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NFL defenses have gotten so athletic there is no such thing as a successful offense that can’t throw deep. Pushing safeties out of the box with the deep ball is vital to the success in the run game. Last season, the Pittsburgh Steelers couldn’t get much of anything going on offense and the inability to throw the football deep was a significant part of why.
One of the hallmarks of Ben Roethlisberger’s game is his ability to stretch defenses. He was ranked one of the best deep throwers in the NFL by Pro Football Focus. Here’s what he had to say about Big Ben.
34.5% completion percentage, 12.6 yards per attempt, 112.9 Passer Rating
With no Roethlisberger for almost all of last season, we have pulled up his 2018 statistics to include him on the list. Roethlisberger was an excellent deep passer of the football that year, and that was contrasted starkly with the combination of Mason Rudolph and Devlin Hodges, who combined to replace him in 2019. Both young players were among the worst deep passers of the ball despite plenty of attempts, which is a big reason the Steelers offense didn’t look anything like itself last year.
To contrast here’s what Touchdown Wire had to say about the deep passing of quarterback Devlin Hodges when he was in the starting lineup for the Steelers last season.
Not that we expected “Duck” Hodges, the undrafted rookie from Samford, to take over for either Mason Rudolph of Ben Roethlisberger with record-breaking efficiency. But on the deep passes than generally help to define the Steelers’ offenses, Hodges was sadly in over his head through eight games and six starts. On passes to deep routes, Hodges completed 13 of 29 passes for 396 yards, two touchdowns, and six interceptions. Yes, six picks on 29 attempts, giving him a league-high interception rate of 20.7%.
Pittsburgh has plenty of players who can stretch defenses but they get no respect when the defense knows there isn’t a player who can get them the football.
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