3 things an old Ben Roethlisberger must do to turn his final season around

Throw the ball down the field

Regardless of how successful you are throwing down the field, this isn’t something a quarterback can simply choose to ignore. In his younger years, Big Ben was one of the best in the business at connecting with receivers deep down the field.

It’s clear that Roethlisberger doesn’t have the same arm strength and velocity that he used to, and he doesn’t necessarily need to hit receivers in perfect stride with a pass that travels 50 air yards. However, that doesn’t mean that he shouldn’t be looking for opportunities to stretch the defense.

Last week against the Packers, Ben threw the ball 40 times but had just 3 completions beyond 10 air yards, according to Next Gen Stats. This is an unacceptable ratio if you want to see success in the passing game. In his defense, it wasn’t for a lack of effort. Roethlisberger just had some bad missed down the field (several to JuJu Smith-Schuster).

Things have not gone well when throwing down the field this year, but if Ben starts stepping into his throws and trusting his offensive line a bit more, he should see more success in the deep passing game — even with his diminishing arm.