Roethlisberger: “It’s Really how you Finish”

Pittsburgh Steelers came back from the dead, and avoided a third consecutive defeat against the Jacksonville Jaguars, despite being behind 16 points. The black and yellow pulled an amazing comeback for a 20-16 win.

Ben Roethlisberger held the football in his hand while exiting the TIAA Bank Field Stadium. One of the best quarterbacks in the history of this game, decided to keep this ball as a memory, on one very tough match which could have been the worst in his career.

He had two interceptions in the first half, 8 completed passes from 19 attempts for only 52 yards, and 10.1 passer rating! Big Ben was so lost, that the Jags defense played with him like with a child. It is a fortune for him that Steelers only held the ball some 7 minutes in the , because he could have ended up with some serious injury caused by the beating of Jags’ defensive line.

But in the end, he was the guy who pushed his team towards the win, with a one-yard carry into the end zone some three seconds left on the clock.

“It’s really how you finish,” Roethlisberger said after the game. “So many guys stepped up today. Guys never quit. We fought until the end. We got down the field. Guys made plays.”

When asked about the crucial moment of the game, Steelers QB had no doubts about it. For him, JuJu Smith-Schuster is, without question, the initial spark for this success.

“I think one of the bigger plays that just kind of sticks in my head right now was JuJu on the sideline on a back-shoulder fade. I mean huge play.”

Big Ben was referring to the situation in the game-winning drive when his young teammate had a 35-yard long catch, which brought them into the field-goal range.

But to start from the beginning and tell you how everything went.

As usual, Leonard Fournette led Jaguars’s offense. He ran for 95 yards, busting the rival’s defense, and caught 46 yards in two receptions. One of them was for the touchdown, which increased the home team’s lead to 16-0. Through him, Carlos Hyde and T.J. Yeldon, Jacksonville dictated the tempo in the first half, keeping the ball twice as long than Pittsburgh. However, they didn’t capitalize that, mostly because of Blake Bortles who ended this match with 104 yards, with 10 completions from 18 attempts. Once again, it was proved that this guy is the weakest link in Jaguars’ chain. By the way, Bortles was sacked six times.

Steelers and @_Fournette going over the top for a TD, name a more iconic duo.#DUUUVAL pic.twitter.com/x1LSgdSdbS

— Jacksonville Jaguars (@Jaguars) November 18, 2018

The Jags were 16-0 with some 2 minutes to go in the third quarter. And then happened the Steelers’ dynamic duo, Roethlisberger – Brown. With 1:17 before the end of the same period, Antonio Brown caught a 78-yard pass and reduced the lead.

The battle got more intense in the last quarter, and the first points in that period were posted 2:28 before the end. Roethlisberger found Vance McDonald, and the lead was cut to only three points. Jaguars got the ball after the kickoff, and they went three-and-out, returning the possession to Tomlin’s troops. JuJu Smith-Schuster caught the above-mentioned pass, and the position for the final strike has been set. But Jacksonville defended fiercely, earning a couple of penalties which brought Pittsburgh to a one-yard line. 6 foot 5 quarterback from Ohio stretched as much as he could, and reached the end zone, making his head coach very happy besides the line.

Tomlin couldn’t hide his emotions after the end of the 60 minutes.

“Really, really awesome fight and the bottom line in our business is winning. We took care of business,” said Steelers main strategist. “Style points were ugly, or quite few, but we got the job done.”

Big Ben finished this game with 314 yards (170 in the last 12 minutes), going 27 of 47. Smith-Schuster caught 104 yards, while Antonio Brown had 117 yards and a touchdown.

Up next the Steelers head for Colorado, to meet with the Denver Broncos. Jags are going to Buffalo, to play against the Bills.