In the 37-27 win Sunday over the Detroit Lions, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger used the no-huddle plenty. In fact, 34 of the 73 total offensive plays ran in the game were run out of the no-huddle.
For the game, Roethlisberger was 14-of-24 passing for 229 yards and two touchdowns while using the no-huddle, according to our game charting. He was not sacked while using it and he did not turn the ball over.
The offense also ran the ball out of the no-huddle, but wasn’t very successful doing it as the 10 runs, which included one Roethlisberger scramble, resulted in just 22 yards. I should note that all but six of those 34 plays were run out of the shotgun and that five of those plays under center were runs.
So how has Roethlisberger performed for the season using the no huddle? According to our charting, he is 47-of-78 (60.4%) passing for 615 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions on the season. That computes to an old school passer rating of 91.6. Roethlisberger has, however, been sacked five times while using the no-huddle.
If you were to take out his no-huddle stats from his season stats, Roethlisberger is 200-of-305 passing (65.6%) for 2,286 yards with 13 touchdowns and 8 interceptions when not using the no-huddle. That computes to a 91.2 old school passer rating.
As you can see, Roethlisberger has a higher completion percentage when not using the no-huddle and his passer rating is virtually the same whether he uses it or not.
The no-huddle certainly has its benefits from a tempo standpoint as it often times can prevent defenses from making personnel changes. In addition to that, it can tire out a defense. Personally, I think it’s great way to start a game and in addition, it can be used to jumpstart the offense when playing from behind. Will we see more of it moving forward? We’ll see this Sunday against the Cleveland Browns.
