Career Pittsburgh Steeler and four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw shared his hot take with the Steelers website on who he believes the best quarterback on the planet is.
The 68-year-old Bradshaw said he’d take fellow Steeler Big Ben “ahead of Brady for sure and anybody else.”
He continued:
“He could have been the MVP in the league last year if he would have stayed healthy,” Bradshaw told the team’s website. “I am not saying this because I am a Steeler and trying to suck up to anybody. I am just telling you he is special, different. I’ll take Roethlisberger over any of those guys.”
When asked about his opinion on who holds the top spot, Roethlisberger gave the crown to his AFC rival: Tom Brady.
“Tom’s the greatest in the world, and I mean that,” Roethlisberger said.
I’m a Patriots guy, so I have my opinions. Terry’s a Steelers guy, so he has his. Let’s break down the objective stats.
Note: Roethlisberger went down with an MCL tear in Week 3, missing four games.
So if we were to extrapolate his numbers through all 16 games, they’d look something like this:
28 Touchdowns, 18 INT, 5,250 yards.
With 5,250 yards, Big Ben would have annihilated the league leader in yards at his position (Drew Brees, 4,870) by 380. He would have been knocking on the doorstep of Peyton Manning’s record for most passing yards in a season with 5,477 back in 2013.
Butttttt it’s tough to argue that those numbers belong in the same conversation as Brady’s, whose 36 touchdowns were a league high and whose interception percentage was the lowest in the NFL.
Regardless, the past is the past. Brady’s got 5 years on Big Ben and although he’s showing no real signs of decline, I’ve come to the uncomfortable realization that Brady likely won’t be putting up ungodly numbers a few years from now. CHERISH IT, MATT! CHERISH IT.
[h/t ESPN]