Aaron Rodgers and Ben Roethlisberger are future Hall of Famers and guys you should start every week in your fantasy league. Or are they? Both have tended to struggle on the road.
Over the past few years, in fact, these guys have tended to be the most affected by home-field advantage (or away-field disadvantage, if you will).
For this one, I looked at the stats of the 23 quarterbacks that in the last five years have started at least 16 games at home and at least 16 games on the road. Then I looked at how each has fared in their last 16 games of each.
Both Rodgers and Roethlisberger have thrown over 40 touchdowns in their last 16 games at home. But both have slipped away from home. Rodgers has averaged 44 fewer yards per game, with just 27 TDs – barely above average in today’s wide-open NFL.
Roethlisberger has averaged 47 fewer passing yards on the road, with just 18 TDs in 16 games. Of the quarterbacks in this group, only three others have thrown fewer than 20 TDs in their last 16 road games – Alex Smith, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Mark Sanchez.
As you push around the numbers, it becomes more palatable to perhaps start a seemingly lesser quarterback ahead of Rodgers and Roethlisberger.
| QUARTERBACKS: HOME VS. AWAY (last 16 starts) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Players | Home | Away | Pct |
| Colin Kaepernick | 195-14 | 216-23 | 25% |
| Russell Wilson | 230-23 | 238-31 | 14% |
| Peyton Manning | 276-33 | 307-39 | 14% |
| Alex Smith | 192-21 | 239-17 | 9% |
| Jay Cutler | 242-24 | 252-28 | 8% |
| Andy Dalton | 227-23 | 231-26 | 6% |
| Philip Rivers | 280-29 | 286-31 | 4% |
| Carson Palmer | 288-30 | 286-33 | 3% |
| Andrew Luck | 281-33 | 274-35 | 1% |
| Sam Bradford | 259-24 | 235-26 | -4% |
| Cam Newton | 239-28 | 216-28 | -6% |
| Mark Sanchez | 220-23 | 216-19 | -7% |
| Ryan Tannehill | 250-30 | 265-21 | -8% |
| Eli Manning | 297-32 | 255-33 | -8% |
| Tony Romo | 268-33 | 223-34 | -9% |
| Matt Ryan | 299-27 | 280-22 | -10% |
| Joe Flacco | 267-26 | 239-21 | -13% |
| Matthew Stafford | 282-30 | 249-24 | -15% |
| Tom Brady | 293-39 | 261-30 | -16% |
| Drew Brees | 333-39 | 297-27 | -18% |
| Aaron Rodgers | 278-42 | 234-27 | -24% |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 325-41 | 278-18 | -31% |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 253-36 | 206-18 | -32% |
—Ian Allan