Ben Roethlisberger is at Cleveland, and that’s a cupcake matchup. He should be a top-5 quarterback this week. Or should he? Almost all of his really good games have tended to come at Heinz Field.
Think about it. Roethlisberger has had eight games in the last two years with at least 3 TDs (including a pair of 6-TD games a year ago). All but one of those games has come at home.
If you look at his last 16 games on the road (a season’s worth of games) he’s thrown only 17 TDs.
In his last 16 games at home, he’s thrown 41 touchdowns. He’s also thrown for over 1,000 more yards in those games.
Also note that Pittsburgh’s offense has played poorly in three of its last four at Cleveland.
So for Week 17, despite the good matchup, my inclination would be to go with a usually lesser quarterback, like Matt Ryan or Eli Manning, over Roethlisberger.
BIG BEN: LAST 16 ON THE ROAD | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Opp. | Score | Com | Att | Yards | TD | Int |
2013 | Clev. | W 27-11 | 22 | 34 | 217 | 2 | 0 |
2013 | Balt. | L 20-22 | 28 | 44 | 257 | 2 | 0 |
2013 | G.B. | W 38-31 | 16 | 28 | 167 | 2 | 1 |
2014 | Balt. | L 6-26 | 22 | 37 | 217 | 0 | 1 |
2014 | Car. | W 37-19 | 22 | 30 | 196 | 2 | 0 |
2014 | Jac. | W 17-9 | 26 | 36 | 273 | 1 | 0 |
2014 | Clev. | L 10-31 | 21 | 42 | 228 | 1 | 1 |
2014 | NYJ | L 13-20 | 30 | 43 | 343 | 1 | 2 |
2014 | Ten. | W 27-24 | 21 | 32 | 207 | 1 | 1 |
2014 | Cin. | W 42-21 | 25 | 39 | 350 | 3 | 0 |
2014 | Atl. | W 27-20 | 27 | 35 | 360 | 0 | 0 |
2015 | N.E. | L 21-28 | 26 | 38 | 351 | 1 | 1 |
2015 | St.L. | W 12-6 | 20 | 24 | 192 | 0 | 1 |
2015 | Sea. | L 30-39 | 36 | 55 | 456 | 1 | 2 |
2015 | Cin. | W 33-20 | 30 | 39 | 282 | 0 | 1 |
2015 | Balt. | L 17-20 | 24 | 34 | 215 | 0 | 2 |
.. | .. | 9-7-0 | 396 | 590 | 4,311 | 17 | 13 |
BIG BEN: LAST 16 AT HOME | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Opp. | Score | Com | Att | Yards | TD | Int |
2013 | Clev. | W 20-7 | 19 | 31 | 179 | 1 | 2 |
2014 | Clev. | W 30-27 | 23 | 34 | 365 | 1 | 1 |
2014 | T.B. | L 24-27 | 29 | 40 | 314 | 3 | 0 |
2014 | Hou. | W 30-23 | 23 | 33 | 265 | 2 | 0 |
2014 | Ind. | W 51-34 | 40 | 49 | 522 | 6 | 0 |
2014 | Balt. | W 43-23 | 25 | 37 | 340 | 6 | 0 |
2014 | N.O. | L 32-35 | 32 | 58 | 435 | 2 | 2 |
2014 | K.C. | W 20-12 | 18 | 25 | 220 | 1 | 0 |
2014 | Cin. | W 27-17 | 24 | 38 | 317 | 2 | 1 |
2014 | Balt. | L 17-30 | 31 | 45 | 334 | 1 | 2 |
2015 | S.F. | W 43-18 | 21 | 27 | 369 | 3 | 0 |
2015 | Cin. | L 10-16 | 28 | 45 | 262 | 1 | 3 |
2015 | Oak. | W 38-35 | 24 | 44 | 334 | 2 | 1 |
2015 | Clev. | W 30-9 | 22 | 33 | 379 | 3 | 1 |
2015 | Ind. | W 45-10 | 24 | 39 | 364 | 4 | 0 |
2015 | Den. | W 34-27 | 40 | 55 | 380 | 3 | 2 |
.. | .. | 12-4-0 | 423 | 633 | 5,379 | 41 | 15 |
—Ian Allan