Steelers vs. Bills: 4 storylines that will dominate Week 1

No. 1: Can Ben Roethlisberger get off to a hot start?

By now, you’ve probably grown sick of the chatter surrounding whether or not Ben Roethlisberger has anything left in his 39-year-old body.

More importantly, his 39-year-old arm.

For much of last year, Roethlisberger’s arm strength was clearly lacking, although he did improve his yards-per-attempt average from 5.7 in 2019 to 6.3 a year ago.

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Still, there’s not much that can be read from this number. Roethlisberger’s long downfield attempts are a thing of the past now, and it’s going to be a focal point for both his critics and those who are hoping he can muscle out just one more year with the hopes of getting Pittsburgh into the playoff dance again.

Fortunately, offensive coordinator Matt Canada is drawing up an offensive game plan that’ll focus back on the rushing efforts from players like Najee Harris, while allowing Roethlisberger to rely less on longer passes and more on short tosses — screens, quick slants and the like.

The hope here is twofold. First, lessening the wear and tear on Roethlisberger’s arm, and second, it’ll also lessen the risk of him being exposed behind a more-than-questionable offensive line.

There could be a drastic difference between Roethlisberger’s efforts early in the year when compared to how good he looks by season’s end, but starting off with a quality game would surely help answer a lot of question marks.

The Steelers and Bills kick off on Sunday, Sept. 12 at 1 p.m. ET.