“I am just glad we are winning football games. You know me, it’s not about stats, it’s not about numbers, it’s about winning football games. Coming back from an injury, not playing last year, I was a little worried about my play and what was going to happen. I think I told you guys that before the first game, that my biggest concern was letting the team down and losing the game for them. I am just glad we are winning football games.” — Ben.


From Teresa Varley at Steelers.com:

It’s not the first time he has said it this season, and it’s not going to be the last.

Ben Roethlisberger’s focus is simple.

He just wants to win.

Roethlisberger’s evaluation of his own play on a weekly basis has been very critical. He has been tougher on himself than anyone else on the team has been. But he is off to a strong start with 10 touchdown passes through four games and just one interception. You won’t hear him talking about that though, instead talking about the ones he missed.

Roethlisberger also mentioned the mental aspect of the game when he spoke on Wednesday morning.

“Sometimes when you get to this age, in life and in football, you have to find ways to win the game mentally as well,” said Roethlisberger. “That is what I am trying to do.”

Roethlisberger said one area of his game he is really trying to work on this year is not turning the ball over, with just one interception. He will be challenged this week going against the Cleveland Browns, who have an NFL high 12 takeaways so far this season, including six interceptions.

“I am just trying not to turn the ball over,” said Roethlisberger. “Obviously not putting up big passing numbers, yards per attempt, all of those things. For me I just don’t want to turn the ball over. That is the biggest thing I am trying to work on. That is going to be the biggest thing this week because I think this team leads the league in turnovers.”

He also wants to try and connect better on his deep passes, something he isn’t hesitating to attempt, but something that hasn’t gotten to the point where he is pleased yet.

“I am not shying away from throwing it, I just want to connect on it a little more,” said Roethlisberger. “I want to connect on every pass I throw, short or long. Just because I am overthrowing a little bit. I went back and looked, there were a couple of PIs, that’s a guy getting held a little bit, that can lead to an overthrow. Like I have said before, as long as I am overthrowing and not underthrowing, that is the okay miss.”


You can read more from Ms. Varley here.