5 key takeaways from Steelers Week 1 win over Bills

Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger isn’t back, yet

There is a mixed feeling from the fanbase as to how Ben Roethlisberger will play this year. While many are hopeful for a strong season from the veteran, others look at the end of last season and surmise that he is done in this league.

Unfortunately, his play in Week 1 seemed to favor the latter as opposed to the former.

Now, Roethlisberger wasn’t horrible, but he struggled with pushing the ball deep and placing passes properly. Part of his issues stemmed from the offensive line playing as poorly as it did, but he also struggled with basic accuracy. His passes seemed to be a little off the mark all night. Specifically, with Najee Harris, Roethlisberger’s passes were regularly too high, and the rookie couldn’t bring them in.

Roethlisberger didn’t play for most of the preseason though, so he is likely still shaking some rust off as a result. While the deep pass wasn’t the focus, he did seem to have a good rapport with Chase Claypool, dropping a perfect 22-yard pass that the receiver went up and got.

As the line settles and, ideally, improves, Roethlisberger should get more into a groove, That said, he isn’t completely back yet, and this offense struggled to move without him.