Big Ben Goes Boom
http://mmqb.si.com/2014/10/27/nfl-week-8-ben-roethlisberger-steelers-record-passing/
Ben Roethlisberger’s ridiculous numbers—522 yards, six TDs—stood out on perhaps the greatest collective passing day in NFL history. Plus, a speedster from Pittsburg (the one in Kansas) wins it for the Cardinals, why the Seahawks are still in trouble, a new No. 1 in the Fine Fifteen and much more
By
Peter King
· More from Peter·
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There was a time when the 4,000-yard passing season was special. In 2005, two quarterbacks, Tom Brady and Trent Green, surpassed that total. In this pyrotechnic season in the NFL, 13 quarterbacks are on pace to throw for 4,000 yards.
The game is changing before our eyes. It has changed. Tonight, if the game goes the way the Dallas season has to this point, you’ll see the Cowboys run more than they pass against Washington, which is a quaint little thing that teams just don’t do anymore.
On Sunday, for the first time in NFL history, four players threw for 400 yards or more on the same day. Tom Brady threw as many incompletions, five, as touchdown passes. Ben Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck combined for 922 yards. The day, really, belonged to Roethlisberger. He has transitioned to a brand new wide-receiving corps in the last four years, all chosen in the middle to late rounds (Antonio Brown, Markus Wheaton, Martavis Bryant), and you can see how his comfort level increases with them weekly. Particularly with Brown, who is to Roethlisberger what Santonio Holmes was when the Steelers last won a Super Bowl.
The Steelers have been alive since 1933, and Roethlisberger, 32, had the best passing game in team history Sunday: 40 of 49 for 522 yards, with six touchdowns and no interceptions. You cannot play the position better than Roethlisberger did in beating the Colts—who’d shut out Cincinnati last week. He was not sacked. In his 49 dropbacks, he was significantly pressured once, that figure coming in part because of great play from his line and in part because Roethlisberger knows how to deftly step out of trouble and duck out of harm’s way. He doesn’t look like he would be quick in the pocket, but he is.

Roethlisberger and Andrew Luck combined for 922 yards. (Joe Robbins/Getty Images)
We often forget Roethlisberger when we speak of the great passers in the game. That’s a mistake. He’s fearless in and out of the pocket, can make every throw, will always have a chip on his shoulder about being overlooked in the Brady-Manning-Rodgers-Brees conversation of the greats, and produces no matter who’s out on the flank for him.
And this year, as with the other passers putting up ridiculous numbers, Roethlisberger is being helped by the officiating emphasis on cleaning up the chicken-fighting between receiver and corner in the secondary. There were more illegal contact penalties called in the first seven weeks of the season than had been flagged all last year; defensive holding is way up too. The league has seen 47 more accepted penalties per weekend, and many are helping the quarterbacks. “Every year there are new points of emphasis,” Roethlisberger told me from Pittsburgh after the game, “but the people who would say all this is happening because of those, I disagree. Look at the plays that were made out there today.” Tight end Heath Miller wasn’t left open on a 49-yard catch-and-run because a safety or linebacker couldn’t tussle with him; he was open because the Colts had too many other Steeler weapons to concentrate on.
Brown is the kind of smooth and versatile threat who could win an NFL receiving title before he retires. He’s on pace to catch 120 balls for 1,704 yards and 14 touchdowns, which would be the best receiving season in Steelers history. Pittsburgh has been looking for a bookend for Brown, and they may have found one. Or two. Bryant—a raw 6-4 kid from Clemson who played in the shadow of Sammy Watkins—and Wheaton had been non-factors much of the year until last week, but they combined for 10 catches, 139 yards and three touchdowns against the Colts. Brown is 26, Bryant 22 and Wheaton 23. They’re the future, and the future is now in a division that doesn’t have a dominant team.

NFL Single-Game Passing Leaders
1. Norm Van Brocklin 554
(Rams vs. Yanks, 1951)
T-2. Warren Moon 527
(Oilers vs. Chiefs, 1990)
T-2. Matt Schaub 527
(Texans vs. Jaguars, 2012)
T-4. Boomer Esiason 522
(Cardinals vs. Redskins, 1996)
T-4. Ben Roethlisberger 522
(Steelers vs. Colts, 2014)
“We just work,” said Roethlisberger. “We know we have a lot of catching up to do, especially with the younger guys. We work on the practice field, and we even talk on the way in and out of the walkthroughs, just making sure they know exactly what they’re doing. If people don’t know about them yet, that’s fine. Let’s keep ’em under the radar.”
Roethlisberger was also well-protected by a maligned line. “I am going to play as well as my line plays in front of me, and today they drove this train,” Roethlisberger said. “Today they were great.”
As was their quarterback. “A.B. [Brown] would say some things to me in the huddle about the kind of day I was having,” Roethlisberger said, “but I don’t know my stats. I never do. I’ve never been a stat guy. I’m just trying to make plays to help us win.”
“Was this the best day you’ve ever had in the NFL, personally?” I asked.
“If you’re a numbers guy—and I’m not—I guess you’d say yes. But I still see two or three plays I left out on the field that bug me a little bit. I can make more plays.”
The Steelers are the strangest good team in football. They’ve embarrassed 2013 division champs Carolina and Indianapolis—and been embarrassed by Tampa Bay and Cleveland. But they’re smack dab in the middle of the AFC North race now. Baltimore, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh are two games over .500; Cleveland is one over. Baltimore and Pittsburgh meet on Sunday night this week, then the Steelers play at the 1-7 Jets and 2-6 Titans, and then they have their bye. “
Why does it have to stop here?” Roethlisberger said he told the team afterward. “Why can’t we keep doing this?”