By Teresa Varley
Steelers.com

            There isn’t a player on the Steelers roster who wasn’t disappointed with the outcome of Sunday’s game against the Bengals and the three-game losing streak the team is now on, but while they are down they aren’t out. They know it’s a tough road ahead and they are going to attack it with all they have.

 

“We’re not down at all,” said cornerback Ike Taylor. “It’s tough losing three in a row. That’s not big over here. Coach (Bill Cowher) has a high standard over here. Losing three is not something we want to do. It’s something we can clean up.

 

            “We are refocused. Everybody has to look at himself in the mirror and see what you can do individually to help this team. We have to see what we did our first nine games that we didn’t do our last three games. We have to make an effort, can’t make mental mistakes, mistakes that we can clean up and should not happen.

 

            “It’s the mental aspect of it. Physically we give a good effort, but we have to stay focused mentally for 60 minutes.”

 

            The team had their normal Monday meetings this week following a loss, watching film of the game and the like. But instead of having the coaches grade them, the players were asked to look deep inside and grade themselves, something that hasn’t been the norm and something that gives the players a better chance to look at their performance.

 

            “It was a little change-up,” said Taylor. “We get graded every week. But this week it was taking the notebook out and grading yourself and giving yourself a plus or minus for each individual play we had Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. We graded ourselves individually, every man for himself seeing what you can do to help the team out.”

 

            Taylor and his teammates know that they can’t worry about what other teams do right now, even though they don’t control their own destiny. They just have to stay completely focused on the game at hand and nothing more.

 

            “We have a whole month ahead of us,” said Taylor. “We can’t control what others do, all we can do is control what we do against Chicago, who is our next opponent. Basically with us it’s just mental.”

 

            * * *

 

            There wasn’t one play or player who could be blamed for the loss to the Bengals, but there were plenty who stepped up and shouldered the responsibility.

           

            “I’ll take the blame,” said quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who completed 29 passes for 386 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions. “I think our offensive line played great, our running backs played great. Wide receivers, tight ends - they did a great job today. The quarterback didn’t play as good as he should have.”

 

                Others saw it differently. Wide receiver Hines Ward had nine receptions for 135 yards and two touchdowns. But he came down on himself for a fumble and a dropped touchdown.

 

                “I’m just as much to credit for this loss as anything,” said Ward. “It wasn’t one of my better days at the office.”

 

                The offense put an uncharacteristic 31 points on the board, but the defense allowed the Bengals to score 38 points.

 

            “Defensive-wise we have to hold it down for the offense,” said Taylor. “The offense picked it up this week. We didn’t hold it down for the team. It hurts. We have a month of football left and we have to start on Chicago.”