“The kid made some great plays. Ben Roethlisberger had a 35 quarterback rating, yet helped win the game for them. He might have won the game for them with two big throws. With all else being said, the game that Mendenhall had, it came down to Ben Roethlisberger making two huge plays against us.” — New York Jets coach Rex Ryan during his press conference on January 24, 2011 after the Steelers won the AFC Championship Game.



From Michael Bean at the site, Behind the Steel Curtain:

Ben Roethlisberger’s spectacular 2010 season in the fourth quarter and on third down –

“You all are web savvy enough to find most NFL statistics on your own. Pro Football Reference is certainly an incredible resource for traditional stats, while Football Outsiders and Cold Hard Football Facts tackle more advanced metrics with aplomb. Nevertheless, I bet I can provide you with a few interesting Steelers stats from the 2010 season. This will be the first of several posts that analyze specific team and individual statistics from the 2010 season that are often less discussed for a variety of reasons.

“Let’s begin with Ben Roethlisbeger’s passing numbers in two key situations — in the fourth quarter and on third down. Now, being great in the fourth quarter or on third down isn’t enough. Not if you lay an egg in other quarters or downs. But obviously both categories are significant. You get a chance to make up for mishaps on first and second down; you have to punt it away if you falter on third down. Same applies to quarters one through three. So long as you’re not disastrous in the early stages of game, you can always make up for it in the fourth and final quarter. So, though they don’t correlate directly to team success, it’s hard to argue that successful performance by your quarterback in the final 15 minutes and on third downs is paramount to a team’s success….”

Interested?

If so, you can check out the rest here.