Is Big Ben A Top 10 QB Right Now?
Former NFL quarterback David Carr posted his top 10 quarterbacks for the 2018 season on the NFL Network website. His list has gotten a lot of attention because he does not have Ben Roethlisberger on his list. I would say about half of the people interested in football agree with Carr and the other half of people interested in football do not agree with him.
This was Carr's list of top 10 quarterbacks right now.
1. Tom Brady (New England Patriots)
2. Aaron Rodgers (Green Bay Packers)
3. Drew Brees (New Orleans Saints)
4. Derek Carr (Oakland Raiders)
5. Russell Wilson (Seattle Seahawks)
6. Matthew Stafford (Detroit Lions)
7. Philip Rivers (San Diego Chargers)
8. Matt Ryan (Atlanta Falcons)
9. Cam Newton (Carolina Panthers)
10. Jimmy Garoppolo (San Francisco 49ers)
When I read Carr's list I thought it was pretty funny that he put his own brother on the list. First of all I do not understand whatsoever why Phillip Rivers is on this list. Second of all we all need to remember that David Carr played only five below average seasons with the Houston Texans from 2002-2006 and after he left Houston he was an absolute nobody. It's a blessing that David Carr won a Super Bowl with the New York Giants, as a backup quarterback, in 2011. We got to remember that Carr has thrown more interceptions in his career than touchdowns. His record as a starting quarterback in his career is an astonishing 23-56. But, anyway this is what David Carr had to say about why Big Ben Roethlisberger was not on his list.
"Yes, he's a future Hall of Famer and there's no doubt he can still help the Steelers. But he has the most talented skill players in the league on his unit, and that pair — Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell — makes him look great 14 seasons in. I don't think Big Ben could win a ton of games without them at this stage in his career."
When I read this quote I seriously thought I was losing brain cells. There have been so many old quarterbacks in the NFL that have won games with good wide receivers and running backs that it made me think that David Carr thought Ben was the only old quarterback that has ever played with good running backs and good wide receivers.
When Peyton Manning won a Super Bowl with the Denver Broncos in 2016 he played with good wide receivers and good running backs and Manning was 39 at the time. If David Carr thinks Demaryius Thomas and Emmanuel Sanders only became good because Manning made them better he is totally wrong. C.J. Anderson was running the ball in big moments for the Broncos as well.
To be honest with all of you if Ben Roethlisberger was not on the Steelers right now I think Antonio Brown and Le'Veon Bell would not know what to do without Ben. But if Big Ben did not have Brown and Bell, I believe he would be able to find ways to win games without them.
If Tom Brady did not have Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman I don't think Tom Brady would find himself back in the AFC Championship game almost every single year.
Now out of all the quarterbacks on Carr's Top 10 list the only quarterback that has had success without any good wide receivers or running backs at all is Cam Newton. The best wide receiver Cam Newton has ever played with is Steve Smith Sr. and at the end of Smith Sr.'s time in Carolina he was not really an effective wide receiver. The Carolina Panthers got to play in Super Bowl 50 in February 2016 and one of the reasons why they got there was because of their defense. Carolina's defense in that 2015 season was good, not spectacular but good. The other reason the Panthers made the Super Bowl that season was that Cam Newton was just basically Superman that season. Cam's wide receivers that year were Corey Brown, Jerricho Cotchery, Devin Funchess and Ted Ginn Jr. None of those four wide receivers I just listed that was on that Panthers' team is considered popular or elite. If you want to make a case for Ginn being a good punt returner that's fine because he was actually a great punt and kickoff returner that year.
Tom Brady won Super Bowl 51 against the Atlanta Falcons but let me tell all of you right now if Julian Edelman did not make that miraculous catch in that game there is no way we would be talking about Tom Brady being the best quarterback that has ever played the game of football. Edelman was the one that enhanced Tom's career. Randy Moss is a reason why Tom Brady's passing stats are so good. James White is the reason why Tom Brady won his fifth ring.
I do not mind if you say that Ben is good right now because of his other assets on offense. But you have to remember that other greats like Drew Brees, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and many others are good because of their assets on offense as well.
Some people say that Ben Roethlisberger was better in the past than he is now. But that is totally false. Beginning in the 2013 NFL season was the year that Ben Roethlisberger started to play in his prime because he started to learn how to stay healthy and he learned how to become a better leader.
Now I am a big time Steelers fan but I honestly do think Big Ben is a Top 10 quarterback. That's not even a question. Now if I was a big time Buccaneers fan and I said that Jameis Winston is a top 10 quarterback, I would probably have only said that because I would be a Bucs fan and not have any statistical evidence to prove that Winston is elite right now. But, Roethlisberger on the other hand has proved he can win games when it is crunch time, he has proved statistically that he is good and we cannot forget that he has won two Super Bowls as well. So there is statistical evidence that I have to show people why Ben is a top 10 quarterback. I have watched a lot of Steelers game so I can prove why Ben is a top 10 quarterback based on the way I have seen him play in the past ten years.
Now I don't think we could actually determine the top 10 quarterbacks in the league right now based on the way they play in games. Each quarterback on each team has its own strengths and weaknesses when their team is on the field that the quarterback cannot control. I feel that the only way to prove which quarterbacks deserve to be in the top 10 is if we have every single NFL quarterback compete in a skills competition in which they do a lot of events and whoever does better at a lot of the categories should be considered in the top 10.
Ben Roethlisberger is a top 10 quarterback to me and I think he is one of only five quarterbacks this season who should be excited looking forward going into this season because of the talent they have around them offensively and defensively.