He threw for 522 yards and six touchdowns against the Indianapolis Colts. It was one of the greatest games I’ve seen Roethlisberger play. In fact, it’s among the greatest performances I’ve seen from a quarterback in the two-plus decades I’ve been breaking down NFL film.
The funny thing is, almost all of his yards came in a manner we’re not used to seeing from Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger is a good pocket quarterback, but he’s not a pure timing, rhythm and anticipation thrower. That’s not the foundation of his game. But against the Colts he really had only one play that was “vintage Ben,” a long touchdown to Antonio Brown in which he left the pocket and made a play by extending it with his legs. The Colts' “man free lurk” took away a shot play, so Roethlisberger left the pocket, Brown saw it and adjusted his route, and they hooked up on a 47-yard touchdown. Other than that, it was really a pocket game for Roethlisberger.
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It was clear early on how sharp Roethlisberger was mentally. All afternoon he read coverage quickly and the ball came out.
When a quarterback has 40 completions for more than 500 yards there are a lot of examples of how good he was (he had just nine incompletions, and only two passes I’m sure he’d like to have back, in 49 attempts), but we’ll take a look at three that really showed how sharp he was.
Roethlisberger’s first touchdown, a 18-yarder to Markus Wheaton, was an outstanding anticipation throw. Lance Moore and Wheaton lined up in minus splits, close to the formation, which backed off Indianapolis’ cornerbacks. Moore’s initial vertical stem held Davis to set up the throw to Wheaton at the pylon. Roethlisberger’s anticipation was the key, so Davis didn't have enough time to react to the outside and play Wheaton’s route effectively.
Later in the first quarter, Roethlisberger again had great anticipation on a throw, which again took the cornerback out of the play. On second and 17, the slot corner Darius Butler ran with Moore with the Colts in a “Cover 2” zone. Roethlisberger began his delivery before Moore came out of his break, and the timing of the throw beat dropping cornerback Josh Gordy.
A 52-yard pass to Martavis Bryant in the second quarter was another pass that had great anticipation and accuracy. Bryant was matched up against Butler, who was in press position matched up to the outside release, which was Bryant. Bryant got on top of Butler in five steps and Roethlisberger turned it loose right away.
Roethlisberger was great in all areas. The Colts started blitzing more in the second half to change the tempo of the game, and Roethlisberger went 17-of-21 for 237 yards and two touchdowns against the blitz. Roethlisberger was 10-of-12 for 169 yards and three touchdowns against play action. The Colts couldn’t slow him down.
Roethlisberger played with a refined sense of rhythm and timing. He was a precision player much more than a playmaker. It turned out to be an incredible day for him.
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NFL analyst and NFL Films senior producer Greg Cosell watches as much NFL game film as anyone. Throughout the season, Cosell will join Shutdown Corner to share his observations on the teams, schemes and personnel from around the league.
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