The standings say the Dallas Cowboys, at 8-1 after a win over the Steelers on Sunday, are the NFL's best team. Pete Prisco's Week 10 Power Rankings agree. And so does the guy who lost to Dallas.
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, appearing on CBS Sports Radio affiliate 92.3 the Fan in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, said the Cowboys are the best.
Roethlisberger was specifically answering a question about accountability -- a topic he addressed after the game Sunday -- and what he meant when noting the Steelers were trying to figure out who was at fault during the recent string of losses.
"If one little piece of the puzzle is out of place, the whole picture is messed up or the whole picture can be," Roethlisberger said. "When you're playing the best team in the NFL, which we played last Sunday, you can't afford to miss those little details. It definitely was a tough loss. I've never experienced an up and down that dramatic at the end of a football game."
An important piece of information is the schedule. The Steelers have played the Patriots and the Cowboys. Roethlisberger did not play vs. New England, but he knows the team well and was on hand to see how they looked.
He believes Dallas is indeed the best team, a claim he repeated later in the interview.
"If there is ever a silver lining to take out of a football game, which a loss is a loss and that will eat all of us up and chew us all up, is that's probably the best team in football and we fought our butts off," Roethlisberger said. "And it came down to the last nine seconds or whatever it was. We just have to come back to work on Wednesday with AFC North football on our minds and get ready to play."
There is another silver lining for the Steelers: their schedule gets easier down the stretch. A trip to Cleveland, a must-win game not only because they need the win but also because you just can't lose to the Browns, is the first of two games against the league's worst team.
They have four road games, but the Colts and Bills are beatable on the road. The Bengals in Cincy could very well determine who challenges the Ravens for the division.
Pittsburgh is far from done, but losing to the NFL's best team Sunday afternoon didn't help.
