Big Ben Wants To Go For Two Every Time

For quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and the Pittsburgh Steelers, two is always better than one. Taking advantage of the new scoring rules enacted in 2015, the Steelers obliterated the record for most successful two-point conversions in a season, and Big Ben has no plans of slowing down this year.

“Why not?” retorted Roethlisberger when asked if his team would go for two after every touchdown in 2016. “Put it in our hands. I want the ball. Any player would relish that opportunity. When we get into that situation, we feel extremely confident.”

Of course, there are some situations where it simply wouldn’t be feasible to take the risk. Trailing by one score, or faced with the opportunity to put your team more than one score ahead, Coach Tomlin might still be inclined to take the higher-percentage play. The same goes for blowouts on either side. There’s no point in risking injury with either team up 30 points in the fourth quarter.

But there’s merit in what Ben is saying. Even without talented but troubled receiver Martavis Bryant, the Steelers will boast a plethora of end zone weapons provided they can keep the injury bug at bay.

Antonio Brown remains the game’s best receiver, Le’Veon Bell is a multi-purpose weapon on the goal line, and new signee Lardarius Green is a matchup nightmare in the endzone. Throw in a top-10 offensive line and very capable second-stringers like DeAngelo Williams and Markus Wheaton, suddenly moving the ball an extra two yards after a score doesn’t seem like such an arduous task.

For the Steelers, one two-point conversion is as good as two made PATs, but even that is misleading. Assuming the league average for converted PATs is below 100% – which it most certainly will be – Pittsburgh can afford to score a little less than half the time on two-point tries; a meagre goal given the makeup of the offense.

Since the start of last season, the Steelers have opened every practice session with “seven shots”: an 11-on-11 contest at the goal line to see which unit can “win the series.”

It has not only set the tone for what the Steelers want to do on offense, but has hardened the defense as it competes against the best. The drill was likely the reason for the Steelers’ uncanny ability to generate red zone turnovers last year. With a number of one-score victories to its name, Pittsburgh might have been out of the playoffs entirely if not for Tomlin’s aggressive mentality.