Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger may be headed to the Hall of Fame one day. Ironically, his best graded season came when his All-Pro running back was on the sidelines.
There is no need to sit here and tell you the success Ben Roethlisberger has experienced in over his 15-year career in the NFL. We all know that he is the Steelers all-time leading passer by a wide margin, and a 2-time Super Bowl Champion.
However, did you know that the best rated season of his career came with DeAngelo Williams in the backfield?
That’s right. According to Pro Football Focus, Ben Roethlisberger had the best season of his 15-year career back in 2015. He was given an outstanding grade of 91.7 – beating his second highest mark of 86.5 in 2017 by a wide margin.
Le’Veon Bell played just 6 games in 2015 before suffering a knee injury against the Bengals that landed him on injured reserve. While Bell was healthy, the Steelers were just 3-3 on the season.
Big Ben, however, lead his team to a 7-3 record without his All-Pro running back en route to the best graded season of his career.
Bell wasn’t the only major piece of the offense missing for the Steelers. Maurkice Pouncey suffered a broken Fibula against the Packers in a 2015 preseason game and missed the entire regular season.
Starting left tackle, Kelvin Beachum, also played in just 6 games before missing the remainder of the 2015 season with injury.
Ben Roethlisberger seems to do great when his back is against the wall. The Steelers were the lowest seed to ever win a Super Bowl, and Ben wasn’t about to let injuries to three key players on his side of the football dictate the Steelers season.
Pittsburgh ended up beating the Bengals in the wild card round of the playoffs and fell just one score short of beating the Broncos in Denver and advancing to the AFC Championship game.
It’s worth noting that Ben didn’t have his best season from a statistical standpoint ( he had nearly 4,000 yards with 21 touchdowns and 16 interceptions). However, PFF deemed his 2015 season to be worthy of a 91.7 overall grade.
The Steelers were missing two All-Pro players and their starting left tackle in 2015. Regardless, Ben made it work with a 32-year old DeAngelo Williams in the backfield and two backup offensive lineman starting on offense. I guess if Ben Roethlisberger has taught us one thing, it’s not count him out under the gravest of circumstances.