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QB Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers

HT: 6-5, WT: 241, Born: 3-2-1982, College: Miami (OH), Drafted: Round 1, Pick 11

2008 Projections

2007 Game Summaries

Week 1 - Despite completing just 52% of his passes, Roethlisberger looked quite effective in directing his offense, and threw for a career high four touchdown passes on just 23 attempts. All four touchdown passes came from the five yard line or outside, and allowed him to get each of his primary receivers (Hines Ward, Santonio Holmes and Heath Miller) involved. Roethlisberger averaged 7.0 yards per passing play on the day.

Week 2 - The Steelers mixed the run and the pass effectively and dominated for most of the game. Roethlisberger threw often in the first half, completing 16 of 29 passes for 155 yards. Roethlisberger was mostly sharp enough and efficient. He spread his 21 completions to nine different receivers. He did throw one interception on a deep attempt to Santonio Holmes on the first play of the Steelers' second possession. Holmes was well covered and Roethlisberger slightly underthrew the ball, which allowed safety Jim Leonhard enough time to range over and make the interception.

Roethlisberger had a couple of other errant throws that could have resulted in interceptions. He also threw low to a wide open Dan Kreider on a swing pass that might have gone for a touchdown. Roethlisberger had a perfect second half, completing all five of his passes for 87 yards. He hit rookie tight end Matt Spaeth for a one yard touchdown on a play action pass to open the Pittsburgh scoring after halftime.

Week 3 - With Willie Parker rolling on the ground, Roethlisberger attempted only seven passes in the first half. He completed six of them for 55 yards. He found Jerame Tuman for a nine yard touchdown strike late in the second quarter. Roethlisberger completed seven of 13 passes in the second half. He fumbled once, when Hannibal Navies sacked him and was able to knock the ball from his hand. However, Roethlisberger was adept at avoiding the rush to buy time to throw. He is so big and strong, that he can shrug off defensive linemen. He only tucked the ball to run once, but showed his mobility with an 18 yard gain.

Week 4 - At times, Roethlisberger showed good poise in the pocket against an aggressive Cardinals pass rush. Roethlisberger utilized a shot gun format for most of the game and finished with 17 for 32 for 244 yards and two touchdowns both to Santonio Holmes. He added 26 yards on four scrambles. He completed passes to five different receivers, but had two costly interceptions (one when the Steelers recovered a Arizona fumble on their Cardinals' four yard line, the other on a drive trying to tie the game late in the fourth quarter.) He was sacked four times as well.

Week 5 - Roethlisberger was patient, and that patience was rewarded in the second half. Up by a score of 7-0 to start the second half, he engineered a touchdown drive that lasted over ten minutes. In doing so, he overcame three Pittsburgh penalties, which meant that the actual yardage gained on the drive was more than a hundred yards. Despite a tough Seahawk defense, he was able to consistently find the open man on short and medium routes. With the top two receivers out due to injury, he spread the ball around, with TE Heath Miller and WR Cedrick Wilson becoming favourite targets as the game wore on.

Week 7 - Roethlisberger's four touchdowns were nice, but his three turnovers were costly. His fumble that was returned for a touchdown was in particular was hard to swallow, as he admitted after the game he should have called time out when he saw what the defense was about to run. Roethlisberger three mostly to his three favorite targets: Ward, Holmes, and Miller. He connected with Miller for two short touchdowns, found tight end Matt Spaeth wide open for a second half score, and hit Holmes on a six point strike as well. Roethlisberger was under consistent and heavy pressure for the Denver pass rush, and was sacked four times. He avoided several potential sacks as well, and used his elusiveness and big frame to escape pressure. Roethlisberger scrambled effectively a few times, and also used his feet to buy him time to find open receivers. It was an up and down game for Roethlisberger, but it was still his best fantasy performance of the season.

Week 8 - Roethlisberger was dominant in the first half. He refused to go down against Cincinnati defenders and often made amazing plays doing so. His favorite target, Hines Ward, caught two touchdowns and could have easily had three. Roethlisberger looked pretty quick on his rushing attempt, outrunning a couple of defensive linemen in pursuit.

Week 9 - Roethlisberger had a fantastic first half by throwing five touchdowns in the first half. He hit TE Heath Miller midway through the first quarter after Baltimore turned it over deep in there territory. Roethlisberger hit WR Santonio Holmes for his second touchdown of the quarter after another Ravens' turnover on a 15 yard pass. On the second play of the second quarter, he found WR Nate Washington over the middle for a 30 yard touchdown after the Ravens' third turnover. On his fourth touchdown, he threw a perfect pass to Holmes down the right side after he got a step on his defender. Roethlisberger capped off a Tom Brady-like first half by finding Washington again on a short seven yard pass. He tied a Steelers' record for touchdowns passes in a game and matched Patriots' QB Tom Brady who also had five touchdown passes in one half against Miami earlier. He finished the half 11 for 14 for 164 yards. Roethlisberger did complete one long pass in the second half to Holmes for 45 yards, but was injured on the play when he was pushed down. It was reported as a hip injury, and he left the game. He did return for one series in the fourth quarter, but the game was well in hand and he was replaced after that series.

