The Evolution of Ben Roethlisberger

Big Ben - A Constant Evolution as QB

As part of my morning routine, I was listening to 93.7 'The Fan' as I got myself situated for the day, and they were discussing the Pittsburgh Steelers.  They were talking about predictions for the upcoming season.  The hosts of the show were all seeing this team as ending up around the .500 mark, then a caller chimed in with a shocking 11-5 prediction.  I will unveil my prediction soon enough, but this caller said that the Steelers "simply have too many superstars for this team to be 8-8".  Obviously, health is a huge issue in terms of predicting any NFL team's overall W/L totals, but this caller had a point.  The hosts laughed and asked "who are the superstars?" and the caller came back with "Troy Polamalu, Ben Roethlisberger, Lamarr Woodley, Lawrence Timmons, and Maurkice Pouncey."  The hosts then immediately started deciphering all of the players that the caller mentioned and whether they were "superstars" in the league...and then the host said something that made me think...he said "Is Ben Roethlisberger as good as he was in 2010?"  That question alone, spawned this article about the evolution of Big Ben, and how he is a better QB now compared to any season in his career.

In 2004 when Ben Roethlisberger stepped in for a wounded Tommy Maddox in Baltimore, he was thrust into a situation that was perfect for a rookie QB.  Lean on a sturdy ground game, and make plays only when necessary.  Oh, and DON'T MESS IT UP by turning the ball over.  Stat lines would read "Roethlisberger - 10/18, 185yds, 1 TD, 0 INT" and that was something the Steelers were okay with.  Then the Steelers offensive line started to get broken up, and the Steelers ground game became less and less reliable.  It was time to turn to the QB and ask him to start making plays instead of simply not making mistakes.  Roethlisberger took this opportunity and ran with it...all the way to a Super Bowl title in 2009-2010 winning Super Bowl 43 in dramatic fashion.  However, you can talk about intangibles, health, and "systems" till you are blue in the face, but the proof is in the pudding.  In this case, the pudding isn't JELLO, but statistics.  Lets take a look and see how Big Ben is becoming a better QB every year.

                      GP                  CMP%                   YDS                TDs            INT             QB  RAT
2004 -           14                    66.4%                    2,621               17              11                     98.1
2005 -           12                    62.7%                    2,385               17               9                      98.6
2006 -           15                    59.7%                    3,513               18              23                     75.4
2007 -           15                    65.3%                    3,154               32              11                    104.1
2008 -           16                    59.9%                    3,301               17              15                     80.1
2009 -           15                    66.6%                    4,328               26              12                    100.5
2010 -           12                    61.7%                    3,200               17               5                      97.0
2011 -           15                    63.2%                    4,077               21              14                     90.1
2012 -           13                    63.3%                    3,265               26               8                      97.0

At first glance these stats look like a jumbled mess.  One year great, the next year not so great.  The main thing that hurts Ben Roethlisberger and his statistics are the amount of injuries he has had in his career.  Just look at games played, and you see ONE season that he played 16 games.  Thats right, just one.  The statistics show that even though Ben's yardage might go down, or his TD to INT ratio bight be skewed, the QB is progressing nicely into the prime years of his NFL career.  The past 4 years Ben has thrown for at least 3,200 yards in every season (and the season he threw for 3,200 yds he only played in 12 games).  Not only has he thrown for yards, but he also has the completion percentage to back that up.  In those 4 years he has an average 62.4% completion percentage.  Think at all the dropped passes Mike Wallace had last year and how much that effected that percentage...but I digress. 

The point that I'm making here is that even with the organization leaning on Ben to make plays, and to be "the guy", he has thrived under that role.  He has statistically shown that he has improved tremendously from the years of "Hey Ben, don't mess this thing up..." to the "We need Roethlisberger to be healthy or else this team is going to fail."  Ben Roethlisberger might not have the gawdy numbers that Tom Brady and Peyton Manning put up in years past.  He might not have the numbers that Aaron Rodgers has put up in Green Bay, but Ben Roethlisberger is the QB that fits this team, this city, and this organization.  Roethlisberger makes the best out of what he has (with the Offensive Lines and Wide Receivers that he has played along side) and still puts up numbers that rank amongst the top 10 in NFL QBs.  All I'm hoping for, is to see what "Big Ben" can do if he can actually remain healthy for a full season...just think of the possibilities.