Steelers QB report card: Ben Roethlisberger bounces back in 2nd half to defeat Bills
By Shayne Kubas
The Steelers got very little out of Ben Roethlisberger in the first half, but he rallied in the second half to lead Pittsburgh to a victory. How should fans feel about his performance overall?
It wasn’t pretty, but the Pittsburgh Steelers opened the season with a victory over the favored Buffalo Bills 23-16.
The offense under Ben Roethlisberger was abysmal in the first half, scoring zero points and having less than 60 total yards of offense. Big Ben completed only six of 12 passes for 58 yards, including a sack-fumble where he didn’t feel the Bills, Mario Addison, chasing him down.
Luckily for Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh’s defense held Buffalo to just 10 points over the first two quarters. That gave him the chance to make up for it in the second half, and while it still wasn’t spectacular, it was a big improvement.
He completed 12 of 20 passes for 120 yards and a score to Diontae Johnson. Roethlisberger made big throws to Pat Freiermuth, Eric Ebron and Chase Claypool on his way to leading the offense to 16 second-half points. Combined with special teams contributing the other seven points on a blocked punt by Miles Killebrew, they outscored Buffalo 23-6 down the stretch to get the victory.
It was encouraging to see Big Ben’s improvement after halftime, but the first half is hard to ignore. The offense featured more of the pre-snap motion than was expected, but too much reliance on the short passing game and the complete lack of a running game was all too familiar. The offensive line struggled to get any push for Najee Harris, and Roethlisberger had to escape from pressure when he wasn’t getting the ball out quickly.
Roethlisberger had some more intermediate throws later in the game, but the lack of a vertical aspect in the passing game can’t continue if the offense wants to be better than last year. Claypool especially needs to be used as a deep threat with his size and speed.
Speaking of which, let’s break down Big Ben’s best throw of the day.