The Steelers dumped Todd Haley, and that might be noteworthy. They might not be quite as aggressive and dynamic with Randy Fichtner as their offensive coordinator. Especially at home.
For reasons I can’t explain, Pittsburgh has been a lot better at Heinz Field. Way behind the home-field dynamic, and it’s a trend that’s held year in and year out. They’ve been a lot more productive at home, and they’ve been a lot more willing to take chances. On the road, there’s been more of a tendency to play it close to vest, feeding the ball to LeVeon Bell.
Maybe part of this is tied to the team allowing Ben Roethlisberger to use more audibles and no-huddle concepts at home.
However you slice it, Roethlisberger has been remarkably good at home, while he’s been surprisingly bad on the road. With the switch to Fichtner, that might change things enough to erase that dynamic.
Numerically, consider today’s quarterbacks. Below is the list of all 32 quarterbacks who’ve started at least 16 games at home in the last five years. For each guy, I then took his most recent 16 games at home. Using standard fantasy scoring, Roethlisberger comes out No. 1.
On the rushing stats on this one, you’re seeing yards and touchdowns.
| LAST 16 STARTS AT HOME | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | W-L | P Yds | TD | Int | Run | Points |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 13-3 | 5,209 | 45 | 16 | 69-0 | 447.4 |
| Andrew Luck | 9-7 | 4,711 | 36 | 14 | 392-0 | 418.8 |
| Russell Wilson | 11-5 | 4,271 | 30 | 9 | 503-3 | 401.9 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 11-5 | 4,285 | 38 | 8 | 254-1 | 397.7 |
| Drew Brees | 11-5 | 5,045 | 32 | 12 | 21-2 | 394.4 |
| Tom Brady | 12-4 | 4,612 | 34 | 7 | 43-1 | 376.9 |
| Cam Newton | 11-5 | 3,495 | 20 | 16 | 719-8 | 374.7 |
| Kirk Cousins | 9-7 | 4,640 | 27 | 14 | 125-3 | 370.5 |
| Matthew Stafford | 10-6 | 4,323 | 30 | 7 | 200-1 | 362.2 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 9-7 | 3,774 | 36 | 14 | 222-1 | 360.9 |
| Carson Palmer | 10-5-1 | 4,673 | 30 | 9 | 31-0 | 356.8 |
| Tony Romo | 10-6 | 4,303 | 33 | 18 | 65-0 | 353.7 |
| Blake Bortles | 7-9 | 4,234 | 23 | 15 | 300-3 | 351.7 |
| Marcus Mariota | 11-5 | 3,750 | 24 | 9 | 497-3 | 351.2 |
| Peyton Manning | 14-2 | 4,423 | 33 | 16 | -23-0 | 350.9 |
| Jameis Winston | 7-9 | 4,265 | 26 | 14 | 214-2 | 350.7 |
| Philip Rivers | 8-8 | 4,419 | 31 | 13 | 29-0 | 347.9 |
| Matt Ryan | 10-6 | 4,566 | 27 | 11 | 112-0 | 347.5 |
| Dak Prescott | 10-6 | 3,603 | 22 | 10 | 372-7 | 347.4 |
| Derek Carr | 10-6 | 4,124 | 30 | 11 | 164-0 | 342.6 |
| Alex Smith | 12-4 | 3,896 | 18 | 9 | 358-5 | 332.6 |
| Josh McCown | 4-12 | 4,024 | 24 | 13 | 146-3 | 329.8 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 10-6 | 4,018 | 28 | 11 | 167-0 | 329.6 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 10-6 | 3,072 | 19 | 6 | 623-6 | 327.9 |
| Sam Bradford | 9-7 | 4,456 | 23 | 12 | 56-0 | 320.4 |
| Eli Manning | 9-7 | 4,056 | 27 | 16 | -4-0 | 310.4 |
| Colin Kaepernick | 6-10 | 3,235 | 17 | 7 | 621-1 | 297.9 |
| Joe Flacco | 11-5 | 3,707 | 24 | 12 | 86-1 | 296.0 |
| Brian Hoyer | 8-8 | 3,961 | 17 | 10 | 4-1 | 272.5 |
| Jay Cutler | 5-11 | 3,277 | 21 | 14 | 155-1 | 269.4 |
| Andy Dalton | 8-8 | 3,583 | 16 | 13 | 115-2 | 266.7 |
| Case Keenum | 11-5 | 3,760 | 13 | 10 | 129-1 | 258.9 |
During the same five-year window, 32 quarterbacks have started at least 16 games on the road. Taking the most-recent 16 games for each guy, Roethlisberger has outperformed only six of them.
