Ben Roethlisberger Baring The Brunt Of Steelers Growing Pains

The Pittsburgh Steelers offense is going through an awkward transition right now. It has a young line, anchored by 39-year-old quarterback Ben Roethlisberger.

Ben Roethelisberger took ten hits in the Week 2 loss to the Las Vegas Raiders. As a result, he’s a doubt for Sunday with a left pectoral injury.

“I don’t know how it happened, I just know it happened early in the game,” Ben Roethlisberger said. 

Big Ben says he’s going to do ‘everything he can’ to be available against the Bengals on Sunday. In the meantime, Pittsburgh’s offensive line needs to work out the kinks and figure out how to protect him.

Want $250 to bet on Thursday Night Football?

Sign up now!

Guard Kevin Dotson acknowledges he didn’t protect Roethlisberger enough, particularly on a crunching hit from Raiders DE Maxx Crosby.

“It was definitely embarrassing,” Dotson said. “We weren’t noticing it during the game, but when you watch it and rewatch it, I really didn’t go pick him up like I was supposed to and stuff like that.

“We know it’s never going to happen ever again, so it’s our mistake.”

“We knew going in there, they had a good rush that was going to be high-motor guys, were going to get after it,” Roethlisberger said. “And so, you know, you have to prepare for that. But we all need to be better to eliminate hits, to have a better run game, to have more big plays, to be more efficient. So it’s on all of us to help those things.”

Read: NFL Week 3 Schedule – 5 Best Games To Watch This Week

“I tell the guys a lot, no one has to be great,” he said. “If we’re all good and collectively we can be great. You know, offense is such a group effort. It takes literally all 11 guys on every play to make it work, and when one guy’s a little off here or there, you can affect the whole thing. So we’re just going to keep learning and growing and figuring out how we can try to get better.”