I say Big Ben is the "weak link" because he's been the biggest liability on offense.
- He has a 20:5 touchdown-to-interception ratio at home, but just 9:8 on the road this year, with a measly 78.4 passer rating.
- He has thrown an interception in three of his last four games, and he’s not always on the same page with his young receivers. Roethlisberger also threw just 21 touchdown passes this year in 12 games, after throwing 32 last season on 469 passes attempts (a 4.5 percent touchdown percentage, which is his lowest figure in that category that he has posted since 2011)
- Even more concerning is the fact that he threw the second-most interceptions that he ever has, even while missing a quarter of the season. His 16 interceptions was only bested by the clear outlier of 23 interceptions in 2006, the year in which he had an offseason motorcycle accident, an emergency appendectomy, and a concussion. But Roethlisberger's 3.4 interception percentage is the third-highest figure of his career. He has only posted five total figures of over five percent in his career, and four were all within his first five seasons.
- According to Football Outsiders, Roethlisberger also led the league with 13 dropped interceptions to go along with his 13 actual interceptions (in 14 games). And according to Pro Football Focus, 4.72 percent of all of Roethlisberger’s throws were considered turnover-worthy, which ranked 27th out of the 29 quarterbacks with at least 400 pass attempts.
- The irony in all this is that Roethlisberger is being protected better than ever. When he went to the Super Bowl in 2010 and won it in 2008, he played behind an offensive line with an adjusted sack rate that ranked 29th. This year, the Steelers’ O-line ranks fourth. Roethlisberger was sacked a career-low 17 times during the regular season, and per PFF, he saw pressure on just 23.2 percent of his dropbacks—down from 29.3 percent in 2015.
What does it say about his performance this year, then, that he has been playing some of his least efficient ball ever in terms of scoring and protecting the ball, in spite of the fact that he has received great pass protection?
If the Patriots can take out Brown with two defenders and dedicate everyone else to swarming around Bell, I feel they should be able to keep the Steelers in long distance situations where Roethlisberger’s inconsistent ball placement costs him against tight man coverage.