Ben Roethlisberger unhappy with Pittsburgh Steelers' fourth-down punt

Ben Roethlisberger on Sunday expressed disappointment with the late-game play calling by Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin, who in the fourth quarter, with the Steelers trailing 23-14 with just under nine minutes remaining, opted to punt the ball away on fourth-and-1.

In the postgame press conference, Roethlisberger was asked if after 18 years playing for Tomlin and the Steelers, he could approach his head coach and ask to go for it when such a situation arises.

“Not when the punt team is going on the field,” Roethlisberger said, clearly frustrated with his head coach’s decision. “You saw me. I’m standing there, I don’t have the choice [to ask to go for it].”

Another reporter proceeded to ask Roethlisberger if he wanted to go for it on fourth down, to which he didn’t provide an answer; instead, he gave the reporter a side-eyed stare and laughed.

Roethlisberger and the Steelers offense struggled against the Las Vegas Radiers, with the veteran quarterback logging 295 passing yards on 27 completions in 40 attempts, along with one touchdown and one interception. The Steelers could hardly string together much in the run game, either. First-round draft pick out of Alabama, Najee Harris, had ten carries for 38 yards, while backup running back Benny Snell Jr. had two rushes for one yard.

Diontae Johnson and Chase Claypool were Roethlisberger’s two most successful targets, as Johnson tallied six receptions for 105 yards and Claypool had three receptions for 70 yards. Johnson appeared to have sustained a knee injury on the last play of the game, but recent reports out of Pittsburgh say the early indications point to the injury not being serious.

With the loss, Pittsburgh fell to 1-1 on the season, with its Week 1 victory coming against the Buffalo Bills.

“We’ve got to get it figured out,” Roethlisberger said. “I am frustrated that I’m not playing well enough. The good news is that it’s early; we’ve still got a long road ahead of us. We’ve got a lot of time to get it fixed. I hope [we get it fixed quickly.] We’ve got a divisional opponent coming in here next week.”

As Roethlisberger alluded to, the Steelers on Sunday host the Cincinnati Bengals in an AFC North matchup, Pittsburgh’s first of the season. With the Steelers offense averaging just 20 points per game, converting on 37 percent of third-down attempts and averaging 245.5 passing yards per game, much of the onus lies on Roethlisberger to correct the franchise’s performance before it’s too late.