Steelers' Ben Roethlisberger Has 1 Immense Request For Mike McCarthy After Week 1 Preseason Win

The Pittsburgh Steelers were full of good vibes after their preseason Week 1 victory over the Green Bay Packers. There were plenty of good takeaways from that contest, especially from the rookies. The biggest headline from this was how calm and collected Drew Allar looked throughout his time on the field. Even though he was going up against third- and fourth-string defenders primarily, he didn't look like the same erratic kid that caused scouts to doubt his potential at the NFL level. His three-touchdown night shows that there is definitely a lot of talent there. 

Obviously, there were plenty of negatives from the game that need to be fixed. Former Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger wants to see one of these issues dealt with as soon as possible. While hosting the latest episode of Footbahlin with Ben Roethlisberger, he explained what needs to be changed before the next preseason game.

"One of the things that I noticed last night was the amount of penalties," Roethlisberger said. "It has to be a little bit concerning-ish, especially the pre- and post-snap penalties: the things that you should be able to control. The personal fouls, any of that kind of stuff -- we've had a little bit of a penalty issue here the last five, seven, 10 years."

Penalties were definitely a problem for the Steelers in this game, and they have been all throughout training camp. This is not the first time that Head Coach Mike McCarthy has addressed this problem since the team reported for training camp, and it likely will not be the last time we hear about in August. That should be expected when the team takes 11 fouls for 134 yards in a single game. 

Roethlisberger continued on as he demanded this issue get dealt with immediately, as opposed to just waiting around and hoping things get better on their own.

"We saw the penalties. Now, my next question is, is it going to get resolved?" asked Roethlisberger. "Are you going to be in trouble for it or is it just going to be like, 'Hey guys, let's try to not do that again?' Let's see where this goes, because we can't keep being a highly penalized football team and be a Super Bowl contender."

There's no doubt that these penalties were getting out of hand. As Roethlisberger mentioned, the Steelers committed seven penalties before the Packers got flagged once. One of them was a holding call on Troy Fautanu that wiped away a touchdown, not to mention the false start he had earlier in the drive. That drive would eventually end in a turnover on downs at the one-yard line.

There were so many other penalties taken that were just boneheaded decisions, like back-to-back unnecessary roughness calls defensively in the second quarter. You can't give a team 30 free yards like that and not expect them to walk away with zero points, even though it happened on that particular drive. There were some other 15-yard penalties taken that were just not smart.

Steelers Can Blame One Man For A Large Chunk Of Penalty Issues

At least four of the 11 penalties came during special teams, including each of the first three calls of the game. This is an issue for Danny Crossman, the new special teams coordinator. This was already a problem when Danny Smith ran this aspect of the team, and it seems like not much has changed there. The holding calls are already frustrating for the fan base, but the ones that can really infuriate everyone are the ones where every player knows better.

On the very first drive, veteran defensive lineman Dean Lowry got called for roughing the snapper on a field goal attempt. Luckily, all it did was eat more clock before the Packers kicked the field goal again. Ben Skowronek also had an unnecessary roughness call during a punt. These are what coaches would consider "dumb penalties," and these can cost Pittsburgh games if they don't get fixed now.

What do you think about Roethlisberger wanting McCarthy to get people in trouble for the penalty problem? Let us know on X at @Steelers_ChrisB.

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