The national narrative for the last few years has been that Ben Roethlisberger is a fading version of the Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback who won two Super Bowls. On Wednesday, Big Ben was announced as the AFC Offensive Player of the Week for his efforts in the Steelers win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night.
Ben Roethlisberger has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week.
— Pittsburgh Steelers (@steelers) September 26, 2018
MORE: https://t.co/znsiySSr9m pic.twitter.com/jfIt3y2khd
While Roethlisberger might not be the man he was 10 years ago, very few of actually are either, and it is worth noting that this is the 16th time he has won this award. The most in team history, as per the team’s PR/Media Manager, Dom Rinelli.
QB Ben Roethlisberger (@_BigBen7) earns his 16th career AFC Offensive Player of the Week honor - the most in #Steelers history - for his Week Three 353 yard / 3 touchdown game
— Dom Rinelli (@drinelli) September 26, 2018
He has been named AFC Offensive Player of the Week at least once in 12 of his 15 seasons in the #NFL
Completing 30 of his 38 passes for a total of 353 yards and 3 touchdowns, Roethlisberger finished the game with a passer rating of 120.7. Currently second in the league with 1140 yards passing behind Ryan Fitzpatrick, the Pittsburgh quarterback is on pace to break his 2014 total for most yards in a season when he finished the year with 4,952 yards through the air.
Roethlisberger is the second Steelers’ player to win Player of the Week honors in 2018, after T.J. Watt won the award in Week 1 for his 3 sack performance against the Cleveland Browns.