Ben Roethlisberger often calls himself a gunslinger, but is he actually slow on the draw?
One narrative which constantly circulates around the Steelers' franchise quarterback is that he starts seasons slowly. Whether it's lack of action in the preseason, or his taking days off during training camp, the fan base's common perception seems to be that Roethlisberger struggles when the games first switch to Sundays.
Is this narrative true, though?
With Roethlisberger coming off a season-ending elbow injury, it's fair to wonder for a lot of reasons how long it might take him to regain his usual form, but that only compounds it. So I went back and reviewed Roethlisberger's career from 2005, the first season he entered as the starter, and weighed his first four games of each. There were a lot of numbers, obviously, so I'm going to deliver some as career statistics, others by season. After all, every season is a story in its own way.
Roethlisberger's career in this context, by the numbers:
2005
W-L: 3-1
Completions/Attempts: 52/86
Yards: 973
TD: 7
INT: 0
QB Rating (Average): 124.3
2006
W-L: 1-3
Completions/Attempts: 71/121
Yards: 807
TD: 2
INT: 7
QB Rating (Average): 70.4
2007
W-L: 3-1
Completions/Attempts: 63/109
Yards: 807
TD: 8
INT: 3
QB Rating (Average): 93.5
2008
W-L: 3-1
Completions/Attempts: 53/85
Yards: 638
TD: 4
INT: 2
QB Rating (Average): 97.0
2009
W-L: 2-2
Completions/Attempts: 104/142
Yards: 1,193
TD: 5
INT: 4
QB Rating (Average): 98.7
2010
W-L: 3-1
Completions/Attempts: 69/109
Yards: 917
TD: 6
INT: 3
QB Rating (Average): 97.0
2011
W-L: 2-2
Completions/Attempts: 85/138
Yards: 1,148
TD: 3
INT: 5
QB Rating (Average): 81.7
2012
W-L: 2-2
Completions/Attempts: 104/158
Yards: 1,124
TD: 9
INT: 1
QB Rating (Average): 102.8
2013
W-L: 0-4
Completions/Attempts: 103/162
Yards: 1,231
TD: 5
INT: 5
QB Rating (Average): 83.1
2014
W-L: 2-2
Completions/Attempts: 96/141
Yards: 1,092
TD: 6
INT: 2
QB Rating (Average): 99.5
2015
W-L: 2-2
Completions/Attempts: 95/114
Yards: 1,174
TD: 5
INT: 5
QB Rating (Average): 97.9
2016
W-L: 3-1
Completions/Attempts: 92/145
Yards: 1,116
TD: 4
INT: 4
QB Rating (Average): 101.4
2017
W-L: 3-1
Completions/Attempts: 87/140
Yards: 959
TD: 6
INT: 2
QB Rating (Average): 90.4
2018
W-L: 1-2-1
Completions/Attempts: 119/186
Yards: 1,414
TD: 8
INT: 5
QB Rating (Average): 89.5
2019 (1 full game)
W-L: 0-1
Completions/Attempts: 27/47
Yards: 276
TD: 0
INT: 1
QB Rating (Average): 65.6
A few highlights from the above:
• Roethlisberger has never started his first four games 4-0.
• Only three times from 2005-2018 has he averaged a passer rating over 100.0 for the first four games.
• Seven seasons he has thrown for over 1,000 yards in his first four games.
• Only three times has Roethlisberger had a below .500 start in his first four games.
• Twice Roethlisberger's attempts for the first four games were below 100.
These are just numbers, and anyone who loves statistics knows how they can certainly be manipulated to fit a narrative. With that said, I tried to take each at face value. For example, in 2006, Roethlisberger missed the opener due to an appendectomy, and he didn't look right immediately after. In 2010, he was suspended and didn't play his first snap until Week 6. In 2015, he was injured in St. Louis and didn't play again until Week 8.
Again, every season has its own story, but this exercise wasn't to take a trip down memory lane. It was to see if Roethlisberger does, indeed, start slowly.
Were there bad starts?
Sure. The 2012 0-4 start, capped by the loss in London, sticks out. So does the 2006 start that saw him throw two touchdowns against seven interceptions. In 2011, he threw for 1,148 yards, but three touchdowns against five interceptions and an 81.7 QB rating. In 2016, he threw for 1,116 yards, one touchdown against four interceptions with a QB rating of 101.4.
If you eliminate the outliers, what you get is a lot of in-between.
Roethlisberger's average QB rating over his career for the first four games played is 94.8. The maximum QB rating is 158.3 and, if the 94.8 career average seems low, only 10 NFL quarterbacks finished 2019 with an average QB rating over 100.0. So it's hardly bad.
Roethlisberger can be a mixed bag of goods with sporadic results, but he has always been that way. Whether it was his five-interception game in Week 5 vs. the Jaguars in 2017, or the multiple times he has thrown for 500 yards or six touchdowns. And that's pretty much what he's been with his season starts. They've been just par for the course with the rest of his career.
The other big question, of course: Will Roethlisberger's elbow physically return to form?
Dale Lolley will tackle this topic Monday.
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