Ben Roethlisberger On Headset Issues: 'It Was Only When We Had The Ball'
PITTSBURGH (93-7 The Fan) - Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger joined The Cook and Poni Show on Tuesday for the #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show.
Roethlisberger talked with the guys coming off a disappointing 28-21 opening night loss to the New England Patriots in Foxboro.
"It was a game where we did some good things on offense. There was some very encouraging things that we did and can do," Roethlisberger said. Watching the film though, Ben admits "we shot ourselves in the foot too much, whether it was with penalties, a bad play here or there or whatever it was."
On the first drive of the game for the Steelers offense was an example of them shooting themselves in the foot as they were moving the ball into New England territory at a very efficient rate when a trick play call came in and cost the team valuable yardage at a critical time.
Roethlisberger talked about that play and what offensive coordinator Todd Haley had to say about it after the game.
"Coach Haley wanted to kind of give them a bang, give them a changeup, some kind of a special trick kind of play if you will," Ben said. "Obviously, in hindsight, and he [Todd Haley] was the first one to say it probably wasn't the right time for that play because we were driving and doing a lot of great things...As soon as it didn't work, he said, 'you know what, I got a little too anxious to call that play.'
The main story line coming out of the Patriots victory over the Steelers though was the faulty headsets the Steelers experienced during the game and Ben talked about what he experienced and heard from the coaches on the sideline.
"In a lot of games, the offensive coordinator to Quarterback headset, it will go out, doesn't matter if it's at home, on the road, it just never fails, there's almost always some kind of communication [issues]. But what I was told and what Bruce [Gradkowski] told me when he listened was that when we had the ball on offense, our coach-to-coach communication were not only hearing themselves, but they were hearing the radio broadcast of the game. And from what I was told from Coach Haley, it was only when we had the ball. When the Patriots had the ball, there was no radio broadcast."
Roethlisberger admits that communication issues happen all across the league, but this one was unique.
"It happens at a lot of stadiums. It happens at Heinz Field...That's the first time that I had ever heard of anything happening when you hear a radio broadcast during a game, that's new to me in hearing that. But like I said, it didn't affect me at all, but it obviously affected the coaches, so whether that's a coincidence it happened up there or what, I'm not really sure."
Ben also addressed all the cheating accusations the Patriots have faced dating back to SpyGate.
"I always felt that they knew some of our offensive plays," Roethlisberger said. "For whatever reason., maybe it was better scouting or whatever, but I had always felt that."
Roethlisberger threw one touchdown in the game against the Patriots and that was to wide receiver Antonio Brown, who caught 9 passes for 133 yards. Ben talked about the double teams Brown faced in the game and how he was still able to overcome that to be a major contributor.
"He's a special player, I've said that many times," Ben said. "They were doing everything they could to double and grab and just try to frustrate AB and do whatever they could. To his credit, he just kept fighting and I thought he played a great game."
The #1 Cochran Ben Roethlisberger Show is heard exclusively every Tuesday at 11 am during the Steelers season on The Cook and Poni Show on Sportsradio 93-7 The Fan.
You can hear the full interview at the link below: