It feels weird to rank Ben Roethlisberger as a bottom-5 quarterback, which is what I’ve done this week. (There are only 26 quarterbacks starting in Week 9, and I’ve got him 22nd on that list.) But he’s been remarkably bad at Baltimore over the years.
The Ravens have a good defense again this year. They’re allowing a league-low 17 points per game, and only the Jaguars have allowed fewer passing yards. And they seem to have a good feel for how to play against the Steelers.
Roethlisberger, of course, had his worst game of the season against this defense a month ago in a Sunday night game. And he’s traditionally struggled at M&T Bank Stadium. Roethlisberger is 3-7 all-time at Baltimore, with 9 TD passes and 13 interceptions. He’s thrown more than 1 TD pass in only one of his last nine games there.
Roethlisberger is a better passer now than he was early in his career, of course. In his first few seasons, the Steelers were relying heavily on running the ball. But even in these last few seasons, with Antonio Brown shredding secondaries, Pittsburgh has tended to struggle at Baltimore. Roethlisberger is 1-4 in his last five games at Baltimore, averaging 235 passing yards, with 4 TDs and 5 interceptions.
So while it may seem ridiculous to rank Roethlisberger behind guys like Brock Osweiler and Case Keenum, that’s how I’m slotting them this week.
| ROETHLISBERGER AT BALTIMORE | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Result | Com | Att | Yards | TD | Int |
| 2004 | L 13-30 | 12 | 20 | 176 | 2 | 2 |
| 2006 | L 0-27 | 21 | 41 | 214 | 0 | 2 |
| 2008 | W 13-9 | 22 | 40 | 246 | 1 | 0 |
| 2010 | W 13-10 | 22 | 38 | 253 | 1 | 1 |
| 2011 | L 7-35 | 22 | 41 | 280 | 1 | 3 |
| 2013 | L 20-22 | 28 | 44 | 257 | 2 | 0 |
| 2014 | L 6-26 | 22 | 37 | 217 | 0 | 1 |
| 2015 | L 17-20 | 24 | 34 | 220 | 0 | 2 |
| 2016 | L 14-21 | 23 | 45 | 264 | 1 | 1 |
| 2017 | W 26-9 | 18 | 30 | 216 | 1 | 1 |
—Ian Allan