Ben finally considered a top-tier quarterback

Ben Roethlisberger finally considered a top-tier quarterback

By: Curt Popejoy

One of the best debates in the NFL is all about what makes a quarterback elite. We love to throw the terms elite and franchise quarterback around but these terms are so ambiguous it is hard to come to any sort of consensus. So what we have come to are lumping groups of quarterbacks into tiers. Is Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger among that top tier?

According to ESPN, the answer is yes. Writer Mike Sando polled various insiders to help formulate these tiers. Here is who he brought in to put this list together:

The voting panel for our third annual NFL QB Tier Rankings consisted of 42 league insiders — 10 general managers, five head coaches, seven offensive coordinators, five defensive coordinators, eight personnel evaluators and seven other position coaches/executives.

And when the dust settled Roethlisberger, along with Tom Brady of the New England Patriots** and Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers made the cut.

Here’s what Sando said about the choice of Big Ben.

"Thirty-three of 42 voters placed Roethlisberger in the top tier, drawing a clear line between him and the quarterbacks listed below. There were zero complaints about the 16 interceptions Roethlisberger threw last season. Insiders understood how much pressure was on the Steelers’ quarterback while he averaged 39.1 pass attempts per game."

This represents something of a changing of the guard. Brady and Rodgers have been in this group for years, but there had been hesitation to include Roethlisberger. We typically saw guys like Peyton Manning and Drew Brees crowding the top. But now Manning is gone and Brees is in decline while Roethlisberger just keeps elevating his game and the game of those around him.

to read rest of article:

http://steelerswire.usatoday.com/2016/08/09/ben-roethlisberger-finally-considered-a-top-tier-quarterback/

They're all interchangeable.
But, Brady is a cheat so he shouldn't belong and Rodgers is overrated.

The inferiority complex of Steelers fans never ceases to amaze me.

El-Gonzo Jackson wrote:

The inferiority complex of Steelers fans never ceases to amaze me.

No I don't believe Ben is 'the best' either nor do I care.

Put simply Peyton was built up as a machine could do no wrong and every time the media would shit all over his playoff record until he won a 2nd super bowl.
Yet a guy like Rodgers who is built up the same is 7-6 when games matter yet he gets a free pass it doesn't make sense.

As for Brady that's my opinion and nothing has really been said otherwise to make it seem like he didn't cheat.
And regardless whether it played a factor or not; the point is it was executed where he thought it would give him an advantage. That's cheating.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: BR7 is made for the Steelers and the Steelers are made from BR7. I can't think of another place he would have had the career he had. He's a tough nosed guy (minus Suggs) in a tough nosed town.

But as this anonymous coordinator says in the article, Ben is just physically gifted and does not put in the effort of the truly great like Saint Peyton

An offensive coordinator described Roethlisberger's evolution succinctly.

"He is probably as close to a 2 as a 1 can be," this coordinator said. "He has never been a guy who studied the game like Peyton did. He has been playing for 10 years and he is not a dumb guy, so he has figured it out just because he has played it, not so much because of the [extra] time he has put in."

http://abcnews.go.com/Sports/2016-nf...ry?id=41230629

based on where he is now and what's likely to happen in the future. ben should end his career as maybe the 6th ? all time in passing yards.

if BR7 can play for 7 more years at the average yards per year he could be up there with Manning and Favre.

Just everyone else catching up with what we've known all along.