Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger One Of The Best When Backed Up In His Own End

We already know how great Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is, but I wanted to look at some of his split stats as it relates to where he ranks against the other quarterbacks in the league over the course of the last five years when backed up deep in his own end of the field.

Of the quarterbacks who have attempted 150 or more passes from inside their own 20 yard-line over the last five years, Roethlisberger leads the league with a 73% completion ratio with 37.2% of those attempts resulting in either a first down or a touchdown. His 9.7 yards per attempt number on those attempts rank him second behind only Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

Those numbers are nothing to sneeze about, but what about on third downs inside his own 20, as that certainly is a key down as it relates to possible good field position for the opponent? As you can see in the second table below, Roethlisberger\’s completion percentage does dip down to 63.1%, which ranks him fifth overall on the list, but his 43.1% conversion rate, which is much more important, ranks him tops in the league against other quarterbacks with the qualified amount of attempts.

So let\’s back up Roethlisberger now to inside his own 10 yard-line and see how he does in the shadow of his own goal post. The third table below shows that the Steelers quarterback over the last five years has an eye popping 76.6% completion ratio on all attempts when backed up that deep and an even more amazing 11.6 yards per attempt number. Even more amazing perhaps is the fact that he has only been sacked once during that span when backed up that deep.

The only real area where Roethlisberger is just average among the other quarterbacks listed stats wise is on third down inside his own 10 yard-line, as he only has a 50% completion ratio and a 33.3% conversion ratio on 12 pass attempts over the course of the last five years. It should be noted, however, that five of those 12 attempts took place when the team needed 11 or more yards for a first down, so that stat line is certainly forgivable considering that Roethlisberger usually aims for the sticks.

All the tables below are sortable by clicking on the column headers, and a few things will jump out at you when you do that as it relates to a few of the other quarterbacks on these lists. For example, New York Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez has only converted one third down on 14 pass attempts when backed up inside his own 10 yard-line. Another example includes the fact that San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers only has a 49.3% completion ratio on third downs inside his own 20 yard-line over the course of the last five years. That\’s even worse than Sanchez. Also, look at the numbers for Alex Smith. Do the Kansas City Chiefs really think that they can win with him?

When the so-called experts rank the quarterbacks, they never take key stats like these into consideration. The ability of a quarterback to get his team out of their own deep end of the field is an important element of the game. We all know how crucial field position is in a game, and Roethlisberger has shown over the course of the last five years that he is one of the best at getting the ball moved out of that dangerous area of the field.

2008-2012 Quarterback Passing Stats Inside Own 20 Yard-line All Downs

2008-2012 Quarterback Passing Stats Inside Own 20 Yard-line Third Downs

2008-2012 Quarterback Passing Stats Inside Own 10 Yard-line All Downs

2008-2012 Quarterback Passing Stats Inside Own 10 Yard-line Third Downs