Ben sorry, Rashard not, as Steelers' soap drama continues

December 19, 2012
By Ed Bouchette / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Ben Roethlisberger offered an apology but Rashard Mendenhall did not in the latest episode of 'As The Steelers Turn'.

The soap opera that has been the 2012 season took another twist when Roethlisberger apologized, not necessarily for what he said after Sunday's game that some took as criticism of coordinator Todd Haley, but for his words being misinterpreted and causing a "storm."

"I came in and I apologized to Todd, I apologized to Mike [Tomlin] and I apologized to Mr. Rooney because I let my frustrations jump out after a game," Roethlisberger said. "I don't usually do that. Usually, I keep it under control. I was just frustrated with myself and I'll be better at that."

After his interception in overtime set up the winning score in their 27-24 loss to Dallas, Roethlisberger accepted blame. He also mentioned a call was made on a 30-yard touchdown pass to Heath Miller that turned out not to be a good call because the Cowboys dropped into a prevent defense.

It was no criticism of the original play-call, Roethlisberger said.

"What I said was they called a prevent defense and the play we had called was not a good play call. The play was called before we saw the defense. They just came out in a defense that had us thumped. There was nothing we could do. We just improvised and made a play. It had nothing to do with seeing a defense and calling a bad play. It was just that the play that was called, they ran the perfect defense for it. We improvised and Heath made a play."

As for his comments that they stopped throwing to Miller in the second half after he caught six passes in the first, Roethlisberger explained this way:

"Any time you have a pass play you have multiple options. We usually don't just send one guy out. There's probably opportunities that anybody can get the ball, whether they're open, whether they're covered, whether I don't see them, there are always things that are like that. There were probably times that I didn't see Heath in the second half that he was open, as with Mike [Wallace], Antonio [Brown], Emmanuel [Sanders] and anybody else that was out there."

Mendenhall made no apologies for skipping the game at Heinz Field Dec. 9, an action that drew a one-week suspension (and loss of $41,000 in salary) from Tomlin that ended Monday.

"I'm really not trying to go back into that," Mendenhall said at first. "It's good to be back."

But when told that Tomlin used the word "frustration" to describe how Mendenhall felt, the halfback disputed that.

"I wouldn't use that word," Mendenhall said about his reasons for not attending the game. "There's a lot of thought that goes into everything that I do."

Mendenhall practiced with the team on Wednesday. Tomlin has not indicated whether Mendenhall will dress for Sunday's game against Cincinnati or not.

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