Jaguars rough up Ben
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Ben Roethlisberger gingerly walked off the field near the end of the game, grimacing and grasping his side after another hard hit.
Big Ben was back. He wasn’t back to form, though – and the Jacksonville Jaguars defense had a lot to with that.
Wearing protective padding around his midsection, Roethlisberger returned to Pittsburgh’s lineup Monday night, barely two weeks after an emergency appendectomy. The Jaguars made him pay for his courage, harassing the quarterback and stopping the defending Super Bowl champions’ nine-game winning streak, 9-0 in the lowest-scoring game in Monday Night Football history.
“A lot of it was my fault,” Roethlisberger said. “I told coach I’ll be OK. When I get some more practice and get on the same page with the receivers, we’ll be good.”
Pittsburgh couldn’t run it either, managing only 20 yards on Willie Parker’s 11 carries and 26 yards overall.
Josh Scobee kicked three field goals for the Jaguars (2-0), who improved to 4-0 against the Steelers in September and 3-0 against them on Monday night.
The Steelers (1-1) kept it close all game, and got the ball back with about five minutes to play, down 6-0. But Rashean Mathis intercepted Roethlisberger’s slant pass and returned it into field goal range.
Scobee kicked his third field goal, a 42-yarder with 4:26 left. He had a 31-yarder late in the third and a 32-yarder earlier in the fourth, and that’s all Jacksonville would need.
“We moved the ball well, but we did a bad job of scoring points,” quarterback Byron Leftwich said. “To move to the next level, we’ve got to have more than nine points but, we played a tough team, man. The Super Bowl champs. It was a tough, physical game and we came out on top.”
Mathis picked off another one with 1:44 remaining, sending Roethlisberger walking slowly to the bench. Mathis also sealed last year’s victory at Pittsburgh, intercepting a pass in overtime and returning it 41 yards for the decisive score.
It was Jacksonville’s first shutout since December 2003 vs. Houston.
“If you come in here with the mind-set of running the ball on us, you may want to rethink that philosophy,” Jags defensive end Paul Spicer said. “It ain’t going to be that easy.”
Added running back Fred Taylor: “That’s definitely one of the best defensive performances that I’ve seen since I’ve been here.”
Roethlisberger might agree. He threw his hands up in frustration after his first interception, then walked off the field with his hands on his side following his next possession, when he took a jolting shot to his midsection after throwing a pass.
He was sacked twice and knocked down several more times.
“It was a lot of good hitting out there,” Jaguars coach Jack Del Rio said. “Two real physical teams going at it out there. I’m real proud of the effort they put forth.”
Coach Bill Cowher might be questioned for sending Roethlisberger out against Jacksonville’s aggressive defense – especially after his star quarterback woke up feeling sick Sunday and had a fever earlier Monday – but he wanted to get him ready for next week against division rival Cincinnati.
“I forgot how this feeling is,” Roethlisberger said of losing for the first time since Dec. 4, 2005. “It’s not a fun feeling. But hopefully, it’s how you rebound.”
Jacksonville faces defending division champion Indianapolis Sunday.
Leftwich completed 26 of 39 passes for 260 yards. Taylor, whose best game came against the Steelers in 2000, ran 22 times for 92 yards and caught three passes for 29 yards.