UPDATE: I have changed this post to reflect the way Ryan Scarpino is reporting the stat. He is taking into account multiple games in the same season along with the one playoff game against Joe Flacco.
Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau enters the game Monday night against the Tennessee Titans with an 18-2 record against rookie quarterbacks since taking over in 2004.
Titans quarterback Zack Mettenberger will be the second rookie quarterback to start a game this season against the Steelers as the first in 2014 was Blake Bortles of the Jacksonville Jaguars. Back in Week 5, Bortles was 22-of-36 passing for 191 yards with two touchdowns and a costly interception that was returned for a touchdown in the fourth quarter.
Currently, Troy Smith and Brandon Weeden are the only two rookie quarterbacks to ever start a game against LeBeau since 2004 and win. Both of those wins, however, deserve to have asterisks beside them as Smith’s win came in a meaningless season finale back in 2007. The Steelers had clinched a playoff spot at that point and as a result they sat several of their starters. Smith was 16-of-27 for 171 yards in that game with one touchdown.
As for Weeden’s win in 2012 against LeBeau, the Steelers offense minus an injured Ben Roethlisberger turned the football over eight times in that game. Weeden finished that contest with a very meager stat line as he was 17-of-26 passing for 158 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was also sacked four times in that game.
Mettenberger enters Monday night’s game having lost his first two starts in the Titans previous two games. He has completed 45-of-73 passes so far this season for 495 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions.
The Steelers are currently favored by six points by most online betting sites and that number has grown by two points since it first opened. Dating back to 2012 the Steelers haven’t played well against teams with a sub .500 record, but you have to like LeBeau’s chances of running his record against rookie quarterbacks to 19-2 Monday night nonetheless.
Stats Of Rookie Quarterbacks Starting Against Dick LeBeau 2004-2014
| Player | Date | Team | Result | Week | Day | Comp | Att | Comp% | Yds | TD | Int | Rate | Y/A |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blake Bortles | 10/5/14 | JAX | L 9-17 | 5 | Sun | 22 | 36 | 61.1 | 191 | 0 | 2 | 52 | 5.31 |
| E.J. Manuel | 11/10/13 | BUF | L 10-23 | 10 | Sun | 22 | 39 | 56.4 | 155 | 1 | 1 | 63.5 | 3.97 |
| Geno Smith | 10/13/13 | NYJ | L 6-19 | 6 | Sun | 19 | 34 | 55.9 | 201 | 0 | 2 | 48.8 | 5.91 |
| Brandon Weeden | 11/25/12 | CLE | W 20-14 | 12 | Sun | 17 | 26 | 65.4 | 158 | 1 | 1 | 78.7 | 6.08 |
| Robert Griffin | 10/28/12 | WAS | L 12-27 | 8 | Sun | 16 | 34 | 47.1 | 177 | 1 | 0 | 72.8 | 5.21 |
| Andy Dalton | 12/4/11 | CIN | L 7-35 | 13 | Sun | 11 | 24 | 45.8 | 135 | 1 | 0 | 77.6 | 5.63 |
| Andy Dalton | 11/13/11 | CIN | L 17-24 | 10 | Sun | 15 | 30 | 50.0 | 170 | 2 | 2 | 61.8 | 5.67 |
| Blaine Gabbert | 10/16/11 | JAX | L 13-17 | 6 | Sun | 12 | 26 | 46.2 | 109 | 1 | 0 | 70.8 | 4.19 |
| Colt McCoy | 1/2/11 | CLE | L 9-41 | 17 | Sun | 20 | 41 | 48.8 | 209 | 1 | 3 | 41.6 | 5.10 |
| Jimmy Clausen | 12/23/10 | CAR | L 3-27 | 16 | Thu | 10 | 23 | 43.5 | 72 | 0 | 1 | 33.2 | 3.13 |
| Colt McCoy | 10/17/10 | CLE | L 10-28 | 6 | Sun | 23 | 33 | 69.7 | 281 | 1 | 2 | 80.5 | 8.52 |
| Joe Flacco | 1/18/09 | BAL | L 14-23 | 20 | Sun | 13 | 30 | 43.3 | 141 | 0 | 3 | 18.2 | 4.70 |
| Joe Flacco | 12/14/08 | BAL | L 9-13 | 15 | Sun | 11 | 28 | 39.3 | 115 | 0 | 2 | 22.2 | 4.11 |
| Joe Flacco | 9/29/08 | BAL | L 20-23 | 4 | Mon | 16 | 31 | 51.6 | 192 | 1 | 0 | 81.7 | 6.19 |
| Troy Smith | 12/30/07 | BAL | W 27-21 | 17 | Sun | 16 | 27 | 59.3 | 171 | 1 | 0 | 90.2 | 6.33 |
| John Beck | 11/26/07 | MIA | L 0-3 | 12 | Mon | 14 | 23 | 60.9 | 132 | 0 | 0 | 76.7 | 5.74 |
| Bruce Gradkowski | 12/3/06 | TAM | L 3-20 | 13 | Sun | 20 | 34 | 58.8 | 175 | 0 | 3 | 35.8 | 5.15 |
| Charlie Frye | 12/24/05 | CLE | L 0-41 | 16 | Sat | 20 | 39 | 51.3 | 183 | 0 | 0 | 64.4 | 4.69 |
| Kyle Orton | 12/11/05 | CHI | L 9-21 | 14 | Sun | 17 | 35 | 48.6 | 207 | 0 | 0 | 67.2 | 5.91 |
| Eli Manning | 12/18/04 | NYG | L 30-33 | 15 | Sat | 16 | 23 | 69.6 | 182 | 2 | 1 | 103.9 | 7.91 |
| Totals | 330 | 616 | 53.6 | 3356 | 13 | 23 | 60.9 | 5.45 | |||||
