Even for quarterbacks as great as Russell Wilson and Ben Roethlisberger, you will have low moments if you play long enough. Wilson had one such moment in a crushing loss to the Baltimore Ravens, preventing the Steelers from securing the division.
The Steelers have survived on creating turnovers and protecting the football, but not on Saturday. They forced multiple fumbles but couldn’t recover them. A pick-six by Russell Wilson even spoiled Minkah Fitzpatrick’s first interception in nearly two years. It was just that kind of day—the sort of day Roethlisberger remembers. He defended the fumble, but he knew the throw was one every quarterback would want back.
“I’ve been there before”, Roethlisberger said on his Footbahlin podcast about Wilson’s fourth-quarter interception. “I’ve thrown interceptions where you’re just like, the second it leaves your hand, you wish it was on a string and you could like, Spidey-pull it back. Go, go gadget arm. It’s the worst feeling”.
It marked Wilson’s second pick-six of the year, though the first one was pretty questionable. It was just the ninth of his career, which is half as many as Ben Roethlisberger threw. Wilson is now tied for the 90th-most pick-sixes. Roethlisberger is tied for 18th, though in good company with Tom Brady and John Elway. Still, this was a particularly bad pick-six.
“It didn’t appear to me that the guy made a good play”, Roethlisberger said in going over Wilson’s throw. That was not to say anything negative about the defender but simply pointing out he didn’t have to do much “It looked like just a bad ball. He threw it behind his receiver. And the guy that was chasing is the guy that can catch the ball”.
Ben Roethlisberger threw multiple pick-sixes in one game during his career. He said there is “nothing worse for a quarterback” because when you throw an interception, you can count on your defense to get the ball back, and if it does, you can make things right. With a pick-six—that’s it. The damage is done, and you have to start over. For Russell Wilson and the Steelers on Saturday, it was too late in the game.
“You can’t make that play. You can’t throw that ball. And I know he knows that”, Roethlisberger said of Wilson. “And again, I’ve been there, too. I’ve thrown that ball. I’ve thrown a pass where you’re like, ‘The guy’s there and I just didn’t make the throw’. But that was a killer.
“That was a backbreaker”.
And it certainly felt like it. Fitzpatrick’s now-rare interception seemed to swing the momentum back to the Steelers. The Ravens were threatening to drive for another touchdown and make it a multi-possession game. All of a sudden, they were back and business—until they weren’t due to Wilson’s interception.
Even with that, Russell Wilson still has just a 1.5-percent interception rate this season, the second-lowest mark of his career. He now has four this year for the Steelers, two of which were pick-sixes, one of which was nonsense. But this was the worst of his interceptions, perhaps his lowest moment with the team. If he can lead the Steelers to wins over the Chiefs and Bengals, I’m sure all will be forgiven.
