It has been awhile since the Pittsburgh Steelers had a top passing attack. However, when QB Ben Roethlisberger and WR Antonio Brown teamed up, it was fireworks. After all, in Brown’s nine seasons with the Steelers and Roethlisberger throwing him the ball, he had 837 receptions for 11,207 yards and 74 touchdowns.
That combination was so good that analyst Derrik Klassen ranked it the ninth-best passing duo since 2000 for the 33rd Team. He talked about the evolution of Roethlisberger as a passer and how Brown meshed with that.
“He wanted to be exclusively in shotgun and throw the hell out of the ball,” Klassen wrote. “None of that under-center, sequenced play-calling nonsense — Roethlisberger just wanted to grip it and rip it… Brown had every skill you could want in a star wide receiver, which made him great for an offense that had zero interest in hiding its intention to throw the ball. You knew Roethlisberger would throw the ball to Brown, and there was little you could do about it.”
Brown joined the Steelers in 2010, and during the 2011 season, he became Roethlisberger’s primary target. His rookie season was the only time in Pittsburgh when he saw under 100 targets in a season, and he saw over 150 targets in his final six seasons with the team. That coincided with six straight seasons of 100-plus receptions, including leading the league in 2014 with 129 receptions before posting a league-leading and career-high 136 catches in 2015.
In that same stretch, Roethlisberger played some of the best football of his career. Before Brown joined the team, Roethlisberger had only thrown for 20-plus touchdowns in two of his first six seasons in the league. Once Brown established himself as the team’s top receiver in 2011, Roethlisberger threw for 20-plus touchdowns every season that Brown was a member of the Steelers. That included 30-plus touchdowns twice, 32 in 2014 and 34 in 2018. Roethlisberger also made the Pro Bowl five times with Brown at wide receiver versus just once without him.
For seven seasons, the duo of Roethlisberger and Brown made defenses mad, Roethlisberger with his ability to stand in the pocket and extend plays before flinging the ball downfield to Brown, who could get open against just about any corner in the league. It only makes sense that they would make a list chronicling the best quarterback-pass-catcher duos since 2000.
The two finished just ahead of Minnesota Vikings QB Daunte Culpepper and WR Randy Moss while falling just behind then-Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rodgers and WR Davante Adams. No other AFC North duo made the list while QB Peyton Manning made the list twice with WRs Reggie Wayne (fifth) and Marvin Harrison (second). QB Tom Brady also made the list twice, getting the sixth spot with WR Julian Edelman and taking home the top spot with TE Rob Gronkowski.
