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Big Ben says he’ll play next season

PITTSBURGH–Ben Roethlisberger said he takes his career year-by-year, and he’s already made his decision on 2018.

“I look forward to next year with those guys,” Roethlisberger said, referring to his offensive line.

Roethlisberger made the statement at the end of his question-and-answer session following Sunday’s 45-42 loss to Jacksonville in the AFC playoffs.

After last year’s loss to New England in the AFC Championship game, Roethlisberger said he hadn’t made up his mind about continuing to play. Later, he said that his future was something he considered on an annual basis. It wasn’t until later in the offseason that he announced his intention to return for the 2017 season.

Despite throwing an interception that led to a touchdown and losing a fumble that became another score, Roethlisberger threw five TD passes in Sunday’s game. He completed 37 of 58 passes for 469 yards and had a passer rating of 110.5.

Roethlisberger said he believes the Steelers have the ability to win the Super Bowl.

“I absolutely do,” he said.

The Steelers haven’t reached the Super Bowl since they lost to Green Bay in Super Bowl 45 on Feb. 6, 2011.

“I definitely have a desire to play football,” Roethlisberger said. “I love this game. I love these guys.”

He said he maintains that feeling even though the season had a sour ending on Sunday.

“Like I said, it’s tough,” he said. “It stings. You hate to lose it. You hate to lose at home. I feel bad because I feel like I let the fans down, my teammates down. I feel like I let a lot of people down. And I’ll take it all on myself. That’s fine. I have no problem with that.”

Popping off

The Steelers apparently gave some Jaguars players extra motivation through disparaging posts on social media.

Some Jaguars cited posts made by Mike Mitchell and Le’Veon Bell, referring to the anticipated match-up between the Steelers and Patriots in the AFC Championship game.

Jalen Ramsey said he didn’t expect that sort of commentary from the Steelers.

“I was kinda surprised,” he said. “I was wondering why they were so confident because we stomped their (butt) the last time.”

The Jaguars beat the Steelers 30-9 on Oct. 8, the fifth game of the regular season.

Coach Mike Tomlin said his team was not overconfident on Sunday.

“This team whacked us good in October,” he said. “You kidding me? We realize this is a good football team. They played better than we did today.”

Overachieving

Jacksonville’s Blake Bortels isn’t regarded as a premier quarterback, but he’ll be playing for a Super Bowl berth this Sunday.

He said he isn’t bothered by the criticism of his work.

“I couldn’t care less what anyone in the world says about me,” he said. “I enjoy going to work every day with those guys in that locker room and the coaching staff. I enjoy everything we do, and this is the type of thing that you dream of — to get opportunities to play in games like this. To be able to come here and do that against a team like Pittsburgh, it will never change for me.

“I’m just happy to win. I have no animosity against anyone who said anything. I’m happy to be able to come here and do this with this team. There are a lot of guys (sitting at) home.”

Not as chatty

Mitchell on the Jaguars: “They’re a good team and they out-executed us today. That’s what happened.”

Asked if he felt the Steelers underachieved this season, Mitchell said, “Next question.”

Nothing sneaky

Facing two fourth-and-1 situations, the Steelers eschewed a simple quarterback sneak, despite Roethlisberger’s size and willingness to dive forward with the ball.

Roethlisberger pitched to Bell on one play for a three-yard loss and threw an incomplete pass on the other.

Why not keep it simple and sneak behind center Maurkice Pouncey?

“I don’t know,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s been a while since we’ve run a quarterback sneak. I’m for it. I don’t know — that’s kind of over my head when it comes to why we don’t do it. I’m not going to sit here and second-

guess, ‘why don’t we quarterback sneak?’ I don’t know how many years it has been since we ran a quarterback sneak. It’s not like it’s just this year. So, I don’t know.”

According to NFL Network, Roethlisberger has succeeded on 18 of 19 sneaks in his career.

Tomlin’s reason for not calling the play?

“They’re very good at stopping it,” Tomlin said. “They had people in the A’s and B’s (gaps). I stand by the calls we made. We just did not execute them. We wouldn’t be having these conversations had we executed those plays and such as life. So, I’m not looking to convince you or change your mind. I’m just telling you we were comfortable with the calls that were made, and they stood up in those moments better than we did.”

Quiet house

Steelers guard David DeCastro on falling behind 21-0: “This place felt dead before we could even get started.”

It’s over

Antonio Brown was able to play despite a calf injury and a late-week illness. He wasn’t feeling well after the game.

“Really disheartening,” Brown said. “Every year we get so close. We cannot seem to get the job done. That’s what’s so sad about the journey. You come so close. You have a bunch of men committed to a great cause putting in a lot of hard work and you fall short of it.

“It was right here. We had all our goals in line with everything we desired to do. The game was here at Heinz Field, so there was no excuse to not get the job done.”

The bottom line

Tomlin’s opening comments after the game:

“I appreciate the efforts of the guys not only today, but over the course of the journey. We did not get it done. We did not play well enough today. We did not coach well enough today. The effort was the there, the resolve was there, but just not enough detail execution to win versus good people in January football and that’s about the only way to cut it.”

Up next

The players will report to the training facility today for medical treatment and a team meeting.

Tomlin will have a season-ending press conference sometime this week.

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