With Brown out of way, Steelers' Roethlisberger must be electric in 2019

Ben Roethlisberger is winning his ugly divorce from Antonio Brown. He stayed quiet all offseason, weathering plenty of criticism from all corners and refusing to respond even when Brown called him out.

When Roethlisberger finally did speak to a wide audience about his relationship with Brown, he was conciliatory. He told Michele Tafoya of NBC Sports that he regretted criticizing the wideout after last season's  Week 12 loss in Denver. Roethlisberger said after that game that Brown ran a bad route on a late interception.

“I wish I wouldn’t have done it,” Roethlisberger told Tafoya. “Because obviously you saw what happened and obviously it ruined a friendship.” Brown’s Twitter response: “Never friends just had to get my ends… shut up already.” He later deleted the tweet.

Roethlisberger took the high road, whether he believed it or not. Brown won't. Winning the public relations battle is one thing, but it is much more important for Roethlisberger in 2019 that he prove he was an equal or greater factor in his partnership with Brown.

Normally that’s an easy question to answer. Most top-level quarterbacks get the majority of the credit. But Brown’s transcendence — he is clearly one of the best wide receivers ever —and Roethlisberger’s status outside the NFL’s elite quarterback tier make it a discussion worth having.

With a new contract extension, Roethlisberger is one of the league’s best compensated quarterbacks. He’ll have a chance to prove he’s worth the money starting Week 1 at the Patriots.

The raw numbers from 2018 suggest he has nothing to prove. Roethlisberger led the league in completions (452), attempts (675) and passing yardage (5,129) last season. He played in all 16 regular-season games for the first time since 2014. Those stats don’t tell the whole story, though.

Roethlisberger led the league in interceptions with 16, a league-leading four in the red zone. Though Football Outsiders’ metrics were kind overall to Roethlisberger, with his 14.8 DVOA (defense-adjusted value over average) ranking eighth in the league among quarterbacks, just behind Tom Brady and ahead of Andrew Luck, he was bad in the red zone. (DVOA is a stat from Football Outsiders that adjusts production for factors such as score, time, down and distance, in order to capture the true value of each play.)

Pro Football Focus’ read on Roethlisberger was still positive, as he received an overall grade of 78.2, good for 16^th in the league. There was a catch, though: That number was his lowest by PFF since 2011, and his third lowest in the history of the site, which dates to 2006.

So the advanced stats are more kind than not, but are the negative numbers lying? Former NFL scout Matt Williamson’s read on Roethlisberger’s 2018 performance struck a familiar chord — mostly positive, but with some clear issues.

Williamson said the Steelers’ offense was previously execution- rather than scheme-based, and that they would need to pivot to the latter now that Brown and Le’Veon Bell are gone. Assessing Roethlisberger’s fitness for that sort of change, Williamson said, “I think he’s capable, but I don’t think that he’s phenomenal at reading coverages. He’s good at it, but he’s not Drew Brees or [Tom] Brady.”

Williamson also said Roethlisberger wasn’t as precise as a passer in 2018. “He threw the ball more than anyone," he said, "but a lot of that was behind the line of scrimmage and wide receiver screens. He didn’t attack the middle of the field -- he either threw deep or short.” Williamson still believes Roethlisberger is a top-10 quarterback, but near the bottom of the top-10.

Asked whether Roethlisberger was still good enough to win a Super Bowl, Williamson didn’t hesitate: “Yes, but I expect their defense to be vastly better. And they need to be more balanced across the board to win the Super Bowl.”

Ah, balance. An elusive quality with Brown in the picture. His 859 targets over the past five seasons are 46 more than second-place Julio Jones and 52 more than DeAndre Hopkins. No other receiver topped 800 in that span. Brown’s 59 touchdowns, 100.6 receiving yards per game and 67.1 catch percentage in that span made such a heavy focus worth it.

A popular narrative emerged last year that Brown’s demand for the ball caused some of Roethlisberger’s issues. Williamson didn’t agree with the idea that forcing the ball to Brown hurt Roethlisberger, saying, “He did lead the league in picks, but he also led in attempts. ... He’s a risk-taker and has been his whole career …if you just looked at the interception numbers, you’d think he is far more careless than he is.”

Williamson has an interesting theory as to what may have sparked some of Brown’s discontent, however, citing Roethlisberger’s early-season accuracy issues as a possible cause.

“The first five or six weeks of the year, Brown was open all the time," the former NFL scout told me, "and Ben just missed him. It’s just a hunch, but that may have been where Brown’s frustrations began.”

Brown and Bell are gone, and with them the distractions that at times undercut the Steelers. Roethlisberger is now the unquestioned star and engine of Pittsburgh’s offense. They’ll go as far as he takes them. Cleveland's Baker Mayfield is viewed as a major threat to Roethlisberger’s AFC North primacy. Some think a changing of the guard in the division is imminent.

If ever there was a perfect time for Ben Roethlisberger to deliver a career-best season, this would be it. The only question remaining is whether he can pull it off.