Big Lead Sports Bar

11/09/2007

ESPN Hashmarks Weighs in on Big Ben

I never realized how polarizing Ben Roethlisberger could be, but I'm starting to get an idea. Colin Cowherd of ESPN Radio came out in defense of Big Ben this morning, and as a result got whacked by his callers for the remainder of the show. Now, Matt Mosley of the .com side weighs in with his opinion of my opinion, and adds his list of the top QBs in the NFL, which unfortunately does not have Ben at the 3-spot that I think he deserves. His list, predictably, has already led to debate in their comment section.
You'd think we'd be able to somehow figure this thing out statistically, but since no one wants to give credit to QB rating, I guess it will remain a debate. By the way, for those interested, Ben is currently 2nd in that category (111.9) behind only Tom Brady (131.8). To give you an idea of how unbelievable of a season Brady is having, consider that the single-season record is 121.1 (Peyton Manning, 2004) and the career record is Steve Young at 96.8. FYI, the rookie record would be held by one Ben Roethlisberger, at 98.1 in 2004.
Wins and losses may be another tiebreaker, but as long as people continue to overlook the underachievement under Carson Palmer's watch, it's a virtual non-factor. Everyone will simply have to agree to disagree.

Passionate Defense of Big Ben (ESPN.com Hashmarks)

3 comments:

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

What kills me is the lack of acknowledgement of Ben's comeback wins.

In his rookie season, I remember (anyone feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) Ben leading drives in the 4th at some point to beat Cincy, Dallas,Jacksonville (I was there), and the New York Giants.

Also in the playoffs he led a 4th quarter comeback against the Jets that we won in OT, however the game was only close because Ben played poorly.

Next season, last minute comebacks over San Diego (the one where he hurt his leg that led to "The Maddox Debacle") and I believe a Monday-nighter vs Baltimore were both last minute comeback drives.

Even during his down 2007 year I remember him leading a pretty insane comeback against Cleveland in the 4th. Sure it was only a comeback because Ben didn't play well for the first three quarters, but like I said before, John Elway wouldn't be known as "Captain Comeback" if he hadn't played poorly for three quarters in a few games either.

And finally, he would've had another to add to his list if our defense would've been able to stop "the mighty" Jay Cutler in Denver last month. He led us back from two 2-touchdown deficits in that one and wound up with 4 TDs to 2 ints.

Anonymous said...

Don't lend credence to the horseshit spewed by the nat'l media. They generally have no clue of what they speak.

For instance, most nat'l prognosticators would ahve you believe that the NY Giants will lay down at the hands of the almighty Dallas Cowboys.

However, anyone who knows anything would tell you a different story.

NYG 29 DAL 23

(PIT 31 CLE 17)

Louis Lipps is my homeboy said...

Well, whadaya know?

ANOTHER comeback win for Large Benjamin today.

And I've actually heard a few media outlets start to give Ben respect this past week.

Could Mondesi's article been what started the sudden surge in Large Ben respect out there?

In fact, I think I only heard one recap of today's game where the announcers said, "And the Steelers just run the football and play defense to win". Sure it makes me want to vomit everytime I hear that, but at least it was only ONE recap that said that this week (I believe it was on CBS).

For the bazillionth time. NO, we do not JUST run the football and play fucking defense to win games. If that were the case, we would've won the Super Bowl every year that Kordell and Tommy were under center. If you haven't noticed, we have a QB that makes insane, batshit crazy, clutch plays week after week!!!

AND Ben threw the ball 34 times today I believe. Think the pundits are happy now?