Ian Allan
Ben Roethlisberger had the big year last year, with 32 TD passes despite sitting out the final game.
One flaw of his, however, is that he tends to hang onto the ball way too long at times. It's fine when the team is running the ball and winning. When the team gets in close games or falls behind, it becomes a huge issue. I ran, for example, his numbers in wins versus losses. In the 14 games he's lost the last two years, he's been sacked 65 times. That's worse than David Carr. (Roethlisberger has been sacked a more reasonable 34 times in his 17 wins the last two years).
With Pittsburgh slated to play a much tougher schedule, this should become a bigger problem in 2008.
Below, see the figures for the last two years. Here, you're looking at the 29 quarterbacks who've attempted at least 500 passes. The quarterbacks are ordered not by total sacks, but how often they're sacked. Drew Brees, getting sacked only once per every 36.5 pass plays, has tended to be the best at getting rid of the ball. Roethlisberger, on the other hand, is down at the bottom, with the likes of J.P. Losman, Jon Kitna and David Carr.
This is one reason why I believe Roethlisberger will tend to be overvalued in fantasy leagues this year.
Plays Per Sack, 2006-2007
36.5 Drew Brees
32.9 Brett Favre
31.6 Peyton Manning
30.3 Derek Anderson
27.9 Steve McNair
24.3 Tom Brady
23.3 Jason Campbell
21.7 Carson Palmer
21.6 Jeff Garcia
21.2 Eli Manning
20.1 Jake Delhomme
20.0 Tony Romo
19.8 Philip Rivers
19.2 Kurt Warner
16.7 Joey Harrington
16.3 Rex Grossman
16.1 Jay Cutler
15.8 Vince Young
14.9 Matt Hasselbeck
14.8 David Garrard
14.3 Chad Pennington
13.1 Donovan McNabb
13.0 Alex Smith
12.2 Marc Bulger
12.1 Damon Huard
11.7 David Carr
11.1 Jon Kitna
10.9 J.P. Losman
10.4 Ben Roethlisberger
-Ian Allan
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