Roethlisberger plays good game statistically, teammates fail to measure up

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Ben Roethlisberger was limping across the locker room and his right knee was bleeding, too. It was another tough day at the office for Roethlisberger in the stadium that is quickly becoming one of his least favorite places to visit.

When he turned around to face reporters after washing away the blood and sweat from another head-scratching loss by the bay, one would have never known by the look on his face that Roethlisberger had just played one of the best statistical games of his career.

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"We have to close out," said receiver Mike Wallace, who had eight receptions for 123 yards and a touchdown. "We kept letting them back in the game. We can't do that. We have to be able to close out the game if we want to be a playoff-caliber or Super Bowl-caliber team. We can't lose games like that. We just have to close out the game. We can't get where we want to get if we don't close out games."

That's on the defense.

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"I should have gotten down, and it changed the outcome of the game," said Brown, who had seven catches for 87 yards and a touchdown.

Or.....it could have been 31 points allowed by a defense that was number one last year.

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"We had them on the ropes a couple of drives," Miller added. "For whatever reason, they got the stops and we weren't able to put them away. If you let good teams in this league hang around and hang around all game, sooner or later, they're going to make some plays, and that's what happened today."

No, Miller. You and Ben did everything you could, and the defense failed you. A 38-31 win certainly would have been nice, but it wouldn't have impressed me. The defense failed all day, and I would have thought of the win as "The offense bailing the defense out".