The Steelers will gladly live with Roethlisberger

Ron Cook: Steelers gladly live with Roethlisberger

December 20, 2015
By Ron Cook / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette



They met in the Steelers locker room after the game, general manager Kevin Colbert and quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Colbert was ecstatic. The Steelers had just climbed out of a 27-10 hole, rallying against the NFL’s best defense to beat the Denver Broncos, 34-27. Roethlisberger was relieved. He threw a late interception that could have ruined his and his team’s otherwise spectacular second-half performance.

“I told Kevin, ‘I’ve got to stop trying to make plays,’ ” Roethlisberger said. “He said, ‘No, you don’t. We’ll always live with you and die with you.’ It makes you feel good.”

Roethlisberger made plenty of plays before forcing a pass that was intercepted by linebacker Brandon Marshall at the Steelers 41 with 2:01 left and the Steelers leading, 34-27. After his defense bailed him out by forcing four consecutive incompletions, Roethlisberger completed one final pass to ice the win. His 8-yard throw to wide receiver Antonio Brown on third-and-5 at the Steelers 46 with 1:30 left allowed the Steelers to run out the clock and stay in control of the final AFC wild-card slot.

“You feel like you’ve killed the team,” Roethlisberger said of his interception. “I’m always going to beat myself up. But no one else did. I came off the field and [cornerback] Will Gay said, ‘We’ll get you the ball back.’ And they did …

“I was glad when the [pass] call came in at the end, that it wasn’t just a run and let’s punt it and rely on our defense. It was faith and belief in me from the coaches and players. It was great.”

Why not have faith in Roethlisberger? He is playing the best football of his Hall of Fame-caliber career. He completed 40 of 55 passes for 380 yards and three touchdowns, all in the second half. It was his fifth 300-plus-yard game in the past six. It might have been his most impressive performance because of the competition. The Broncos defense came in No. 1 in the NFL in points allowed per game (17.3), yards allowed per game (272.5) and passing yards allowed per game (188.2).

“The nameless gray faces we play are irrelevant if we’re on our game,” Steelers coach Mike Tomlin said. “We feel like we’re pretty good on offense. If we take care of the ball, we feel like we can go up and down the field on anyone.”

Roethlisberger said there was no panic after the Steelers fell behind by 17 points late in the first half.

“It’s a belief in each other. Belief in the system. Belief that we can do whatever we want.”

The Steelers wanted to throw it on this day. Their run game did nothing; DeAngelo Williams had just 26 yards on 14 carries. Roethlisberger said throwing the ball so much was by design.

“Because of the defense they gave us. They stayed in it so we had to throw it. And when you’ve got the receivers that we do, why not?”

Really, why not?

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Ben Roethlisberger's elite playmaking offsets growing interception total

Jeremy Fowler
ESPN Staff Writer

In 10 games with Ben Roethlisberger at quarterback, the 2015 Pittsburgh Steelers have averaged 338 passing yards per game (easily the league’s best), posted six straight games of 30 or more points and destructed the Steelers’ age-old model that grinding out games with defense is the way to win.

Roethlisberger has entered a stratosphere few can. Based on per-game averages, he’s producing at a clip of 5,390 yards and 29 touchdowns over a full season.

The only compromised number on his 2015 resume is the interception total. A few curious interceptions have blemished his stat line -- slightly.

Roethlisberger has 12 picks through 10 games, joining Joe Flacco and Peyton Manning as the only quarterbacks with 12 or more while playing 10 or fewer games. A pass thrown into double coverage with 2:01 left gave the Denver Broncos new life Sunday night, though the Steelers defense got a stop to preserve a 34-27 win. Roethlisberger's 1.2 interceptions per game is his highest average since 2006.

This is a minor problem.

Here’s why it’s not a major one: The Steelers can live with the mishaps three percent of the time because the other 97 percent of the time Roethlisberger is so explosive.

They can deal with these numbers as a result: 38, 30, 30, 45, 33, 34. Those are the Steelers' scoring totals since mid-November.

Roethlisberger is attempting about 40 passes per game. These aren't dumpoffs. Most of his throws test the defense. For much of the season, Roethlisberger's passes have traveled nearly 11 yards in the air on average, the highest mark in the league.

He attempted 55 passes against one of the league’s best defenses Sunday. The Steelers got 40 completions, 380 yards and three touchdowns out of those 55 passes. The two turnovers become less important as a result.

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Art Rooney II Says It’s Too Early For Steelers To Plan For Life After Ben Roethlisberger

http://www.steelersdepot.com/2016/01/art-rooney-interview-2016-ben-roethlisberger/

the most underrated QB of this generation. Considering the best 2 QBS who ever plays, Manning and Brady are in his conference and he was able to get 3 super bowl appearances and 2 wins is amazing. since 2001 when Brady took over for Bledsoe, only Gannon and Flacco were the other two qbs.

