Ben Roethlisberger came out of the Steelers' loss to the Raiders with a strained left pectoral muscle, but he said Wednesday morning he plans to do whatever he needs to be ready to go Sunday against the Bengals at Heinz Field.
"I don’t know how it happened," Roethlisberger said. "I just know it happened early in the game. I’m going to do everything I can (to play)."
That said, the 39-year-old quarterback knows he also has to play better than he has in the first two weeks of the season. Through two weeks, Roethlisberger is completing 62.5 percent of his passes for 483 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. They aren't bad numbers. But the Steelers also have struggled to find much consistency on offense.
They were shut out in the first half of their Week 1 win against the Bills and scored just seven points in the first half of the loss to the Raiders. All told, the offense has produced just 33 points, with special teams adding a blocked punt for a touchdown against the Bills.
The Steelers knew their offense, which has two rookie starters on the offensive line and two others in Najee Harris and Pat Freiermuth who are major contributors, would be a work in progress. Add in a new playcaller in Matt Canada and there is certainly a learning curve.
But with the defense now banged up -- Tyson Alualu and Stephon Tuitt are on injured reserve, while T.J. Watt, Alex Highsmith, Devin Bush and Joe Haden are all dealing with groin injuries -- the offense might have to speed up the learning process.
That's why the team needs its veteran leader at quarterback on the field. Take Roethlisberger out of the equation and the Steelers field the youngest offense in the NFL.
"I tell the guys that no one has to be great. It we’re all good, then collectively we can be great," Roethlisberger said of his message to that group. "This is such a group effort. It takes all 11 guys on every play to make it work. If one guy is off here or there, it can affect the whole thing. We’re just going to keep learning and growing and trying to figure out how we can get better."
The question is whether the Steelers are having growing pains or if it's just more of the same.
After not attempting a pass of more than 20 yards downfield in Week 1 against the Bills according to NFLNextGen Stats, Roethlisberger tried to go deep eight times against the Raiders with mixed results. He completed two such passes on 8 attempts for 93 yards and an interception. Both completions, down the left sideline, led to touchdowns. But he missed on all three of his attempts down the right sideline and did not test the middle of the field. That's a passer rating of just 35.9.
"A lot of looks that they gave us, single-high safety," Roethlisberger said of the Raiders. "We talked about it in Week 1, if you have a significant wind like we had in Week 1, it’s hard to go down the field. We need to hit more of those is the issue."
Speaking of hits, those deeper passes lead to the quarterback getting hit more. Roethlisberger was sacked twice and hit 10 times against the Raiders, a number Mike Tomlin called "too many" in his Tuesday press conference.
But the Steelers have to find that deeper passing game to loosen up things for their rushing attack, which like last season is ranked last in the league after two weeks despite the addition of Harris as the team's first-round draft pick. Through two games, Harris has gained 83 yards on 26 carries, a 3.2 yards per carry average. The Steelers are averaging 57 yards rushing per game. That's right in line with the 57.3 yards rushing per game the Steelers averaged over their final 10 games in 2020.
The Steelers remain optimistic the running game will turn around.
"We spent a lot of time talking about the cohesion and the development and the comfortability of the blockers, but the same could be said for the runner who's also played eight quarters of NFL football," Tomlin said. "He was better last week than he was in Week 1 in terms of the things that we value, maybe some things that aren't valued to the naked eye but just our professionalism things, mechanic things, technical things. He's going to continue to get comfortable, and by comfortable, I mean understanding that your preparation sets you up for performance. That's something that a young guy has to get comfortable with. Why do we do what we do on a Wednesday and what does it do in terms of setting me up for success on a Sunday? He's been through a couple of weeks, he's been through a couple of those cycles. He's gaining an understanding about what the process does in terms of setting them up for performance and, thus, it should put him in position to let his natural talents come out in play. I'm expecting him to get routinely better with each outing and excited about that."
Roethlisberger can help that, as well, by using more of the field -- and not just on deep throws.
