Ben Roethlisberger On Health Of Knee: 'I'm Pretty Sore, Pretty Beat Up'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan)- Following the team's 16-10 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger joined "The Cook and Poni Show" on Sportsradio 93.7 The Fan for the "#1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show," Tuesday morning.
Being his first game back from injury, Roethlisberger provided an update on the status of his knee.
"I'm pretty sore, pretty beat up, I'm not going to lie," Roethlisberger said. "I don't think it's anything worse for the wear structurally or anything like that, I think it's just bruises, typical inflammation, and pains and stuff after a physical football game. I think tomorrow it will start to feel a little bit better again."
It's not often Roethlisberger has to talk about throwing three interceptions, but that's exactly what happened following a rough performance against the Bengals. He explained what happened that led to so many turnovers.
"It's unfortunate, you can't turn the ball over, and they were just little things here and there. It was nothing too glaring," Roethlisberger said. "I'm disappointed in myself."
Bigger than the loss or the turnovers may have been the injury to running back Le'Veon Bell that has ended his season with a torn MCL. Roethlisberger talked about that loss and if he thoughts the Bengals were targeting the Steelers' star running back.
"It stinks to lose Le'Veon. We got hit hard this year with the injury bug...We're going to have to find ways to overcome losing him, and that's not easy because he's the best in the business," Roethlisberger said.
When it comes to fans and analysts questioning whether the Bengals were intentionally trying to hurt Bell, Ben wasn't ready to go that far.
"I never want to accuse anyone of doing anything dirty unless I know for a fact it was dirty because I hate when people accuse people of that...I don't know if he did it on purpose. Did he (Vontaze Burfict) get up and be kind of joyous and happy? Yes. Was he doing it because he knew he was hurt or because he made a play? I don't know, so I don't want to accuse anyone," he said.
One area of the loss that seemed to rub fans the wrong way was the Steelers' clock management. Roethlisberger was asked whether he would have preferred to have more time on the clock or a timeout at his disposal when they were attempting to comeback late in the game.
"It doesn't matter to me, I need to make the plays that get us down the field," Roethlisberger said. "I get excited for that situation. I always love having that opportunity and, to me, it didn't matter if we had 20 seconds or three minutes. As a guy in my position, I want the ball with the ball in my hands and I like my track record doing that. It just didn't happen this week. Whether I have three timeouts or no timeouts or how much time, you want that situation, you want the ball and you want to go make something happen."
You can hear more from Ben here as he talked more about the Bengals loss and what they're doing to get ready for their next game against the Oakland Raiders.
The "#1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show" is heard exclusively every Tuesday at 11 a.m. during the Steelers' season on "The Cook and Poni Show" on Sportsradio 93-7 The Fan.
