Deep Rate: 22.28% | Passing NEP per Attempt: 0.37 | Success Rate: 37.60%
Through the first seven weeks, Ben Roethlisberger was simply putrid on deep balls. His 60 deep attempts had resulted in 1 touchdown and 4 interceptions, and it was capping the offense's upside. But to the Pittsburgh Steelers' credit, they stuck with it, and things got drastically better from that point on.
JuJu Smith-Schuster had his big breakout in Week 8, right before the teams' bye week. That was the game where Roethlisberger hit Smith-Schuster for a 97-yard touchdown to help defeat the Detroit Lions. Smith-Schuster's emergence seemed to key the turnaround for the offense.
Let's split the season up into two segments. The first is prior to Smith-Schuster's role in the offense shot up, and the second is the rest of the games that Roethlisberger started. It's a pretty wild difference.
| Roethlisberger's Deep Passes | Touchdowns | Interceptions | Passing NEP per Attempt | Success Rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First Seven Games | 1 | 4 | 0.10 | 36.67% |
| Next Eight Games | 4 | 2 | 0.62 | 38.46% |
His early-season deep balls were less efficient than a short pass; his second-half mark cleared the league average deep ball by a healthy margin. Given how well Smith-Schuster performed, it's hard to ignore the role he may have played in that.
Both Smith-Schuster and Antonio Brown will be healthy heading into next year, and Roethlisberger plans to return, as well. If Roethlisberger can duplicate his late-season success while keeping his deep rate this high, the Steelers' offense could be even more fantasy friendly than it has been the past few years.