Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger says that if you want to measure the greatness of a quarterback, you just need to look at the success of his team. Which means that in Roethlisberger’s opinion, the best active quarterback in the NFL is Tom Brady.
Roethlisberger told 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh that Brady winning three Super Bowl rings and consistently leading the Patriots to the playoffs makes it clear that he’s the best in the NFL.
“I speak off championships,” Roethlisberger said. “That’s no disrespect to some of these other guys that are doing some amazing things in the NFL right now. But to me, it’s about wins and championships, and he’s got more championships than anybody. So to me, he’s the best quarterback in the league, and he’s done it for a long time. . . . The number one factor is championships.”
Although Roethlisberger presented his comments as praise for Brady, it’s a little self-serving for Roethlisberger to say quarterbacks are judged by championships. Roethlisberger has two rings, which would mean he’s tied with Eli Manning as the second-best quarterback in the NFL, if you judge quarterbacks by rings.
But, frankly, that’s ridiculous. Does anyone seriously believe Roethlisberger and Eli Manning are better quarterbacks than Peyton Manning? And does Roethlisberger also think Trent Dilfer was a better quarterback than Dan Marino? Or Jim Plunkett was a better quarterback than Brett Favre? Or Joe Flacco has already accomplished more as an NFL quarterback than Fran Tarkenton?
Brady has played well in many big games, but as Bill Belichick noted when asked if Brady is a clutch player, what makes Brady great is that he has played well consistently. If Adam Vinatieri had missed a couple of Super Bowl-winning field goals and Brady only had one ring instead of three, that wouldn’t make Brady a worse quarterback than Roethlisberger. Brady’s greatness goes deeper than three Super Bowl rings.