polamalubeast
01-28-2011, 11:44 AM
Posted by Michael David Smith on January 28, 2011, 12:16 PM EST
For the last decade, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have been the generally accepted top two quarterbacks in football, with the only argument being which one of them was first and which one of them was second.
But the man who drafted Manning, Colts President Bill Polian, says there’s another quarterback who deserves to be in that mix.
“Bottom line, if you ask football people, they’re going to put Ben Roethlisberger up there with [Manning and Brady] almost unanimously,” Polian told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. “No one would leave him out. And others who have made the Pro Bowl, for example, wouldn’t even get consideration if you took a poll of all 32 general managers.”
Roethlisberger hasn’t had the statistics or the accolades of Manning or Brady, but it’s hard to dispute that he’s one of the league’s elite players. Polian, who doesn’t hand out praise lightly, sure thinks so.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/28/bill-polian-roethlisberger-is-up-there-with-manning-and-brady
Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger makes the plays when it really matters
You could never root for him? That's understandable.
But if you think Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger is anything less than an elite NFL quarterback, you're wrong.
Roethlisberger might not have the gaudy statistics of New England's Tom Brady or Indianapolis' Peyton Manning — and, in fact, some of his numbers are cover-your-eyes bad — but there's no debating his most important statistic:
He wins.
Look at last Sunday's victory over the New York Jets in the AFC championship game. Roethlisberger completed 10 of 19 passes for 133 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. In terms of the box score, he was thoroughly outplayed by the Jets' Mark Sanchez, who completed 20 of 33 for 233 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
But what happened on the critical plays? On third-and-12, Roethlisberger kept a touchdown drive alive with a 12-yard run. Later, on third-and-four, he ran for five. And with two minutes to go, and the Steelers protecting a five-point lead, Roethlisberger completed a 14-yard pass to Antonio Brown to convert a third-and-six. Game over. Let the kneel downs begin.
It was a typical Roethlisberger game — he didn't make all the plays, but he made the ones that counted.
"There ought to be a stat for 'What did you do when you needed a pass completion to win the game,' " Hall of Fame coach John Madden said in a phone interview. "That's where Ben's stats would show up, when you make the play when you need to. A lot of guys get stats when they don't need them. Ben doesn't."
read more
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-farmer-nfl-20110128-9,0,3454798.column
For the last decade, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady have been the generally accepted top two quarterbacks in football, with the only argument being which one of them was first and which one of them was second.
But the man who drafted Manning, Colts President Bill Polian, says there’s another quarterback who deserves to be in that mix.
“Bottom line, if you ask football people, they’re going to put Ben Roethlisberger up there with [Manning and Brady] almost unanimously,” Polian told Sam Farmer of the Los Angeles Times. “No one would leave him out. And others who have made the Pro Bowl, for example, wouldn’t even get consideration if you took a poll of all 32 general managers.”
Roethlisberger hasn’t had the statistics or the accolades of Manning or Brady, but it’s hard to dispute that he’s one of the league’s elite players. Polian, who doesn’t hand out praise lightly, sure thinks so.
http://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2011/01/28/bill-polian-roethlisberger-is-up-there-with-manning-and-brady
Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger makes the plays when it really matters
You could never root for him? That's understandable.
But if you think Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger is anything less than an elite NFL quarterback, you're wrong.
Roethlisberger might not have the gaudy statistics of New England's Tom Brady or Indianapolis' Peyton Manning — and, in fact, some of his numbers are cover-your-eyes bad — but there's no debating his most important statistic:
He wins.
Look at last Sunday's victory over the New York Jets in the AFC championship game. Roethlisberger completed 10 of 19 passes for 133 yards, no touchdowns and two interceptions. In terms of the box score, he was thoroughly outplayed by the Jets' Mark Sanchez, who completed 20 of 33 for 233 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions.
But what happened on the critical plays? On third-and-12, Roethlisberger kept a touchdown drive alive with a 12-yard run. Later, on third-and-four, he ran for five. And with two minutes to go, and the Steelers protecting a five-point lead, Roethlisberger completed a 14-yard pass to Antonio Brown to convert a third-and-six. Game over. Let the kneel downs begin.
It was a typical Roethlisberger game — he didn't make all the plays, but he made the ones that counted.
"There ought to be a stat for 'What did you do when you needed a pass completion to win the game,' " Hall of Fame coach John Madden said in a phone interview. "That's where Ben's stats would show up, when you make the play when you need to. A lot of guys get stats when they don't need them. Ben doesn't."
read more
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-farmer-nfl-20110128-9,0,3454798.column