Two games into the 2020 season, the Steelers are averaging 26 points per game, a touchdown more than they did a year ago. They're 2-0 for the first time since 2017 and have a chance to get to 3-0 Sunday with a win over the Texans at Heinz Field that would get them to 3-0 for the first time since 2010.
But that hasn't made much of the fan base happy. Depending on who you talk to, the Steelers aren't running the ball enough, or they're running it too much. They aren't throwing to the tight ends enough. They need to use the fullback more. They need to get the ball to rookie wide receiver Chase Claypool. The list goes on and on.
For Ben Roethlisberger, it's all just elevator music. He's only been interested in one statistic.
"You look at the win-loss column," Roethlisberger said Wednesday. "I know that’s probably not the answer that you’re looking for, but at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter who is getting the ball, it doesn’t matter how many times we’re running or throwing it, it doesn’t matter who is getting their stats, it matters that the team is getting that one stat that’s most important. That’s a win."
The Steelers threw the ball at a 2-1 ratio in 2018, Roethlisberger's last full season in the NFL. This season, their run-pass ratio sits at 59-41 through two games. They are the only team in the NFL to have a 100-yard rusher in each of the first two games of the season -- with Benny Snell and James Conner doing that -- and yet there's a feeling they aren't running the ball enough -- or effectively.
Roethlisberger doesn't feel that has been the case.
"We don’t go into any game saying, ‘Here’s our percentage of run-pass.’ We go into a game trying to win it," he said. "I’ve just been happy at the end of games that we’ve been able to utilize our four-minute offense in both games. That’s something we take pride in. When we say we have to run the ball, that doesn’t mean we have to run it more, we have to run it more effectively. Running it in the four-minute offense is effective running."
To Roethlisberger's point, the Steelers have closed out wins over the Giants and Broncos the first two weeks running the ball when both opponents knew the Steelers were going to run the ball to kill the clock.
It's a reason Mike Tomlin points to the effectiveness of the running game thus far, as well.
"We have been able to close games out via the run. We have been able to possess the ball in four-minute offense," Tomlin said. "We’ve had a lead in the latter part of the game and have been able to close the game out and maintain possession of the ball primarily via the run. I like that aspect of it. We are still working and growing in terms of being able to do all the things that we want to do, not only in that area of the game, but in all areas of the game. But I think it is a good start when you have your four-minute offense rolling and you are able to possess the ball via the run and preserve a lead at the end of a football game."
And they've been able to do that -- and win games -- with Roethlisberger still working his way back into playing shape after sitting out all but six quarters of the 2019 season with an elbow injury that required surgery to reattach three ligaments.
As Roethlisberger noted, he has now played 3 1/2 games in the past two years. He's still working his way back into game shape -- not so much physically, but mentally.
"Going back and reviewing, I felt from Week 1 to Week 2, my pocket awareness and presence was better," Roethlisberger said. "I do feel I got a little lazy with my feet, which then, in turn translated to a lazy arm. Some throws, I kind of dropped my elbow and it became more of a 3/4 release instead of over the top when I didn’t need to. There are obviously times when you need to change your release point. There were too many throws where I felt, looking back, that I need to get my feet better. That will then translate to the rest of the body and then I won’t be guiding the throws."
That's not something you would have heard from Roethlisberger earlier in his career. He was always gifted when it came to throwing the football. He could do it on the run from any different number of arm angles. But now, at 38 and coming off a major arm injury, he's become more in tune with the mechanics involved with throwing.
"I’ve gotten away with it in the past, not necessarily being perfect and letting my arm make up for a lot of things, a lot of imperfections, if you talk to quarterback people," Roethlisberger said. "I feel great, so it’s a matter of getting it in my mind that I can make throws when I’m not in position to make them. Maybe some of that comes with not playing a lot of football."
It also comes with not having played a lot with the receivers on the team. Roethlisberger has really only played two full seasons with wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster and tight end Vance McDonald and one with receiver James Washington. He's still learning about Diontae Johnson, a rookie in 2019, tight end Eric Ebron and Claypool, a rookie.
The timing and trust with those players is still a work in progress.
"Offensively, we haven’t really hit our stride yet. That’s OK," Roethlisberger said. "As long as we’re winning football games, that’s the most important thing."