Steel Balls

I really do not think that Ben creates a 6 point swing vs the Ravens this week.

Don’t get me wrong. You want your best players on the field for every game vs. a rival. If he’s healthy enough to play, he should play. Is he better than Landry? Gawd, yes! But is he a six-point-swing better? I doubt it.
Ben doesn’t have the best track record vs the Ravens in particular, especially vs. Dean Pees’ Baltimore defenses. I don’t know why, but Pees seems to have his number, especially when the games are played at Ratland Stadium, where Ben is 0-4 in his last 4 starts, has thrown 3 TDs and 6 INTs and owns a passer rating of 69.76.

Ben’s Career vs. The Ratbirds:

If you would like to see a larger version of this table, just click on the image.

Steelers’ backup QBs are 1-3 vs Harbaugh and 1-4 under Tomlin vs the Rats, respectively. I’ve also included Landry’s career stats here for discussion.
It can be argued that the best game any Steelers QB has ever had, at Baltimore, vs a Dean Pees coordinated Ravens defense was in 2012, under Charlie Batch.
I do not  recognize Mike Vick’s game because it was at home and his yards per attempt was anemic. But, otherwise those backups did “ok” when compared to what Ben has done vs. Baltimore the past 5 seasons.

This week’s game is further complicated by the fact that Ben has not played in three weeks. I should not need to remind you of Ben’s track record in games coming back from injury. But just in case you’d like to read about it: An article from last season.
Granted, Ben seems to play exponentially worse the longer the layoff and this was a short one. That may give you reason for some optimism.

I do believe that Ben is the best option Sunday, even at 80% of normal health. I just don’t think that he’s 6 points better than a healthy backup.

*Interesting point that many may not be aware of: Pees was also the Patriots Defensive Coordinator from 2006 through 2009. He reportedly did not get along well with King Bill.
**Also interesting, Ben has missed a TON of games vs the Rats. Seven games missed in 11 seasons has to be a personal record for games missed vs one opponent.

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I really am expecting Ben Roethlisberger to be improved Sunday versus the Raiders by comparison to last week’s game versus the Bengals.

Another week of recovery time on that bone bruise in his left knee should, in theory, give him the confidence he needs to follow through completely on his throws from his plant leg.

Unfortunately, my buddy Earl had to point out that he thought Ben historically had a rough go of it in his second game back as well. So I started digging. Sure enough, Earl, the buzzkill that he is, was right.

In fact, when you look at Ben’s first two games back from injury over his career, the picture isn’t a pretty one.

Ben is 33 and I would like to believe that after the 2011 debacle in San Francisco, when he tried to play on one leg after leaving the Factory of Sadness 10 days before in a walking boot, that he now waits until he is at least close to healthy before coming back. Maybe this game will buck the trend. His first 2 games back in 2012 were losses. However, his own stat lines in those games were not too bad, as you can see above.

Ben looked very good on the first drive this past Sunday. On the second drive, Geno Atkins brushed past, hitting Roethlisberger in the knee, and Ben was never the same again. His throws floated and lacked zip. It was obvious that while he was making good decisions about when and where to put the ball, his body was not up to the task of delivering what his mind wanted it to. Ben was not Ben. The tight windows that Ben can typically deliver the ball into were too tight for a guy who could not put enough on the ball because he couldn’t drive through his plant leg when delivering it.

Let’s hope that his knee has healed enough for his performance to more closely match his own standards this week.

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Let me preface this by writing that I am truly grateful that Tim Tebow is not one of our QBs. He is not good and does not fit in a pro offense anywhere outside the Oregon Duck packages that Chip Kelly will roll out sometimes. That said, Timmy is 9-7 as a starter, 8-6 regular (57.1%) season and 1-1 in the playoffs (50%).

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/game_query.cgi?qb=TeboTi00&yr=YEARYEAR 

For comparative purposes, the starting records of some other QBs that certain fans believe would make fine replacements and/or accompaniments for Ben within the QB corps:

Kirk Cousins: 2-7 (22.2%)

Charlie Batch: 25-30 (45.45%) [although he was 6-3 as a starter in the Burgh]

Jason Campbell: 32-47 (40.5%) [although he was 1-8 in his last 2 years]

Matt Cassel: 33-39 (41.77%) [4-5 in the last 2 years]

Jimmy Clausen 1-10 (9.09%)

Ryan Fitzpatrick 33-55-1 (37.07%)

Mike Glennon: 5-13 (27.78%)

RGIII: 14-21 (40%) in the regular season. 0-1 in the playoffs

Chad Henne: 18-35 (33.96%)

Brian Hoyer: 10-7 (58.82%)

Case Keenum: 2-8 (20%)

Thaddeus Lewis: 2-4 (33.33%)

Ryan Lindley: 1-6 (14.2%)

EJ Manuel: 6-8 (42.86%)

Josh McCown:17-32 (34.69%)

Colt McCoy: 7-18 (28%)

Curtis Painter: 0-8 (0%)

Christian Ponder: 14-21-1 (38.89%)

Terrelle Pryor: 3-7​ (30%)

Brady Quinn:​ 4-16 (20%)

Mark Sanchez: 41-35 (53.94%)

Michael Vick: 61-53-1 (53.04%)

Brandon Weeden: 5-16 (23.81%)

Charlie Whitehurst​:2-7 (22.22%)

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