With 311 yards and two touchdowns last Sunday, Ben Roethlisberger surpassed Eli Manning in passing yards and touchdowns.
While he handily passed the retired Manning, he needs 2,764 to move into 6th place where Philip Rivers currently sits. Certainly an attainable goal for the season.
Big Ben is climbing up the ladder of passing yards career leaders but will need to throw for 6,201 total yards this season to surpass Dan Marino at 61,361. Steelers Nation will have to wait until next year, Week 2 or 3, for that.
Roethlisberger has averaged 270 yards per game through two weeks. If at the end of the season, he’s averaged 300 per game, he’ll be at 60,865 yards and in 6th place.
As for passing touchdowns, Roethlisberger and Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers are now neck-and-neck with 368 and 370. There remains a sizeable gap between him and Rivers at 399.
Today’s milestones
Roethlisberger needs three scores to move into 7th place with Rodgers. It could happen today.
The most significant milestone is a franchise one. Roethlisberger will play in his 221st game this afternoon and pass Hall of Fame center Mike Webster for the most in franchise history.
“I am so thankful to be in the black and gold 17 years later,” Roethlisberger said in a Wednesday press conference. “Almost half my life, I’ve been giving Steeler fans everything I have, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else; I wouldn’t want to do it for any other team or any other fans.”
“I’ve been blessed to be around a lot of great football players and talent and teammates,” continued Ben. “I did take a lot of beating early on. A lot of that was my fault. God made me a bigger man than most quarterbacks, so I think I can take it, and I’m just enjoying playing this game.”
With five more games, Roethlisberger will join San Fransisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould in the 225 games-played category.
By season’s end, Big Ben will have played in 234 games. He would only need to play 149 games to eclipse the 382 of kicker Morten Andersen.
Only.
