It was obvious Sunday in the Pittsburgh Steelers win over the New York Jets that the focus on offense was a shorter passing game and it resulted in a win.
Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger completed 23-of-30 passes in the game for 264 yards and 10 of those passes were behind the line of scrimmage with only one, the wide receiver screen that his tight end Heath Miller in the helmet early in the game, falling incomplete.
While those 10 passes only resulted in 40 yards of offense, it helped slow down the Jets pass rush a little and seemed to open up the middle of the field as the game wore on.
Of the 13 passes that Roethlisberger threw up to 11 yards past the line of scrimmage, he completed 11 of them for 126 yards.
As irritating as the wide receiver screens can be at times, they were needed against a Jets defensive front that is strong against the run and can get after the quarterback.
For the game, Roethlisberger’s average passing distance was 7.6 yards and while that is the lowest it has been all season, it resulted in the team notching their first win of the season.
