yards, the kind of accuracy and production a quarterback needs to win a big game.
The Steelers (2-5) might need a similar game Sunday by Roethlisberger to turn around a season that couldn't have gone much worse so far, either for the team or the quarterback.
"Teams are kind of gunning for you a little harder because you are the champs," Roethlisberger said. "And so we are definitely getting everybody's best shot, and I think that we definitely need to step up and start playing better football."
