Roethlisberger throws away the playbook, and wins
Pittsburgh quarterback called game from the line in comeback last Sunday
PITTSBURGH— The Pittsburgh Steelers spent the first half against Baltimore last Sunday stuck in neutral. James Conner couldn’t get anything going on the ground. Ben Roethlisberger couldn’t find any rhythm. And the NFL’s last unbeaten team couldn’t have looked more listless offensively.
So they did something that’s both a testament to Roethlisberger’s experience and the precociousness of his team’s young receivers.
They blew it up. All of it, ditching their normal pace for something more uptempo, a decision that gave Roethlisberger freedom to do as he pleased. Sort of.
“Truthfully, it was … ‘Line, here is the protection. Receiver, you go over here this time. You go over here,’ ” Roethlisberger said.
The 17-year veteran likened it to backyard football, making it up as he went along. Coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner pushed back on Roethlisberger’s characterization a bit, likening it more to Roethlisberger
“ad-libbing” instead of hijacking the play-calling duties.
However it went down, it worked. Roethlisberger completed 17 of 22 passes for 158 yards and two scores in the second half, most of them short passes to a group of receivers 24 or younger. Three of Pittsburgh’s wideouts — Diontae Johnson, Chase Claypool and Ray-Ray McLoud — are still in the early stages of developing their rapport with Roethlisberger.
That didn’t stop Roethlisberger from going to the line of scrimmage against Pittsburgh’s AFC North rival and barking out a route combination to one side, turning his head and doing the same to the other.
Although the pandemic forced the team to conduct organized team activities and mini-camp virtually, Roethlisberger credited some of the work the team put in during the acclimatization process with setting the groundwork for what they did in Baltimore. Those drills were run in shorts without a helmet against no defence. Last Sunday, the Steelers did it against one of the league’s best secondaries.
“I think it really comes back to those guys making plays, not physically but mentally,” Roethlisberger said. “To line guys up and not really have many questions, it goes back to the off-season work we did.”
The Steelers (7-0), who face the Dallas Cowboys (2-6) on Sunday, are unlikely to let Roethlisberger make it up as he goes along every week. But knowing they can do it under pressure gives them another weapon in their increasingly diverse arsenal.