Ben Roethlisberger addressed the media on Tuesday for the first time since January. Immediately following season (and probably for months before), questions abound whether he’d return in 2021. So, it’s no surprise one of the first things Big Ben was asked was if he was approaching this coming season like it’s his last.
“I’m going to approach this like I do every season—like it’s my last,” said Roethlisberger. “I think that’s the approach you have to take. And you don’t approach it that way because it could be your last, but you approach it because every single play in the game of football could be your last. Every game could be your last game.”
Roethlisberger’s last game is one he’d like to forget. Don’t we all?
The wild-card game versus the Cleveland Browns started like something out of “The Benny Hill Show”: Now-retired center Maurkice Pouncey snapped the ball as if it needed to go over London’s Big Ben. Roethlisberger and former Steelers running back James Conner were first to the ball and looked confused about who should recover it. Instead, Browns safety Karl Joseph did — for a touchdown.
Moments later, Roethlisberger threw the first of four interceptions, three of which led to 17 of the Browns’ 48 points.
Roethlisberger places the blame for the playoff loss — and games before — on himself, as good leaders often do. “I’ll be the first to point the thumb at myself. When the ball is in your hand every play, you have to make plays and play better football.”
He knows that if anything is going to change in the 2021 season that it begins and ends with him.
“That just means I’m going out to give it everything I have,” said Roethlisberger. “I have never looked towards the future. I’ve always looked at the right here and now, and that’s what’s important for me for this season is giving it everything I have right here and right now for this group of guys.”
