Roethlisberger putting the offense on his arm
Ben Roethlisberger was on a carefully monitored pitch count in training camp, making sure he didn’t overwork his throwing arm after coming off major elbow surgery at age 38.
But with the regular season heading to the top of the stretch and the Steelers planning on playing into the postseason, maybe it’s time to put him back on a pitch count.
All of a sudden, in a season in which the strength and stamina of his right arm is under constant care and evaluation, Roethlisberger has attempted more passes than all but three quarterbacks. The total (380) has been ramped up lately after attempting at least 42 passes in four of the past five games, putting him on pace to finish tied for the second-most attempts in a season in his career (608).
Certainly not what everyone would have expected in his comeback from surgery on his right elbow.
“I don’t think it really matters how many times we run or throw the ball as long as we win,” Roethlisberger said. “We can beat the dead horse on [run-pass options] and short passes are the same as runs and ‘we need to run the ball X amount of times.’
“No we don’t. We need to win the football game. That’s what we’ve been doing.
“Maybe we’ll throw it 70 times this week. Who knows?”
It’s a good sign Roethlisberger’s arm has been feeling so good — his words — and appears to be getting stronger as the season goes on. And his production — 24 touchdowns and only five interceptions — is among the best in the league.
The problem is the Steelers have not been getting the type of consistency or production from their running game to help the offense thrive without throwing so frequently, even when they have the lead.
For example, in victories against the Tennessee Titans and Cincinnati Bengals, Roethlisberger attempted 49 and 46 passes, respectively, despite never trailing at any point. In Sunday’s 27-3 victory in Jacksonville, he threw 46 times after the Steelers briefly fell behind 3-0 and never allowed the Jaguars to score another point.
Ideally, those are the types of games in which the Steelers would like to lean on a running game to run out the clock, limit possessions and — here’s a crazy thought— give a38-year-old quarterback a break and reduce any chance of injury. But they haven’t beenabletodothat—ortheydon’t haveenoughfaithintheirrunning game to attempt that.
The Steelers have had just one 100-yard rushing game in the past five outings, and that was against the Jaguars. They are averaging 67.8 yards rushing.
“If I worry about anything, I don’t know that I worry about the arm — it’s well,” offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner said. “But I would worry about the possible number of hits he could take.”
Roethlisberger has been well protected this season, especially lately. He has not been sacked in the past three games and four of the past five. The only team to break that streak was the Baltimore Ravens, who had two sacks in the first meeting.
Only one quarterback, the Colts’ Philip Rivers (nine), has been sacked fewer times than Roethlisberger (10) among quarterbacks who have started every game this season.
The Ravens are back at Heinz Field on Sunday after the scheduled Thanksgiving Day game was postponed. Thus, Roethlisberger was spared from having to use his arm twice in a four-day span.
Not throwing much between games has not been a problem for Roethlisberger. When he had to sit out a week of practice because of COVID-19 protocols before the game against the Cincinnati Bengals two weeks ago, all he did was throw for 333 yards and four touchdowns, both season highs. Afterward, he said the rest during the week was the reason his arm looked stronger than at any point in the season.
“I probably won’t throw many footballs this week,” Roethlisberger said. “It’s kind of one of those weeks where you don’t need to throw a lot because you just played. You’re coming off a game and you got another physical game this week.”
Maybe that will carry over to the game if they get another big lead.