Dome Sweet Dome For Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger?

In the Pittsburgh Steelers road win over the Cleveland Browns this past Sunday, heavy winds played a role in the game. With weather conditions not being ideal in Cleveland, the Steelers offense relied heavily on the run in addition to a short passing game and as a result of that, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger didn’t post eye-popping statistics.

On Thursday, the Steelers will play the Indianapolis Colts on the road in a game that will be played inside a dome. Because of that, I thought it might be worth looking at how Roethlisberger has played in games inside.

As you can see below, including all playoff games, Roethlisberger has played in 15 total contest indoors. The Steelers are 9-6 in those games of which 10 were played in an entirely closed domed venue. 5 other games were played in venues that included a closed retractable roof which was closed at kickoff.

In the 10 games that Roethlisberger has played in domes so far during his career, playoff games included, only once has he thrown for 300 yards or more. However, he did manage to complete 69% of his passes in those 10 games with a healthy average yards per attempt of 8.7. In 5 of those 10 games, however, Roethlisberger failed to throw a single touchdown pass.

If you look at Roethlisberger’s career numbers, playoff games included, in all 15 games that he’s played in that included a closed roof, you’ll see that both his career completion percentage average (66.1%) and his yards per attempt (8.5) average are both higher than his total career passing average numbers in both statistical categories. While his average passer rating in those 15 roofed games is lower than his career average, it’s a negligible difference.

In summation, while Roethlisberger is very unlikely to throw for more than 300 yards in Thursday night’s game against the Colts, history shows that he should put up some pretty good numbers in other statistical categories.