The fantasy football impact of losing Brees and Roethlisberger

Big Ben has fallen

On the other side of the country, another quarterback also went down with a serious injury. The Steelers offense was already sputtering out of control, to begin with, and it certainly didn’t help matters when their starting quarterback Ben Roethlisberger injured his throwing elbow on Sunday.

Much like Drew Brees in New Orleans, the Steelers have viewed Roethlisberger as the centerpiece to their offense and team in general since he was drafted in the first round in 2004. During this span, Ben has completed over 64% of his passes, a pair of Super Bowl titles in (2006 & 2009) and the Steelers have never fallen under 0.500 with him at the helm.

Now without Roethlisberger, the Steelers’ season is in jeopardy, if it wasn’t already, and notable guys like Juju Smith-Schuster will be greatly affected by this most recent news.

In 2018, Roethlisberger finished the season as QB3, throwing for over 5,100 yards, 34 touchdowns, 16 interceptions, and averaging 21.3 fantasy points per game. While he did lead the league in picks last season, many people were confident that Ben would have a fine year even without Pro-Bowl receiver Antonio Brown at his disposal.

Many felt confident that the success Pittsburgh had with Juju Smith-Schuster and James Conner last year would be replicated once again in 2019. Sadly, it hasn’t been the case leaving everyone feeling very disappointed so far.

Before the injury Sunday, Roethlisberger looked dreadful as he completed a career-low 56.5% of his passes for 351 yards, no touchdowns, and an interception.

Roethlisberger ended up injuring his right throwing elbow in a non-contact situation during the first half against Seattle Seahawks Sunday afternoon.

Mason Rudolph came in to substitute for the two-time Super Bowl champion as the Steelers would fall to the Seahawks 28-26, resulting in the team’s first 0-2 start to a regular season since 2008 when they went on to win their sixth Lombardi trophy in franchise history. Unfortunately back then, Roethlisberger was healthy and managed to rally the troops.

Adam Schefter reported on Twitter earlier on Monday that “Steelers’ QB Ben Roethlisberger is out for the season with an elbow injury”. Unlike that magical 2008 Super Bowl run, the Steelers will not have their starting quarterback under center for the remainder of the 2019 regular season.

The Steelers will have to make the most out of what they can with Mason Rudolph quarterbacking Pittsburgh’s offense for the foreseeable future.