You know we’re not panicking. It’s only the second week. We’re 1-1, we lost to a team that’s 2-0 and it was a one score game till the end. It feels like a bad feeling, a bad loss, but we understand it’s real early in the season. Everyone in our division has the same record, so we’re going to get ourselves together and get ready to go. — Ben.

From Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

Ben Roethlisberger smiled when asked if it hurts when he laughs after injuring his left pectoral muscle against the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

I actually can do that okay.

But there was pain on Sunday after he suffered the injury, something he isn’t certain how it happened, but knows it came early on.

I don’t know how it happened. I just know it happened early in the game. Typically when I reach for something outside the framework from my body, or trying to push up, get up off the ground or something like that. I haven’t thrown a ball since the game. You have a lot of adrenaline going during the game.

The Steelers return to the practice field on Wednesday, and Roethlisberger didn’t indicate what it will take for him to feel comfortable to play this Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals at Heinz Field.

Today’s only Wednesday, so we have a lot of time to get ready to go.

Roethlisberger took his share of hits against the Raiders, with two sacks but also a handful of other blows, something he knew could be the case with the Raiders pass rush.

We knew going in they had a good rush, high motor guys who were going to get after it. 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. It’s on all of us to help with those things. I tell the guys, no one has to be great. If we’re all good, then collectively we can be great. Offense is such a group effort. It takes literally all 11 guys every play to make it work. When one guy’s a little off here or there, it can affect the whole thing. We’re just going to keep learning and growing and figuring out how we can try and get […]

“Ben Roethlisberger has a pectoral injury of some kind, his left pectoral, that could affect him from a preparation standpoint. I don’t have an idea of how much (it will affect his preparation) as I sit here right now, but we better be ready to adjust and deal with that. And also we’ve got Devin Bush and Joe Haden, who both missed last week and who are working their way back. Their participation will be our guide, or non-participation will be our guide, in terms of analyzing their availability (for the Bengals). Diontae Johnson got hurt late in the game (knee). He’s looking better, but (that’s) not to be confused with looking great, so we’ll follow him and his health as we get through the week.”

You can read more here.

Ben puts the blame squarely on himself after the loss:

I just need to be better. Right now my play is just not good enough. If I played better, we would have had a chance to win the football game. That loss, I’ll take that. I apologize to the fans for that home opener. They were awesome, and it’s disappointing that we didn’t get that win.

Going forward:

You know, I think we’re working through it. I think that’s the good news if you will. It’s still early and we have time to figure it out. We’ve got a good team coming in here, divisional opponent, and we gotta get right. It’s frustrating. The best way to figure out identity is for the quarterback to play better. So, I’m gonna work on myself and get ready to myself ready to go. I need to work on making better reads, better throws, and try to put us in a situation to win a football game.

Ben was 27 of 40 for 295 yards, a touchdown, and an interception.


You can watch his post-game presser here.

“Sore. Like I anticipated. Getting hit for a while, got a lot more bumps and bruises than usual. — Ben on how he felt post-Week 1.

“It feels great. Probably the only part of my body that felt good when I came out of the game. That’s encouraging and positive.” — On the surgically repaired elbow.

More from Ben compiled by Teresa Varley, Steelers.com:

If you took a quick glance at the stats for the Steelers receivers in the team’s win over the Bills on Sunday, the individual numbers likely wouldn’t blow you away.

JuJu Smith-Schuster had four receptions for 52 yards, Chase Claypool three receptions for 45 yards and Diontae Johnson five receptions for 36 yards.

But the takeaway with those numbers, and the rest in the passing game, isn’t about individual numbers. It’s about the bigger picture.

Every receiver had at least one reception. Every tight end had at least one reception. It was about spreading the ball around, and Ben Roethlisberger did a fantastic job of that.

“I didn’t even realize that I was able to do that. Sometimes it’s the way the game unfolds. There’s not really a clear intent to say, okay we got to get this guy the ball or whatever. You like to get guys involved early in games for that just kind of typical football. But I’m glad that everyone got involved.”

As he said, getting them involved early is normally the key. But that didn’t happen last week. It took some time for the passing game to click, but nobody blinked, a lot of that credited to a pretty young receiving corps growing by the day.

“I think each guy did something a little extra special in that game. I think JuJu was JuJu. He’s tough. He’s reliable. He’s dependable. He does what you ask him to do. He lowers his head on the play and gets you that first down and shows that physicality.

“I thought Diontae started the game out really well. Got his knee banged pretty bad. I don’t know that the old Diontae would have come back in the game and kept playing and making plays for us. I think that showed a lot of growth.

“James Washington coming in the game, right away, not expecting to fill in and catches the ball pretty early on the screen and gets north, gets us big yards.

“And I […]