Roethlisberger’s outing historically dreadful
PITTSBURGH — Don’t blame the national anthem dust up. Or Antonio Brown’s latest tantrum. Or Le’Veon Bell’s non-holdout holdout. Or Martavis Bryant’s re-immersion into the offense after a year away.
The man designed with making the Pittsburgh Steelers go doesn’t want to hear any of it. Ben Roethlisberger placed the blame for arguably the worst performance of his 14-year career on his shoulders.
Four quarters. A career-high five interceptions . Two of which Jacksonville returned for touchdowns. A 30-9 loss to the Jaguars that left the Steelers frustrated and the most prolific passer in franchise history struggling to put a finger on how things went so wrong, so quickly for a group that was expected to be among the league’s best.
Five weeks in, Pittsburgh (3-2) is decidedly average.
“Maybe I don’t have it anymore,” Roethlisberger said.
The 35-year-old was kidding. Mostly. While he tried to chalk it up as simply a bad day at the office, in reality this one was different than most. No Steelers quarterback had thrown it to the other team five times in a game since Mark Malone did it against Cleveland 30 years ago.
GIANTS: Odell Beckham Jr. celebrated his fourth-quarter touchdown catch by performing CPR on the football, pumping back life into the Giants’ season. It wasn’t long after that, though, that the team flat lined with another Beckham visual.
The receiver was carted off the field in tears with what later was announced as a fractured left ankle with four minutes left in Sunday’s game against the Chargers. As he disappeared into the tunnel at MetLife Stadium, the Giants’ hopes for the season went with him.
The Giants announced the severity of the injury after the game and said Beckham may require surgery.
PENCE: Vice President Mike Pence left the 49ers-Colts game after about a dozen San Francisco players took a knee during the national anthem Sunday.
Pence said on Twitter: “I left today’s Colts game because @ POTUS and I will not dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our Flag, or our National Anthem.”
49ers safety Eric Reid said Pence’s departure looked like “a PR stunt.”
“He knew our team has had the most players protest, he knew that we were probably going to do it again,” Reid said.
CAM’S SHOUTOUT: Carolina’s Cam Newton came under fire for making sexist comments to a female reporter during the week. He apologized after losing an endorsement deal and getting criticized by the NFL. The 2015 NFL MVP said after a 27-24 win at Detroit that he put Rosie the Riveter, flexing her right arm, on his hat after doing homework to learn her iconic impact on World War II. “I just wanted to have a little notion, a shoutout, to all the strong women,” Newton said. YOUNG JAG: At 22 years and 263 days old, Jacksonville’s Leonard Fournette is the youngest player in NFL history with a touchdown run of at least 90 yards and is the fifth rookie to score at least one TD in each of his team’s first five games of a season.