The Return of Ben Roethlisberger
It’s no secret how important the quarterback position is for an NFL team’s success. There was naturally expected to be a decline in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ execution after Ben Roethlisberger went down with a season-ending elbow injury.
The Steelers’ offense was a genuine train wreck without Roethlisberger. Last season, Pittsburgh finished with just 289 points scored (27th), 4,428 total yards (30th) and 30 turnovers lost (28th). A significant portion of the blame lies on the passing game.
To put the Steelers’ quarterbacking woes into perspective, no team managed to have more interceptions (19) than passing touchdowns (18) last season other than Pittsburgh. That places way too much of a burden on the running game and the defense.
The hope clearly is that Roethlisberger can come back and be one of the better quarterbacks in the league. If that were to occur, the Steelers would, in theory, be able to give the defense sufficient backup with offensive production led by an impactful quarterback.