During his latest episode of “Footbahlin with Ben,” former Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger recorded himself and his co-host, Spencer Te’o, watching and analyzing Sunday night’s Steelers-Dolphins game in real time.
It was interesting to see how he was taking in the game on television just like the rest of the country. But he was breaking down plays, in the moment, on a snap-to-snap perspective through the eyes of a future Hall of Fame quarterback.
To that point, fast forward to the end of the game when quarterback Kenny Pickett threw the game-clinching interception. The pick by Noah Igbinoghene at the goal line sealed the 16-10 win for Miami after Pickett nearly led a game-winning touchdown drive.
.@MiamiDolphins INT TO SEAL THE WIN. #FinsUp
: #PITvsMIA on NBC
: Stream on NFL+ https://t.co/vDQGJ9SfCd pic.twitter.com/81uBSUIz1c— NFL (@NFL) October 24, 2022
After gasping at the result of the throw — as pretty much every Pittsburgher did — Roethlisberger posed this possibility as to what happened on the play in the end zone.
“It could’ve been where the receiver (Dionate Johnson) could’ve been coming back and turned up at the last minute. So (Pickett) thought he was coming back, and he threw it,” Roethlisberger theorized while watching the broadcast.
Sure enough, Roethlisberger’s initial first-glance guess matched up nearly verbatim with how Pickett eventually explained the play.
“I felt the clock winding down and wanted to give ‘Tae a chance to make a play,” Pickett told reporters after the game. “Just a miscommunication. I thought he was going to come back down. He ended up going vertical. I wanted to put it high and outside and give him a chance to make a play, but that’s on me. I’ve got to run it there and get out of bounds or just throw it out, throw it away, and play another down and give us a better chance.”
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Roethlisberger said he sympathized with Pickett for how the game ended.
“I hate it for Kenny,” Roethlisberger said. “He drove them all the way down the field. And it was like, did he make a bad choice there or … I need to know. Because … man that’s awful.”
So there you have it, Pittsburgh. The same guy you rooted for in a few hundred of those situations had exactly the same reaction — and questions — about how that game went down Sunday night as you did.
But maybe with just a touch more instinct as to how exactly it went wrong.
