San Francisco 49ers cornerback Richard Sherman believes the Pittsburgh Steelers won’t be the same now that Ben Roethlisberger is out for the rest of the season. The star cornerback talked about the Steelers after the 49ers’ 24-20 win over the team and said they were not on the same page.
“They weren’t in sync,” Sherman told NFL.com’s Michael Silver after the game via CBS Sports. “Ben makes a lot happen off schedule by running around and being creative. People think it’s bad, but it’s a big thing for them, and they were missing it.
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“I’ll say this: You don’t understand what you’ve got till it’s gone.”
Roethlisberger had surgery on his elbow on Monday and will miss the rest of the 2019 season. Mason Rudolph was the team’s starting QB on Sunday and recorded 174 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Rudolph was solid, but the Steelers are now 0-3 on the year and they have some work to do in order to save their season.
“When you get ’em down, you gotta work in concert as a football team,” said Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin after the game. “They worked in better concert than we did. When we put their defense on a short field in the first half, they made us settle for three. When our defense was on a short field in the second half, they got touchdowns. So that’s all of us, collectively, as a football team. We didn’t do enough today to win it. We didn’t do enough today in concert to eventuate the positive. We didn’t work in concert well enough to minimize the negative.”
When Roethlisberger had his surgery, there was speculation about him retiring from the NFL. But he put those rumors to rest when he released a statement announcing his surgery.
“This is shocking and heartbreaking for me, to miss this much of a season and feel like I am letting down so many people,” Roethlisberger said. “I can only trust God’s plan, but I am completely determined to battle through this challenge and come back stronger than ever next season.”
Sherman was able to take advantage of the Steelers not having Roethlisberger as he notched two passes defended in the win. He is entering his ninth season in the league and his second with the 49ers after spending his first seven seasons with the Seattle Seahawks.
