As I talked about this morning, Baltimore has not been kind to Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. The 15-year veteran held just a 3-6 record when facing the Baltimore Ravens on the road in his career, today marking just his fourth victory in 10 opportunities in the city.
It was also his second-best, statistically, for just the second time in his career throwing at least two touchdown passes in Baltimore without throwing an interception. The game marked just the third time in his career in which he threw more than one touchdown pass on the road against the Ravens, and the first was his first game ever, coming in as a backup for the injury Tommy Maddox in 2004.
While there were several things on his bucket list that he failed to check off (throwing for three or more touchdowns, or for 300 or more yards), Roethlisberger will be happy just to settle for a rare road win in Baltimore, and he did so by posting his second-highest quarterback rating in the city at 89.8.
His best game against the Ravens in Baltimore, statistically, came in a loss in 2013, when he threw for two touchdowns with no interceptions for 257 yards and completing 64 percent of his passes. Today, he completed 28 of 47 attempts for 270 yards, but he also scored a touchdown on the ground.
And he ran a quarterback sneak. And he threw a stiff-arm. And he punted the ball. And he even had one of those injuries that he comes back into the game from only to rifle the ball down the field for a big gain, this one to Jesse James of all people pulling a double move for 51 yards.
Baltimore has been about as bad a city for Roethlisberger to play in as any other, but things have trended up. He has now won two games in a row there, the first time he has done so in consecutive years. He won in 2008 and 2010 as well, but did not play in the two teams’ meeting in Baltimore in 2009.
What’s interesting is that it was the second-least efficient game he has ever had on the road against the Ravens, averaging just 5.7 yards per pass attempt. His only worse performance in that statistic came during the injury-plagued Super Bowl hangover season of 2006 in a humiliating 27-0 loss in which he threw two interceptions and no touchdowns.
This was also just the third game out of 12 in Baltimore in which Roethlisberger did not throw an interception. He has 13 interceptions in those 12 games now with 10 touchdowns, including today’s results.
The 23 points that they scored was also the second-most a Roethlisberger-led team has ever had in Baltimore, behind only last season’s 26-9 victory. They have scored 20 or more points on the road against the Ravens just three times while he has played.
