Can Pittsburgh Steelers Ride Hot Big Ben to the Playoffs?

It might be too early to panic four games into the NFL season, but the Pittsburgh Steelers need to be vigilant about the focus of this team going forward. When you have a quarterback like Ben Roethlisberger, one can never stray too far from the fact that sometimes the best approach is to just put the football in the hands of the best player.

There's an old saying in football that is attributed to famous Tennessee coach Robert Neyland. He said, “When you throw the ball, three things can happen—and two of them are bad.” 

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Fortunately, the rules of the NFL have become skewed to a point that the risk/reward of throwing the football around has diminished. For the Steelers, they are at a crossroads in terms of their offensive philosophy, and the decision which way to go might not be so simple.

Pittsburgh has been very fortunate with the emergence of second-year running back Le'Veon Bell. Through four games, Bell is averaging 142.5 yards of offense per game, which places him second in the league. Only Dallas Cowboys running back DeMarco Murray is averaging more.

But regardless of how well Bell is playing, if this team wants to make a serious push into the playoffs, it needs to be on the arm of Roethlisberger, not the legs of Bell.

Roethlisberger is on pace for a career best in yards (4,368). Big Ben is completing 68 percent of his passes this season and has a solid 7.7 yards per attempt. The Steelers offense on the whole has ramped things up, putting up an impressive 412 yards per game. In many cases, Roethlisberger is simply the picture of efficiency.

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#Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger (@_BigBen7) has a 130.0+ passer rtg. in 1st half for 25th time in his NFL career. Team is 21-3 in those gms

— Dom Rinelli (@drinelli) September 28, 2014"

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Such a classic Ben Roethlisberger stat: Roethlisberger has the leagues best completion percentage (92.9%) when facing 5 or more pass-rushers

— Tony DelSignore Jr (@TonyD_12) September 25, 2014"

But let's understand, that when we talk about which facet of this offense drives the bus, it is Roethlisberger. This isn't a chicken or egg debate. The fact that Bell is able to rush for 5.3 yards per carry this year is very much a product of all the things Roethlisberger is able to do.  

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Why doesn't Roethlisberger get more love from fans and media? I've always felt like it is because he isn't a fantasy football star. Fans have become so locked into guys whose numbers help their fantasy team win, they miss out on the play of some real talent in the league. 

Even with Roethlisberger on pace for his best statistical season ever, six other quarterbacks have more passing yards than he does at this point. However, that could change. Head coach Mike Tomlin and offensive coordinator Todd Haley need to put the football back in Big Ben's hands more and use the running game as a complement.  

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

Case in point was Sunday's loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Pittsburgh got the ball with two minutes to play, and all they needed to do was generate a first down and it would have been game over. Tampa would have had to burn through all their timeouts and the Steelers would be sitting at 3-1.

However, rather than let Roethlisberger close it out with his arm, Pittsburgh went ultra-conservative and gave the Buccaneers back the football with just under a minute to play. In particular, the call on 3rd-and-5 is one where it should have been about Ben, but it wasn’t.

There wasn’t a person in the stadium, or watching at home who didn’t think Pittsburgh would try an inside delay in hopes Bell could muscle out another five-yard carry.

Unfortunately, it was clear the Bucs could tell what was coming as well. As you can see from the image below, three Steelers’ offensive linemen whiffed on their assignments, making things impossible for Bell.

NFL Game Rewind

Tampa Bay had opted for press-man coverage on that play against Pittsburgh spreading things out with five wide receivers. This was likely because they had hedged their bets that Pittsburgh was going to run the ball. I was originally OK with the call, but after reviewing it more closely, that should have been a play for Ben, not Bell. 

Going forward, If the Steelers want to make it to the playoffs, this offense needs to begin and end with the quarterback position. The Pittsburgh coaches need to give this offense to Big Ben, and he needs to be a little more selfish with how he distributes the football.

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Tomlin says he gave Haley the third down play before final punt. Was a run-pass option and said the Steelers simply didn't execute.

— Scott Brown (@ScottBrown_ESPN) September 30, 2014"

In Ben we trust to take this team to the playoffs.