Ben Roethlisberger Upset With Unexpected Bye Caused by Titans’ Carelessness
Just when Ben Roethlisberger felt like he was starting to get into a groove, the Pittsburgh Steelers were forced into an unexpected bye. The Steelers were off Week 4 because of something the Tennessee Titans did. Through no fault of their own, Roethlisberger and the Steelers were forced to switch bye weeks. Roethlisberger isn’t too happy about it.
Pittsburgh Steelers are off to a hot start
Ben Roethlisberger played just two games last season as he was sidelined with an elbow injury. Roethlisberger looks like he hasn’t skipped a beat as he’s come out and guided the Pittsburgh Steelers to a 3-0 start. The Steelers have had the benefit of a weak schedule as the teams they have defeated – the New York Giants, Denver Broncos, and Houston Texans – are a combined 1-11.
Despite the cupcake schedule, Roethlisberger has been very good. Big Ben has completed 73 of his 109 passes for a 67% clip. He’s thrown seven touchdown passes and has only one interception. Roethlisberger had to bring his team back from a 21-17 halftime deficit to defeat the Texans 28-21 in their last game.
During that last game, Roethlisberger played in his franchise-record 221st game as he broke the legendary Mike Webster’s mark. “He’s ‘Iron Mike’ for a reason,” Roethlisberger said after the game. “They’re never going to call me ‘Iron Ben,’ I get that. … It’s not like I passed him, I feel like I joined him today.”
The Titans’ carelessness forced postponement of Week 4 game
Prior to the Tennessee Titans’ scheduled Week 4 game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, 16 members of the Titans organization had tested positive for the coronavirus (COVID-19). It’s now been found that the team violated league protocol before and during the unexpected Week 4 bye. That bye was a result of the game being postponed due to a large number of positive cases with the Titans.
According to Yahoo! Sports, one league source said sanctions against the Titans were likely “not a matter of if, but when and how severe” for breaking protocol. It’s alleged that members of the team got together at a local high school to work out when the league specifically stated those types of workouts couldn’t happen.
One GM told Yahoo! Sports that he’d be happy to see the NFL make an example out of any protocol offenders. “I absolutely hope (offending) teams are hit hard, especially if they are just outright disregarding things,” one GM said. “If you’re blatantly ignoring what you’re supposed to be doing, you deserve to get hit hard.”
Ben Roethlisberger unhappy with the game change
According to ESPN, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was pretty upset that his team had to switch their schedule around through no fault of their own. He felt his team was on the right track and the unexpected bye interrupted their flow. “Of course we got the short end of the stick,” Roethlisberger said Wednesday.
Roethlisberger was getting into a groove after missing the final 15 games of the 2019 season due to injury. He was adjusting well to some new teammates. “It’s tough, especially for someone like myself who was just starting to get back into the flow of things,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s not easy, but you’ve got to adjust. You’ve got to adapt and do the best you can.”
Roethlisberger said all teams, including his own, have to be responsible to help prevent the spread of the virus. “We need to be cautious, be careful and protect each other,” Roethlisberger said. “New challenges arise this week with fans being allowed in the game now. Fans are allowed in the stadium, which means we’re allowed to have guests in town and things like that. In the Roethlisberger family, we’re not changing anything. No guests are coming in town. But there are a few challenges that have been presented and so hopefully guys can continue to be as cautious and as careful as we have been to this point.”
