Steelers Stat Predictions: What will Ben Roethlisberger’s stat line be against the Texans?

Ben Roethlisberger has looked pretty good in the first two weeks of the 2020 season. He will look to continue to impress when the 0-2 Houston Texans travel to Pittsburgh to play the 2-0 Steelers.

Ben Roethlisberger, in week two against the Broncos, had a showing that many Steelers fans loved watching. He came out of the game with a stat line of 29/41 with 311 passing yards, 2 touchdowns, one interception, and most importantly, a win. In week three, Big Ben will look to rack up another win when he faces off against the Houston Texans.

To be quite frank, the Texans have looked absolutely abysmal not only offense this year, but defense as well. Up to this point, they own the second-worst rushing defense and the third-best passing defense, in terms of yards given up per game

These ranks, however, are not very telling. I say this because their opponents, so far, have gotten up on the Texans early in the game and then relied on the run game to chew the rest of the clock out. This is the recipe to owning a bad rushing defensive rank and a good passing defensive rank like the Texans do.

With that being said, it is safe to say that the Texans are poor on defense in both categories. In week one, against the Chiefs, they allowed Patrick Mahomes to throw 24/32 with 211 passing yards, and 3 touchdowns, while also giving up a whopping 5.5 yards per carry to their rookie running back, Clyde Edwards-Helaire. In week two, against the ravens, they allowed Lamar Jackson to throw 18/24 with 204 passing yards, and 1 touchdown, while also giving up an astronomical 7.3 yards per carry to running back Gus Edwards. To add fuel to the fire, they also gave up 6.1 yards per carry to running back Mark Ingram.

In two games so far this year, the Texans are allowing a 75% completion percentage (fourth-worst in the league), and an excruciating 5.6 yards per carry (second-worst in the league).

How I think the Steelers quarterback will perform in week three.

I get that most everybody thinks that this game should be a walk in the park after seeing the Texans defensive rankings and knowing the Steelers have a hands down top-five defense in the league. However, if there is anything to take away from this, it is to never underestimate a desperate team, and the Texans are very desperate.

The Steelers have also seemed to struggle in what should be “easy win” games in the Mike Tomlin era. I think this game has the potential to be a lot closer than people think, but I do still think that the Steelers walk out of it with a win.

I believe the Steelers will look to give James Conner and the rest of the running back committee a heavy dose of usage early in this game. They should have a lot of success, so this means that Ben Roethlisberger more than likely will not have the same kind of output (in terms of passing yards) as he did in week two.

My predicted stat line for Ben Roethlisberger: 21/27 with 245 passing yards, 3 touchdowns, and 0 interceptions.

Against a very bad Texans defense, Ben Roethlisberger, in reality, should not have a difficult time slinging the pigskin at will. I do believe the Steelers will win this game by give or take ten points, which is fairly close. Look for Ben Roethlisberger to put up efficient, not breathtaking, numbers.