I'll take our QB and offense over any in the league right now. so much speed its almost ridiculous

Ben Roethlisberger is AFC North's most valuable player

Feb 12, 2016
Jeremy Fowler
ESPN Staff Writer

NFL Nation reporters from the AFC North -- Jeremy Fowler, Coley Harvey, Jamison Hensley and Pat McManamon -- have reviewed the film and sorted through the analytics to determine the 2015 annual awards for the division. On Friday, we hand out the AFC North most valuable player.

Winner: Ben Roethlisberger

Runner-up: Antonio Brown

Brown gave 136 reasons why he's an MVP candidate. Andy Dalton had the league's second-highest passer rating before a thumb injury derailed his season.

But Ben Roethlisberger was clearly the catalyst for the AFC North's best offense. He earned his divisional MVP award with playmaking ability that few matched in 2015.

Roethlisberger's 328 passing yards per game led the NFL. He consistently challenged defenses in fearless fashion. For much of the season, Roethlisberger's passes, on average, traveled nearly 11 yards in the air before reaching a receiver, also tops in the league.

This is not a check-down quarterback. This is one of the most feared, and one of the most difficult matchups for defensive coordinators.

Who else beat the league's best defense, Denver, with 55 passing attempts? Fifty-five!

Yes, Roethlisberger's 16 interceptions in 12 games were a problem. He averaged 1.3 per game. Only Peyton Manning (1.7) had a worse average in 10 or more starts. But Roethlisberger averaged 39.1 passing attempts per game. Only Philip Rivers and Drew Brees threw more often. The Steelers could live with the picks because of the quarterback's knack for making big plays.

The Steelers should consider themselves lucky they went 2-2 without Roethlisberger. Just consider Brown's production. He averaged 133 yards per game with Big Ben and 59 per game without him. For as great as Brown is, Roethlisberger still stirs the drink.

The Steelers' streak of six straight games with at least 30 points was truly special, and Roethlisberger's arm drove that streak. He played through several injuries to stay on the field. He's thrived in Todd Haley's system that emphasizes rhythm and timing in the passing game.

Roethlisberger is undervalued in his own locker room, winning one team-voted MVP in 12 seasons. Not here. He's a logical choice as division MVP.

http://espn.go.com/blog/afcnorth/post/_/id/87615/ben-roethlisberger-is-afc-norths-most-valuable-player

The evolution of Ben Roethlisberger as a quick-strike passer

Ben Roethlisberger has the footwork of a finesse offensive tackle and the right arm power of the bear in "The Revenant." For years, those two qualities made Roethlisberger a natural at staying in the pocket for four, five, six seconds at a time while waiting for big downfield plays to develop.

As the hits mounted, the Pittsburgh Steelers turned to offensive coordinator Todd Haley, who has Roethlisberger racking up more yards and less poundage.

That doesn’t mean former coordinator Bruce Arians wasn’t good for Roethlisberger. He was. He’s a great playcaller. But Roethlisberger now looks more like a pure, drop-back passer than at any point in his career.

An unscientific, 20-throw sampling from the Week 15 win over the Denver Broncos shows three things:

* On short routes, the ball comes out fast.

* On intermediate to longer routes, the ball comes out in rhythm.

* There are minimal "Ben being Ben" scramble plays that were once his trademark.

“You never want Big Ben to lose creative ability -- that’s what makes him unique,” said ESPN Insider Matt Bowen, a former NFL safety for seven seasons. “But what’s made him better is staying through the pocket, finding the matchups he wants, and not having to put so much stress on his body.”

What stands out about Roethlisberger in 2015 was how quickly he released the ball. Of 20 throws against Denver -- tracking two first-quarter drives and most of the fourth quarter -- Roethlisberger released the ball in less than 2 seconds on nine of them (unofficial stop watch). Roethlisberger held the ball for longer than 3 seconds on five of those 20 attempts. Nearly everything was out of the shotgun with one true I-formation, seven-step drop in the sample of passing downs. Denver was a unique game because the Broncos stacked the box and forced Roethlisberger to throw a lot. But this game is a good example of Roethlisberger's skill set overall.

Yes, Roethlisberger has the perfect assortment of playmaking weapons for which to spread the ball. But he’s also refined his footwork and mechanics while throwing with conviction, knowing exactly where he wants to go with the ball.

“His footwork has improved, his eyes and vision have improved, and improved quickly,” Bowen said. “It’s also a confidence level that you can’t see on tape.”

Some things you can see on tape. Below is a four-frame snapshot of how Roethlisberger is currently operating the Steelers offense:

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