Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger Completely Contradicts What Mike Tomlin Said About The Christmas Day Interception

While the Pittsburgh Steelers prepare for their season finale, there are still a ton of questions surrounding the offense and how they will get over their slump they have faced in the last three games. While Russell Wilson overall has played very well for the Steelers, his efficiency has taken a turn for the worse when Pittsburgh faced the top teams in the NFL. Wilson has turned the ball over four times in the last three games, including two interceptions and two lost fumbles. Wilson isn't fully to blame according to a Pittsburgh legend; he believes that a lack of effort from George Pickens a major contributor to Wilson's first quarter interception on Christmas Day.

Steelers legend Ben Roethlisberger talked about Pittsburgh's loss against the Kansas City Chiefs on his podcast, Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger and he put 90% of the blame on Pickens for not running his route correctly. He believes that if Pickens ran his route, the safety has to respect him and doesn't play the ball intended for Pat Freiermuth.

"Issue number one and they showed the replay is George Pickens didn't run his route," said Roethlisberger. "That's issue number one, because if he doesn't run his route, which he didn't, he just kind of, I don't even know what you call it, the safety has no threat now. If I'm the safety and I'm looking back at the quarterback and my priority is I have this part of the field, well if that receiver who never makes it to my zone, well I don't have to look at my zone anymore. I can now turn my head in and look for anything coming into a zone from the middle, which is exactly what happened. He's got Pat going down the middle and now I can go rob that ball because there's nothing holding me over here. if George runs his route down the sideline, I have to honor that."

While Roethlisberger puts majority of the blame on Pickens, he does put 10% on Wilson for blindly throwing it to Freiermuth. Wilson has got to see that Pickens didn't run his route correctly and know that the safety is lurking in the middle of the field, but unfortunately, he didn't and the Chiefs picked him off.

"Now Russ has got to see that, he can't blindly throw a ball in there," explained Roethlisberger.

While Roethlisberger still put a bit of the blame on Wilson, it all leads to Pickens not running his route thoroughly enough. If he runs his route hard, the safety isn't in a great position to make a play on the ball because he's more focused on Pickens. This 100% contradicts what Head Coach Mike Tomlin told the media during his Week 18 press conference where he said that Pickens' route running had nothing to do with the interception. Roethlisberger's break down of the play tells fans otherwise. 

There is no telling why Pickens didn't run the proper route on that play. It could have been that he knew that he wasn't getting the ball and didn't care to run his route, or it may have been miscommunication of what the play was. No matter the reason, Roethlisberger put a massive portion of the blame on the number one receiver.

Steelers Should Be Concerned With The Late Season Skid If Mistakes Are Not Corrected

The Steelers are walking into Week 18 trying to find a way to create some positive momentum to take into the playoffs. As the saying goes, winning cures all ailments and a win is much needed for Pittsburgh's sake. 

While the interception thrown by Wilson was a crucial one with the Steelers about to cut into the Chiefs' lead, other mistakes, not just on the offensive side of the ball, hindered their ability to win on Christmas Day. 

Do you agree with Roethlisberger that majority of the blame is on Pickens for the first quarter interception? Can the Steelers turn it around with the little time they have left before the playoffs? Let us know what you think in the comments below!

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