Ben Roethlisberger has a fatal flaw in his game so far in 2021

Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has not been getting the job done. Here’s the biggest flaw in his game so far in 2021. 

There are a lot of factors that come into play when breaking down the pathetic display of offense we have seen in the first two games of the 2021 season for the Pittsburgh Steelers. The offensive line has struggled mightily to begin the season and the running game – that was expected to be much better this year – is off to a much worse start.

However, the biggest factor in all of this might be the mediocre play of quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. There’s much more than Ben needs to be doing for this offense, and he knows it.

Roethlisberger spoke to the media following Pittsburgh’s loss to the Raiders in Week 2. Here’s some of what Ben had to say, via the Pittsburgh Steelers:

"“I wasn’t good enough today… They’re a good defense. They got after us just like we anticipated. I just didn’t play well enough… I’m disappointed that we lost the game. I’m disappointed that I didn’t play well enough to help us win the game… Right now my play is just not good enough. If I’d played better we would have had a chance to win the football game.”"

Ben continued his presser by reiterating that his play needs to improve. I don’t think there are many out there disagreeing with him at the moment.

His 87.0 passer rating and 29.5 QBR suggest that Roethlisberger would like to have one of those throws back. So far, I’ve noticed one fatal flaw in his game that could really hold this Steelers offense back in 2021.

Ben Roethlisberger’s fatal flaw in 2021

Being another year removed from a serious elbow injury that required surgery to repair three detached ligaments in his throwing elbow, we had hoped that the downfield passing game would improve this year for the Steelers. So far, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

This hasn’t all been due to a lack of effort. Though Roethlisberger has tried pushing the ball down the field on occasion, he has only attempted a few intermediate throws over the middle of the football field in his first two games. Here are two charts displaying all of Ben Roethlisberger’s 72 pass attempts so far, via Next Gen Stats:

Roethlisberger has been one of the least efficient quarterbacks in the NFL to open the season, and his unwillingness to use the middle of the field has no doubt played a factor in his. Against the Raiders, Ben never even attempted a pass in the middle of the field beyond 10 yards.

This is a recurring issue and something we have seen pop up too often in Ben’s old age. With quality options like JuJu Smith-Schuster and Pat Freiermuth who specialize in catching the ball in traffic over the middle of the field, the Steelers need to utilize this more often.

The Steelers shouldn’t expect change on offense until Ben Roethlisberger improves, and the biggest thing he can improve on is using is exploiting mismatches across the middle of the field. Big Ben must get more help from his offensive line soon, but ultimately, his decision to avoid the middle of the field has created a fatal flaw in his game.