Coming into the 2015 season, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger thought that scoring an average of 30 points on offense was a realistic goal for his unit based on the weapons they have. However, so far this season the Steelers offense has only managed to score more than 30 points just once in their first 8 games of 2015 with Roethlisberger missing half of them due to a left MCL sprain.
On Wednesday, Roethlisberger was asked to revisit his 30 points per game expectation and as you would expect, he doesn’t believe it should change moving forward.
“Don’t see why anything’s changed; it shouldn’t, he said according to Chris Adamski of Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.
As previously noted this past week, the Steelers offense was finally able to get their collection of Killer Bs all on the field at the same time for the first time this season Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. That reunion unfortunately lasted just 23 plays, however, as running back Le’Veon Bell was lost for the remainder of the season to a right knee injury with 9:14 left in the second quarter.
While Roethlisberger did have the opportunity to play with Bell and wide receiver Antonio Brown in a few games before going down injured in Week 3, Sunday marked the first game this season that he played with second-year wide receiver Martavis Bryant, who missed the team’s first five games due to his suspension and a minor injury.
Roethlisberger and Bryant certainly weren’t in concert with each other against the Bengals as the latter only caught 4 of the 9 passes thrown his way for 49 yards. One of those incompletions should have been a touchdown, however, as a 33-yard fourth quarter pass from Roethlisberger went right through the hands of Bryant in the end zone.
Now that Roethlisberger has his first game back from injury under his belt, the Steelers offense is definitely expected to be better this week even though history shows that the Steelers quarterback has been a bit rusty in the past in most of his second games back from injuries.
Sunday, the Steelers will host the Oakland Raiders in a key game that figures to have Wild Card implications later on in the season. Being as the Raiders offense enters Week 9 with a 25.4 point per game average, Roethlisberger and company might just need to hit that magic number of 30 on Sunday if they want to win the game.
