He's finally getting his chance

[steelerfan513]

Those of us who watch Ben Roethlisberger on a weekly basis know what he can do and rank him among the 3 or 5 best quarterbacks in the NFL even though he rarely dazzles in the statistical department, apart from his usually high passer rating. He's always nearly flawless in running the no-huddle, and he almost never fails in the two-minute drill when the Steelers need a score to tie or win a game.

But it looks like the Steelers are finally moving towards a more pass-heavy offense because of their sputtering running game and giving Roethlisberger more responsibility outside of the last two minutes of each half. I know that they've been gradually doing that for years now, installing empty backfield sets on first down and mixing up their offense a lot more, but even in doing that, Tomlin and Arians kept to the Steelers' run first philosophy and kept Roethlisberger's attempts below 30 whenever possible.

That's no longer the case. He's attempted at least 30 passes in each game so far this season, even against Detroit when Mendenhall was averaging 5 yards per carry, and is on pace for around 550 attempts, which would be by far the most in his career. Even with this increase in workload, so far he's posting a ridiculous 8.5 yards per attempt, which puts him on pace to throw for around 4700 yards (a result that has about a 2% chance of happening, but it just shows how efficiently he's playing right now). He's also making mistakes undoubtedly with 5 INTs, 2 returned for touchdowns, but I don't think that makes the transition not worth it. It definitely hurt in the Bengals game, but defense and special teams should also shoulder some of blame for the two losses, especially the one in Chicago.

Maybe now Roethlisberger will prove that he can shoulder the responsibilities of a Peyton Manning or Tom Brady and still be as efficient as he is when he's only throwing the ball 20-25 times per game. And maybe now people will stop mistaking Pittsburgh for the power-running team they used to be but no longer can be because their offensive line can't open up holes against anyone who has even an average front seven.

[Munboy]

Ben is certainly maturing into a top QB in the league. He's seeing the field well, and in my opinion is becoming one of the best QBs at drawing coverage off a receiver by using the pump fake.

Statisically, he's pretty much on pace per usual for him. The only thing that seems to be up is his yards per game. His attemps per game is only slightly elivated and his 8.5 average is actually lower than his 8.9 avg his first 2 years in the league. One stat that does show his maturity as a QB is his completion percentage. So far this year, 73.8% is the best he's had in his career. Also, he's on pace for 29 sacks, well below the 40+ the past 2 years. A lot of the sacks are his fault because of his need to extend the play. It's both exciting and frustrating. I can't even remember the last time he threw a ball away.

He's always been excellent in the no huddle and 2 minute drives during his career, and is well on his way to replacing Elway as the comeback kid. From what I understand, he's been given more control on the field, but it all seems to be business as usual for Big Ben.