He's been pretty good on passes between 10 and 20 yards this season, completing 9 of 15 for 152 yards and a touchdown, a passer rating of 116.5. But like his deep throws, the middle has largely been ignored. He's attempted just one pass down the middle of the field, completing it for a 24-yard gain to Freiermuth in Week 1 against the Bills.
Freiermuth and Harris can help there, as well. Both were more involved in the passing game against the Raiders, with Harris catching all five of his targets for 43 yards, including a 25-yard touchdown catch, while Freiermuth had four receptions for 36 yards on all four of his targets.
"Yeah for sure," Roethlisberger said when I asked if that was a big step for both young players. "I thought Naj’s touchdown was exceptional. It got kind of overlooked because of all that after-the-play stuff. What a great route and then the effort to get in was awesome. I wish we all could have enjoyed it a little more.
"At some point in that game, the third quarter, I went to Coach and said ‘We need to get Pat involved over the ball, some of that shorter area stuff.’ Truthfully, we have a lot good weapons on the outside, from receivers to tight ends to running backs that, I don’t think we’ve gotten loose yet for good games. There’s a lot of reasons for that. I’ll take the blame mostly because I’m the one that has to get them the ball."
On throws of 10 yards or less, Roethlisberger is 17 of 26 for 131 yards and a touchdown, a passer rating of 90.4, though again, on throws to his right, he's struggled. On those passes, he's completed 1 of 4 for 5 yards, while he's 8 of 14 for 65 yards and a touchdown to the left and 8 for 8 for 61 yards over the middle.
Throws behind the line of scrimmage have remained a staple, with Roethlisberger completing 16 of 18 for 105 yards, a passer rating of 91.0. Those throws help supplement the running game -- or lack thereof -- and are gaining an average of 5.8 yards per attempt.
As you can see, it's not all that different from what he did in 2020 under Randy Fichtner:
NextGenStats
That's why finding a running game to help get him some easier throws is a must, hence the selection of Harris in the first round of the draft.
"We can run the ball better. We can get the ball out of his hand quicker. We can stay on schedule and not get behind the sticks and get in situations where the line of gain is so far that it enhances the rush."
It's only been two games, but Roethlisberger said the change in coordinators isn't the issue.
"I don’t like to compare guys, just like I won’t compare players that we’ve had that are different. That’s not fair to anybody," the quarterback said when asked to compare Canada to the other offensive coordinators with which he has worked in his 18 seasons. "I enjoy working with Matt. He works really hard. He’s really passionate. He has a fire for this game to win. When you add those things up, it makes for a good coach, someone you want to play for."
But can they play well?
Roethlisberger has continued to pepper Diontae Johnson with targets as he did a year ago when Johnson finished third in the NFL in targets per game. Johnson has gotten 22 targets in the first two games, catching 14 passes for 141 yards and a touchdown. But Johnson is nursing a knee injury suffered on the final play of the loss to the Raiders.
If he's not available this week, it could mean Roethlisberger -- assuming he plays -- might have to spread the ball elsewhere. And that might mean doing more than just chucking the ball down the sideline, even if there's a safety in the middle of the field.
It's something the Raiders did on a 61-yard bomb they connected on for a touchdown to speedster Henry Ruggs. They ran tight end Darren Waller, their top target, at safety Minkah Fitzpatrick to freeze him and then got Ruggs deep in one-on-one coverage against cornerback Ahkello Witherspoon.
The Steelers have the talent to do that. They just haven't yet.
"Typically, when there’s a guy in the middle of the field, you don’t go right at him," Roethlisberger said. "Chase (Claypool) and I missed some deep ones. I think if you can connect on those — I know Chase got one and Diontae got one — we missed a couple of them. If we connect on one early, it can change the outcome of how defenses play you."
The question then becomes is the quarterback capable of making those throws, or perhaps more importantly, is he willing to throw them?
"If you kind of look, nobody had had a lot of action in the first two games," Roethlisberger said with Johnson being the lone exception. "I’ll take that blame. I think the good news is that we know what we have in our outside weapons. I’ll just keep trying to get better to get them the ball."
