Ben Roethlisberger on Monday threw three touchdown passes in his first game in a year as the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the New York Giants 26-16 in the NFL season opener for both teams.
Roethlisberger, who played in just two games last year before needing season-ending elbow surgery, completed 21 of 32 passes for 229 yards in the empty Metlife Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
“I am just so excited, I am just thankful. I told the guys in the locker room before the game that I’m back because of them,” Roethlisberger said.
Photo: AP
“I don’t need to accomplish anything personally any more. It’s about being with a defense that I think is as good as any I have ever played with, skill guys that are young and fun to play with and then, of course my line, who I love to death and they love me,” he said.
“They are the reason I came back to play,” Roethlisberger added.
The Steelers need Roethlisberger to return to his 2018 form if they are to make the playoffs in the American Football Conference.
Roethlisberger threw touchdown passes to JuJu Smith-Schuster (10 yards) and James Washington (13) in the second quarter to give the Steelers a 16-10 halftime lead. The scoring toss to Washington came with seven seconds left after the Steelers traveled 78 yards on eight plays.
“Us being out there right before half having two minutes to go down out points on the board it was like: ‘OK that is the Ben we know,’” Smith-Schuster said.
“Being able to go down and have those points on the board [on that] drive — that is what we do,” he said.
Smith-Schuster caught two touchdown passes, while Benny Snell rushed for a career-high 113 yards on 19 carries for the Steelers, who finished 8-8 last season.
Quarterback Daniel Jones was 26-for-41 for 279 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions for the Giants, who played their first game under 38-year-old rookie head coach Joe Judge.
The Steelers defense smothered Giants running back Saquon Barkley, who finished with just six yards on 15 carries, but did have six receptions for 60 yards.
“I have to be better. I have to be better for the team. We have to get the running game going,” Barkley said.
Darius Slayton caught six passes for 102 yards and two touchdowns for the Giants.
In Monday’s other game, it was:
‧ Titans 16, Broncos 14
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
If all goes well when the biggest marathon field ever gathered in Australia races 42km through the streets of Sydney on Sunday, World Marathon Majors (WMM) will soon add a seventh race to the elite series. The Sydney Marathon is to become the first race since Tokyo in 2013 to join long-established majors in New York, London, Boston, Berlin and Chicago if it passes the WMM assessment criteria for the second straight year. “We’re really excited for Sunday to arrive,” race director Wayne Larden told a news conference in Sydney yesterday. “We’re prepared, we’re ready. All of our plans look good on
The lights dimmed and the crowd hushed as Karoline Kristensen entered for her performance. However, this was no ordinary Dutch theater: The temperature was 80°C and the audience naked apart from a towel. Dressed in a swimsuit and to the tune of emotional music, the 21-year-old Kristensen started her routine, performed inside a large sauna, with a bed of hot rocks in the middle. For a week this month, a group of wellness practitioners, called “sauna masters,” are gathering at a picturesque health resort in the Netherlands to compete in this year’s Aufguss world sauna championships. The practice takes its name from a
When details from a scientific experiment that could have helped clear Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva landed at the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA), the leader of the organization’s reaction was unequivocal: “We have to stop that urgently,” he wrote. No mention of the test ever became public and Valieva’s defense at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) went on without it. What effect the information could have had on Valieva’s case is unclear, but without it, the skater, then 15 years old, was eventually disqualified from the 2022 Winter Olympics after testing positive for a banned heart medication that would later