Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger was certainly great at picking defenses apart last season when he had time in the pocket. With that said, it probably won’t come as shock to you to learn that he was even better last season while under pressure.
According to charting done by Pro Football Focus, Roethlisberger had the highest positive “pressure differential” last season when it comes to quarterback ratings. Oh, and second place was a very distant second.
Roethlisberger posted a robust 98.4 quarterback rating last season when not under pressure and an eye-popping 112.2 rating while under pressure, according to PFF. Only one other quarterback had a positive pressure differential last season and that was Jay Cutler of the Chicago Bears. However, Cutler’s 87.5 quarterback rating when not under pressure certainly helped in that stat.
There is no doubt that Roethlisberger is getting better with age and with nearly all of his offensive pieces from last year returning in 2015, he could realistically better his numbers from last season regardless of the kind of pressure he’ll face.
QB rating when kept clean, when under pressure, and the change between the two. Interesting numbers: pic.twitter.com/HOV7PCRzPu
— Sam Monson (@PFF_Sam) July 14, 2015
