Completion Percentage by Coverage Shell
After 99 total passing snaps against Man (Cover 0, Cover 1, and Cover 2-Man) Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger has completed only 55.6% of his passes, compared to 72.3% after playing 94 snaps against Zone (Cover 3, Cover 4, and Cover 2-Zone).
Completions/Attempts: Cover 2 Zone (16/21), Cover 3 (47/66), Cover 4 (5/7), Cover 0 (5/8), Cover 2 Man (15/27), Cover 1 (35/64) For the record, Roethlisberger’s attempts against Cover 4 were actually against a Quarter-Quarter-Half coverage but I record it as Cover4 since he threw to the Quarters side of the field
WR Target Percentage Based on Coverage Shell
- Cover 1: Targets/ Total Coverage Attempts: Brown(27/64), Bryant (9/64), James(8/64), JuJu(7/64), Bell(6/64), Rogers(5/64), McDonald(1/64)
- Cover 3: Targets / Total Coverage Attempts: Brown (22/66), Bryant (15/66), Bell (12/66), JuJu (5/66), James (4/66), Rogers (3/66), McDonald (2/66), Hunter (2/66), Conner (1/66)
- Cover 2 Man: Targets / Total Coverage Attempts: Bell(8/27), Brown (6/27), JuJu (4/27), Bryant (3/27), James (3/27), Rogers (2/27), Hunter (1/27)
- Cover 2 Zone: Targets /Total Coverage Attempts: Brown (6/21), Bell (6/21), James (5/21), Bryant (2/21), JuJu (1/21), Rogers (1/21)
Completion Percentage by Route-Type and Target Area
Roethlisberger’s route-type completion percentages are consistent with his performance when throwing against different coverages and when targeting different field areas. For example, his four worst routes (Post, Seam, Corner, and Vertical) each coincide with his worst target areas (the deep thirds of the field). Moreover, given that Roethlisberger struggles when throwing these routes, it also makes sense that Cover 2-Man and Cover 1 have given him the most trouble, since those patterns are arguably the most common beater-routes for those shells. This information confirms what we have all seen through the Steelers’ first four games: Roethlisberger has generally been reading the defense properly, but has simply has not connected on his throws.
Additionally, one interesting trend worth noting is Roethlisberger’s lack of success (and lack of attempts) on North-South breaking routes. Specifically, on East-West breaking routes (Shovel, Bubble, Crosser, Screens, Out, Slant, Over, and Digs) he has a 75.9% completion rating (85/112), compared to just a 46.9% rating (38/81) on North-South breaking routes (Comeback, Hitch, Curl, Post, Seam, Corner, Vertical). The most shocking stat in this area is his poor production on verticals, as he as completed only 2 passes on 18 attempts.
Completions/Attempts per Route: Comeback (2/2), Hitch (12/12), Shovel (3/3), Bubble (7/8), Crosser (14/17), Screen (20/25), Out (22/29), Slant (15/21), Curl (9/14), Over (2/4), Dig (2/5), Post (6/14), Seam (5/14), Corner (2/7), Vertical (2/18)
Completion Percentage by Targeted Receiver
Roethlisberger’s completion percentage categorized by his targeted receiver is straightforward; however, I have also included each receivers’ catch percentage from the 2016 season to give some perspective.
– 2017 Catches/Attempts: Bell (27/37), James (18/25), Brown (40/60), JuJu (12/20), Rogers (6/11), Bryant (15/31), Hunter (2/5), McDonald (0/3), Conner (0/1) – 2016 Catch Rates: James (65%), Bell (80%), Brown (69%), JuJu at USC (N/A), Rogers (73%), Hunter (43%), McDonald with San Francisco (53%)
Situational Passing Stats
Lastly, I pulled this chart from NFL.com for those that asked to see some stats relating Roethlisberger’s performance in different game situations:
