Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has returned to planet Earth.
In the previous two weeks, Roethlisberger was other-worldly, completing 65 of 86 attempts (75.6 percent) for 862 yards and an NFL-record 12 touchdown passes in a pair of lopsided wins over the Indianapolis Colts and Baltimore Ravens. For his efforts, the 32-year-old earned back-to-back AFC Player of the Week honors.
But this is the NFL, and fortunes change on a weekly basis. The Steelers fell behind the one-win Jets by 17 in the first quarter, and Roethlisberger struggled all afternoon to dig his team out of the early hole. New York handed Pittsburgh a 20-13 defeat, dropping the Steelers (6-4) to third place in the AFC North.
Still, Big Ben being Big Ben and the Jets being the Jets, Pittsburgh nearly pulled off a late-game comeback. Held to fewer than 100 yards until his final drive of the third quarter, Roethlisberger padded his numbers late before finding Martavis Bryant for an 80-yard touchdown that slashed New York's lead to 20-13 with just over a minute left. An onsides kick failed, though, and Michael Vick kneeled on a rare Jets victory.
In the end, Roethlisberger finished a respectable 30 of 43 for 343 yards and a touchdown, but his two interceptions matched his total from the previous eight weeks. The MVP discussion that started to boil over the past two weeks has slowed to a simmer with Pittsburgh currently outside the playoff picture.
from Yahoo Sports http://ift.tt/1uSP5dR
Aucun commentaire:
Enregistrer un commentaire