From Bob Labriola, Steelers Digest/Steelers.com:

Missing the playoffs is not an acceptable outcome for the Steelers, but that doesn’t mean 2013 was a waste.
It still stings, and it’s right that it does. Not making the playoffs represents failure on a lot of levels to the Pittsburgh Steelers, and in the end they just didn’t have enough.

But if their season was unfulfilled, it doesn’t deserve to be seen as worthless. The following are nine reasons to be looking forward to the Steelers’ prospects for 2014:

BEN ROETHLISBERGER’S PLAY –

010614_1A good bit of any of the successes enjoyed by the offense are directly related to the play of the quarterback, and Ben Roethlisberger had a great year. His final statistics are somewhat skewed by his participation in the 0-4 disaster, and besides, with this team at this time Roethlisberger’s contributions cannot be measured by numbers alone.

There is a difference between playing quarterback, and being the quarterback. In fact, among the definitions of the word ‘quarterback’ provided by Merriam-Webster are: “one who directs and leads,” when used as a noun; and “to lead or organize (something) by making important decisions,” when used as a verb. Roethlisberger did those things for a team in need of them, and he also threw for 16 touchdowns and five interceptions over the second half of the season.



You can read the eight other reasons here!