Rock bottom
PITTSBURGH — Ben Roethlisberger knew he wouldn't raise Super Bowl trophies every season, and that winning 27 of his first 31 starts set a pace that would be impossible for any NFL quarterback to match.
What he didn't expect was a mess of a season like this.
After his first two seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers went like those of no other young quarterback in NFL history, with a Super Bowl victory and two AFC championship game appearances, Roethlisberger's third season couldn't have gone much worse. And he knows it.
Starting with his near-fatal motorcycle accident in June and continuing with an appendicitis attack the first week of the season and a subsequent concussion, it seemed everything went wrong.
All that medical misfortune doesn't totally explain away a significant drop-off in his play that helped doom the Steelers (7-8) to missing the playoffs a season after they won their first Super Bowl in 26 years.
"It was tough, frustrating," Roethlisberger said. "At least you know it will be awfully hard for next year to be any worse next year. We're going to get better."
How could it not better?
Numbers don't always tell the story of a season, but they illustrate the significant falloff in Roethlisberger's play.
Roethlisberger won all 13 of his regular season starts in 2004 — no other rookie had won more than six in a row — before becoming the youngest quarterback at age 23 to win a Super Bowl last season. This season, he never found a groove until the Steelers were 2-6 and were all but out of postseason contention; his eight losses are double the total of his first two seasons combined.
While he is eighth in the NFL with 3,233 passing yards, much of his production has come in losses in which he threw more than he wanted. His 22 interceptions are six more than any other AFC quarterback who has played most of the season, and are the most by a Steelers quarterback since Terry Bradshaw also had 22 in 1980. Eighteen of the 22 came in losses.
After throwing only nine interceptions last season, he had seven before he threw his first touchdown pass. He also had five games in which his completion percentage was barely above, or slightly below, .500.
There isn't a single reason to explain Roethlisberger's slump. The injuries caused him to miss only one game — the Sept. 7 opener against Miami. And there weren't major personnel changes, other than the absence of former starting wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, who signed with the Redskins.
Randle El was a game-breaking threat as a multidimensional player but had only one regular season touchdown catch last year.
Still, Roethlisberger and his receivers, including veterans Hines Ward and Cedrick Wilson, often seemed out of sync. It didn't help that two of the top four receivers, rookie Santonio Holmes and second-year receiver Nate Washington, had never caught a regular season pass until this season.
"I told some of the receivers, and some of the other guys, that we need to get better," Roethlisberger said. "We know that."
Holmes has had an average rookie season, with 45 catches and one touchdown. He did play well in a 31-7 loss Sunday to Baltimore, making five catches for 90 yards.
It's obvious that the Steelers — and their quarterback — need some help.
"We need some players, and I think we'll be able to get some," team chairman Dan Rooney said.
