The Pittsburgh Steelers are in an unfamiliar position heading into 2019, as Las Vegas oddsmakers consider them an underdog to win the AFC North behind — believe it or not — the Cleveland Browns. It does not sound like Ben Roethlisberger sees it that way, however.
While speaking with reporters on Tuesday, Roethlisberger was asked for his thoughts on the Steelers being viewed as underdogs. He didn’t exactly say the team is embracing that role.
Ben Roethlisberger on the Steelers perceived as underdogs: ‘We're still the Pittsburgh Steelers.' pic.twitter.com/N4E0I3oCSD
— Jeremy Fowler (@JFowlerESPN) June 11, 2019
“I’ve been here a long time,” Roethlisberger said with a smirk. “We’re still the Pittsburgh Steelers. We’re still gonna go out and try to win every football game. It’s been a long time since we’ve been to the big one, but if everyone puts forth the effort that we all think we can with the talent we have in this room, we feel confident we can be pretty good.”
There are obviously a lot of question marks surrounding the Steelers this year after the departures of both Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell. However, they’re confident James Conner and JuJu Smith-Schuster can continue to be productive, and head coach Mike Tomlin has implied he feels the team will be better off without Brown and Bell.
Even if they don’t want to admit they are underdogs behind the Browns, Roethlisberger and his teammates would be wise to make the most of that perception.
