Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger played a terrific second half in Sunday’s win over the Atlanta Falcons. Apparently, that was due to a little tweak in his throwing motion.

On his weekly 93.7 FM radio segment Tuesday, Roethlisberger admitted that he is still being bothered by an elbow injury he suffered in Week 1. As a result, he decided to adjust his mechanics at halftime.

“The second half, I had a talk with myself and said I had to suck it up and deliver the ball like I need to and force my way through it,” Roethlisberger said per Joe Rutter of the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

“I was just dealing with a little bit of an elbow issue. It made me drop my elbow a little bit for the comfort factor, which causes the ball to sail.”

Article Continues Below

That tweak proved to have a tremendous effect as he completed 10 of 12 passes for 155 yards and two touchdowns for a perfect passer rating in the second half. It was a tremendous improvement from the first half when Roethlisberger went just 9 of 17 for 95 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Roethlisberger has not had a particularly strong start to the season, and his lingering elbow injury has likely played a significant part in his recent struggles. It remains to be seen how long the injury ends up being an issue for him this season.

Luckily, the Falcons game shows that he is clearly capable of overcoming his physical limitations. The challenge for him now is to find more consistency in his throwing motion so that the Steelers can finally start to reel off some wins this season after their relatively slow start.