It appears quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is in the Pittsburgh Steelers’ plans for 2021 — but is a renewed focus on the rushing attack coming back as well?
After an 11-0 start, a disappointing December, a shocking playoff loss at home to the rival Cleveland Browns and a few weeks of speculation, it appears that team owner Art Rooney II wants Ben Roethlisberger back at quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers in 2021 (via Brooke Pryor of ESPN).
There’s a lot to work out in terms of his hefty contract and the salary cap ramifications. But via Jason Owens of Yahoo! Sports, agent Ryan Tollner explained that Roethlisberger and the organization are looking to make it work.
That’s all well and good. He is clearly the most experienced, talented and qualified signal-caller currently on the roster. The team has young performers such as Mason Rudolph and Joshua Dobbs – although the latter could become an unrestricted free agent in March. Earlier this year, general manager Kevin Colbert signed Washington Football Team 2019 first-round pick Dwayne Haskins to a futures contract.
However, if Mike Tomlin’s club is to avoid another late-season collapse, as has been the case three consecutive years, the team must establish some sort of balance when it comes to their offense. Y
es, it’s very vogue in this day and age of the passing game to put up big numbers and rely on the aerial attack. But once again without an effective ground attack and a commitment to the run, Pittsburgh’s offense became highly predictable as the 2020 season wore on. And it really wasn’t a recent thing is now-former offensive coordinator Randy Fichtner stressed throwing the football much more than evening things out with the running game.
That lack of balance was evident in the final seven games of 2018. That year, the team squandered a 7-2-1 start and missed the playoffs. It was also hard to ignore in 2019 when the team relied on Rudolph and Devlin Hodges after Roethlisberger was shut down after six quarters of play. The Steelers rode their defense to an 8-5 start but dropped their final three contests.
Take a closer look at 2020. No team in the league gained fewer yards on the ground, running for a disappointing 84.4 yards per contest. Pittsburgh rushed for 100-plus yards in each of their first five games and only once in their final 12 outings, including the playoff loss to the Browns. In half of those final 12 games, the Steelers ran the ball less than 20 times.
Tomlin’s club needs help on the offensive line, running back James Conner will be an unrestricted free agent and quarterbacks coach Matt Canada is the new offensive coordinator. And Ben Roethlisberger is apparently headed for his 18th season in the Steel City. But the recent issues will continue if the Steelers offense continues to be a one-man show.