Note that some teams every year play games in England and Mexico. I’m considering those to be neutral venue sites, setting those numbers aside.
| LAST 16 STARTS ON THE ROAD | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Player | W-L | P Yds | TD | Int | Run | Points |
| Andrew Luck | 9-7 | 4,320 | 34 | 20 | 320-3 | 402.0 |
| Peyton Manning | 11-5 | 4,916 | 39 | 22 | -12-0 | 400.6 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 8-8 | 3,957 | 32 | 10 | 386-4 | 388.5 |
| Matt Ryan | 11-5 | 4,473 | 31 | 8 | 148-0 | 362.5 |
| Tom Brady | 14-2 | 4,509 | 32 | 6 | 65-0 | 360.0 |
| Carson Palmer | 8-8 | 4,771 | 27 | 19 | 32-1 | 355.8 |
| Kirk Cousins | 7-9 | 4,088 | 26 | 10 | 151-5 | 353.5 |
| Drew Brees | 7-9 | 4,552 | 27 | 11 | 3-2 | 347.9 |
| Cam Newton | 7-9 | 3,569 | 22 | 14 | 438-6 | 346.3 |
| Philip Rivers | 6-10 | 4,482 | 30 | 18 | 4-0 | 344.5 |
| Russell Wilson | 8-7-1 | 3,931 | 25 | 13 | 342-1 | 336.8 |
| Matthew Stafford | 8-8 | 4,450 | 23 | 13 | 105-1 | 331.0 |
| Alex Smith | 10-6 | 3,975 | 26 | 6 | 209-1 | 329.7 |
| Jameis Winston | 5-11 | 4,287 | 24 | 20 | 124-1 | 328.8 |
| Colin Kaepernick | 4-12 | 3,296 | 20 | 9 | 613-3 | 324.1 |
| Dak Prescott | 12-4 | 3,388 | 23 | 7 | 267-5 | 318.1 |
| Ryan Tannehill | 6-10 | 4,223 | 19 | 15 | 163-2 | 315.5 |
| Tony Romo | 12-4 | 3,570 | 33 | 8 | 44-0 | 314.9 |
| Andy Dalton | 5-11 | 3,718 | 26 | 7 | 147-1 | 310.6 |
| Blake Bortles | 5-11 | 3,454 | 19 | 15 | 388-3 | 305.5 |
| Josh McCown | 3-13 | 3,642 | 20 | 12 | 141-4 | 300.2 |
| Tyrod Taylor | 6-10 | 3,277 | 14 | 5 | 529-4 | 296.8 |
| Eli Manning | 5-11 | 3,814 | 23 | 16 | 21-1 | 290.8 |
| Jay Cutler | 7-9 | 3,819 | 22 | 13 | 115-0 | 290.5 |
| Marcus Mariota | 7-9 | 3,208 | 18 | 16 | 276-5 | 290.0 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 12-4 | 3,939 | 21 | 14 | 2-1 | 287.2 |
| Derek Carr | 8-8 | 3,734 | 22 | 13 | 58-0 | 280.5 |
| Joe Flacco | 6-10 | 3,975 | 15 | 15 | 26-2 | 273.4 |
| Sam Bradford | 7-9 | 3,783 | 20 | 8 | 34-0 | 272.6 |
| Case Keenum | 8-8 | 3,268 | 21 | 11 | 120-2 | 271.4 |
| Ryan Fitzpatrick | 6-10 | 3,532 | 14 | 16 | 250-2 | 269.6 |
| Brian Hoyer | 5-11 | 3,683 | 18 | 12 | 53-0 | 261.5 |
I’m not promising the Steelers will fall apart without Haley. Fichtner has been there for years, and Roethlisberger supposedly loves him. But we all saw last year what happened to the Falcons after they lost Kyle Shanahan. Steve Sarkisian didn’t seem like a big downgrade, but the offense simply wasn’t the same.
—Ian Allan