Mike Tomlin: 'That pick-six was the significant play'

(Photo by Timothy T Ludwig/Getty Images)

Ben Roethlisberger's poor play against Buffalo on Sunday night was the biggest reason why the Steelers lost to the Bills, 26-15. It was by far his worst game of the year.

Roethlisberger finished the game 21 of 37 (56.8%) for 187 yards, two touchdowns, two interceptions and had a quarterback rating of 65.9. Both his completion percentage and quarterback rating were season lows.

On Roethlisberger's first interception, he got picked off by cornerback Taron Johnson and it was returned 51 yards for a touchdown to give the Bills a 9-7 lead with 52 seconds remaining in the second quarter. Johnson read Roethlisberger's eyes the whole time as he was staring down JuJu Smith-Schuster on the play.

The Bills had all the momentum going into halftime after Johnson's pick-six and that carried over into the second half, as the Bills scored touchdowns on their first two possessions in the third quarter. The Bills scored 23 unanswered points after the Steelers took a 7-0 lead in the second quarter. Roethlisberger's ill-advised pass that got picked off and returned for a touchdown was the play of the game though.

“We made a few plays in the first half. Defensively, they made a few plays and their plays were more significant than ours," Mike Tomlin said after the game. "That pick-six was the significant play. So you have to give them credit.”

Roethlisberger put all the blame on himself for the pick-six.

"I saw them go into a zone coverage, so I tried to keep JuJu going out to the corner to get blown up," Roethlisberger said after the loss. "I put it a little bit on his body behind him, and the guy made a good play. It’s just a bad play on my part. You can’t do that at the end of the half, giving them points, not just a turnover, but they get points off it, 110 percent on me."