Myth: Ben Roethlisberger only “Manages the Game”.

After watching both Tommy Maddox and Charlie Batch “stink it up” in relief appearances for Ben Roethlisberger this season, I think it’s safe to debunk this myth about the Steelers that our Quarterback only has to “manage the game”. Ben Roethlisberger is the most important person on our football team, period.

Most NFL analysts must not watch Steelers games, especially the couple of games that Big Ben has been forced to sit out due to injury. When analysts talk about the Steelers, they generally repeat two points over and over again:

1) The Steelers win because they run the ball better than anyone else.

Is this true? Let’s look at the statistics: Thus far two teams have had more attempts than the Steelers, Atlanta and Dallas. We’ve attempted to run the ball 266 times (compared to 175 pass attempts) for an average of 134.1 yards per game. This is fifth best in the league. So this shows that we’re not the best at running the ball, but the run does account for a larger percentage of our total offense than any other team in the league.

2) The Steelers great defense leads them to victory.

I haven’t been that impressed by our defense, to be honest. They seem to have this “bend but don’t break” philosophy where they allow the opponent to gain yards between the 20 yard lines, and then tighten up and rely on turnovers once they’re backed up deep in their zone. This has worked well against turnover-prone teams, but our history shows that better teams have been able to slowly pick apart our secondary and mix in enough field goals with the occasional touchdown to beat us. Let’s look at the statistics: They are 5th best against the run this season, allowing an average of 87.4 yards per game. We’ve always been good against the run, so this isn’t a surprise. Against the pass, we’re ranked 21st, giving up 210.8 yards per game. We’re not close to the league lead in defensive touchdowns or interceptions, but we’re close to tops in sacks.

What does all this mean? I think it means that there is a measure of truth to what the analysts say about our team, but it doesn’t tell the whole story and doesn’t stress the importance of our Quarterback. Our offense is generally predictable and it’s not surprising to see us run on first and second down, often leaving us in “3rd and almost short” situations (3-5 yards). Ben Roethlisberger’s abilities vastly help us convert on those third downs. He can keep plays alive with his mobility and he regularly sheds would-be tacklers. There was an interesting stat displayed a few weeks ago… when someone makes contact with Roethlisberger, his passer rating actually goes up. The NFL averages for that statistic are the polar opposite.

So basically, please Ben get healthy and stay healthy. Also, if someone could teach the defense to get off the field on 3rd down, that would be greatttttt….

Go Steelers!