The Steelers announced yesterday they're bringing back Ben Roethlisberger as their starter in 2021. I probably shouldn't have been surprised, but a lot of recent stories seemed to suggest a split was coming. And in my memory, Roethlisberger's game really tailed off the second half of the season.
Looking at the numbers, there's some cause for concern, but it's wrong to suggest he fell off a cliff. Even if we set aside Roethlisberger throwing for over 500 yards in a bizarre playoff loss to Cleveland, the 38-year-old quarterback did not show a dramatic decline down the stretch. He was worse in some respects, on average, but better in others.
His consistency, certainly, can be questioned. He had dud games in a pair of losses to Buffalo and Cincinnati (an average of 179 passing yards, with a total of 3 touchdowns). But those were sandwiched by games with 300-plus passing yards and 2 and 3 TDs against strong Washington and Indianapolis defenses.
Here are the numbers on first-half Ben Roethlisberger versus second-half Roethlisberger.
| 2020 ROETHLISBERGER (GAMES 1-8) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| at NYG | 65.6 | 229 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 117.8 |
| Den. | 70.7 | 311 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 98.7 |
| Hou. | 63.9 | 237 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 101.3 |
| Phil. | 79.4 | 239 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 125.4 |
| Clev. | 63.6 | 162 | 1.0 | 0.0 | 100.9 |
| at Tenn. | 65.3 | 268 | 2.0 | 3.0 | 67.4 |
| at Balt. | 65.6 | 182 | 2.0 | 0.0 | 101.3 |
| at Dall. | 69.1 | 306 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 113.8 |
| Avg. | 67.9 | 242 | 2.3 | 0.5 | 103.3 |
| 2020 ROETHLISBERGER (GAMES 9-15) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Opp | Cmp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate |
| Cin. | 58.7 | 333 | 4.0 | 0.0 | 110.1 |
| at Jax. | 69.6 | 267 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 89.7 |
| Balt. | 70.6 | 266 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 81.0 |
| Wash. | 62.3 | 305 | 2.0 | 1.0 | 82.7 |
| at Buf. | 56.8 | 187 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 65.9 |
| Cin. | 52.6 | 170 | 1.0 | 1.0 | 62.4 |
| Ind. | 69.4 | 341 | 3.0 | 0.0 | 109.3 |
| Avg. | 62.8 | 267 | 2.1 | 0.9 | 85.9 |
The most noteworthy difference is interceptions. He threw just 4 in his first eight games, but 6 in his last seven. That accounts for the difference in quarterback rating, and also factored into the team's 8-0 record, versus 4-3 in his last seven. Matchups are part of that, but maybe that's your evidence of a decline -- forcing throws that weren't there, or having more confidence in his ability that his arm couldn't back up. He threw for over 500 yards and 4 TDs in that playoff loss to Cleveland, but was also intercepted 4 times.
At the end of the day, I don't expect to have Roethlisberger on any of my teams. There's enough good there that I understand Pittsburgh bringing him back for 2021, but enough bad that it's not surprising there was (apparently) some internal debate over whether they should. It seems a lot more likely that Roethlisberger is closer to what we saw out of Drew Brees this past year than Tom Brady or Aaron Rodgers. More likely things end with disappointment than a final Super Bowl run.
--Andy Richardson