Week 10 - Roethlisberger completed 68% of his passes for an average gain of 8.2 yards per attempt en route to a passer rating of 80.3. Roethlisberger looked to Hines Ward when he needed to find an open receiver, but came up with his biggest plays of the game with his feet, including a thirty yard touchdown run to set up a 24-21 lead, and converting on a key third down conversion to set up the go ahead touchdown to take a 31-28 lead for good.

Week 11 - Roethlisberger struggled throughout this game. He was sacked seven times, completed 15 of 25 passes for 195 yards and one touchdown, but threw one interception and also lost one fumble. He managed to get Pittsburgh into position to win, but the Steelers' defense couldn't hold the lead in the fourth quarter.

Entering this game, Roethlisberger had a QB rating of 110, second best in the NFL, and had already thrown 22 touchdown passes.

Week 12 - Despite the awful conditions, and aside from his first quarter pick, Roethlisberger threw the ball very accurately. With Santonio Holmes out due to an ankle injury, Roethlisberger had eyes mostly for Hines Ward (ten of his 21 passes were thrown to Ward, along with two others that were called back). Continuing a recent trend, Roethlisberger was unable to get rid of the ball in crucial situations. He was sacked five times, and three of those sacks ended Steelers drives in Miami territory.

Week 13 - Roethlisberger got off to a slow start as he began the game two of six for 18 yards and an interception. He did get things going on Pittsburgh's fourth drive of the game as he led the Steelers to their first score when he rushed for a six yard touchdown. On the play, the Pittsburgh quarterback dropped back to pass, and after scrambling to his left, he broke for the end zone and dove for the goal line. Replay showed that there was some question as to whether the ball broke the plane, but there was no challenge and the touchdown stood. Roethlisberger's first touchdown throw came from the Bengals' two yard line when he boot legged out to his right and hit Hines Ward for the score. He followed that touchdown pass up with another scoring strike to Ward in the third quarter, this one from nine yards out. Roethlisberger turned the ball over twice in the contest with interceptions in the first and fourth quarters.

Week 14 - Roethlisberger gave it his all in the loss, but he was unable to put any points up on the board in the second half despite moving the ball well against the Patriots defense in the first half. He faced constant pressure throughout the game and was forced to take a couple sacks because he was unable to get rid of the ball in time. On one third and ten play the Patriots fielded six defensive backs and Roethlisberger ran the ball up the middle and dove headfirst for a nine and a half yard gain. He then hit WR Cedric Wilson over the middle for the first down. At times, he was inaccurate which hurt his team on key third downs.

Week 15 - Roethlisberger injured his shoulder in the New England game and was questionable for the game against Jacksonville after throwing little during the week. He was able to play, however, and looked to be fine. He was able to put power on his passes and was willing to scramble for yardage. Roethlisberger was not as accurate as usual, though that might have been at least partly to do with the weather conditions. He passed for only 146 yards on his 33 attempts, but made plays to keep the Steelers in the game. His pass attempt to Heath Miller was tipped by Brent Hawkins, but found Miller in the end zone, anyway. Later, Roethlisberger rallied the Steelers back to tie the game with fourth quarter touchdown passes to Hines Ward and Nate Washington.

Roethlisberger was pressured throughout the game and was sacked five times. He has now been sacked 43 times on the season. He likely would have been sacked more times, but Roethlisberger is particularly adept at avoiding sacks and making plays while under pressure. On one play, Roethlisberger was already wrapped up and on his way down. Somehow, he was still able to flip the football to Willie Parker, who took off for a 27 yard gain. The play was credited as a run, because Roethlisberger's pass to Parker was backwards, but it is exemplary of Roethlisberger's strength and nifty feet.

Roethlisberger scrambled twice and gained 15 yards, including an 11 yard run, when he put his shoulder down and fought for first down yardage.

Week 16 - Roethlisberger had an excellent first half and looked very sharp in this game. Backed up near their end zone on the opening drive, Roethlisberger hit WR Santonio Holmes on a deep pass down the middle of the field for 83 yards. He would find WR Nate Washington in the right corner of the end zone for touchdown three plays later to cap off a four play, 96 yard drive. Roethlisberger would bring the Steelers back down the field midway through the second quarter and would hit Washington again on 33 yard touchdown pass on what was a perfectly thrown pass. He had an excellent first half completing nine of 11 passes for 212 yards and three touchdowns. Roethlisberger led Pittsburgh down the field on its first possession of the second half on a 69 yard drive that ended in a RB Najeh Davenport one yard run. He played a solid game completing 16 of 20 passes in the game, but he took a beating in the game, including a tackle in the third quarter that looked like he twisted his ankle. He was sacked four times in this game.

Week 17 - Roethlisberger did not play in this game to rest for the Steelers' playoff game next weekend.

Week 18 - Roethlisberger threw the ball early and often as the Steelers could not get anything going in the run game. He threw the ball 42 times for 337 yards, two touchdowns, but also threw three interceptions. He seemed to do things assuming the Jacksonville defense would react. Many of the times he was right, but the other times he threw into trouble and it was very costly.