Keystone Today

It's still early in the season, but the Pittsburgh Steelers need to step up their game, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said after the team's loss to the Las Vegas Raiders Sept. 19.

"We knew going in they had a good rush, high motor guys who were going to get after it,"  Roethlisberger said, according to the Steelers' website. "You have  to prepare for that. But we all need to be better to eliminate hits, to have a better run game, to have more big plays, to be more efficient. It's on all of us to help with those things."

He called the Steelers' offense a "group effort" that doesn't require players to be great, just good.

"If we're all good, then collectively we can be great," Roethlisberger said. "Offense is such a group effort. It takes literally all 11 guys every play to make it work. When one guy's a little off here or there, it can affect the whole thing. We're just going to keep learning and growing and figuring out how we can try and get better."

The Steelers are 1-1 so far for the season.

"Maybe a little bit (of urgency), but we still have to walk a line, careful not trying to do too much," the quarterback said. "You know, we're not panicking. It's only the second week. We're 1-1, we lost to a team that's 2-0 and it was a one-score game till the end. It feels like a bad feeling, a bad loss, but we understand it's real early in the season. Everyone in our division has the same record, so we're going to get ourselves together and get ready to go."

Roethlisberger was sacked twice during the Raiders game, injuring his left pectoral muscle. "I don't know how it happened. I just know it happened early in the game," Roethlisberger said. He didn't say if he would be playing Sunday's game against the Cincinnati Bengals.