Super Bowl XLIII Running Thread

Peyton Manning loves this argument and would like to borrow it. A-Rod, too.

 

I don't know how you interpreted that to be board-related. The observation was made from being around -- at that time -- a hell of a lot of Steeler fans who babbled about such things. As far as him faking or exaggerating injuries, I'm not buying it, but it's clear he wants the whole Tough Guy thing to be part of his persona. I don't even dislike Roethlisberger. I think he's a knucklehead, not a wuss.

 

Apparently, you have completely forgotten the 2001 Patriots. Brady was good that year, not great. The best thing that happened to the Patriots in the AFC Championship that season was Brady getting hurt. Bledsoe lead the only touchdown drive of the day and the special teams did the rest.

Brady was the Super Bowl MVP, but that was with 14 completions in 27 attempts for 145 yards and a touchdown. Not exactly a performance for the ages.

You're going to say that season was all Brady but Roethlisberger was simply a passenger for the '08 Steelers? Now I know you are either just out to tweak the Steelers fans on the board. That, or you are as blind as you accuse us of being.

 

This has been argued before on this board, but the Steelers do not win three of their four Super Bowls if Bradshaw could not get the deep ball to Swann and Stallworth.

Those Super Bowl throws showed why he was a #1 pick. He could teardrop a football from 60 yards or throw it on a line 40 yards. Very, very few of his peers could do the same.

 

Brady led a game-winning drive, defiantly, when most other quarterbacks would have been content to take a knee and go into overtime.

Asinine.

 

So if Brady leads his team down the field for game-winning field goals in the Super Bowl, he elevates them. But if Roethlisberger leads his team down the field for a game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl, he's managing to stay our of his team's way.

Let's spin this argument the other way. To rehash Roethlisberger's playoff numbers ...

2008 playoffs -- 54 of 89 (60.7 percent), 692 yards, 3 TDs, 1 INT, 91.6 rating
2005 playoffs -- 58 of 93 (62.4 percent), 803 yards, 7 TDs, 3 INTs, 101.7 rating

... And let's compare that to Tom Brady's Super Bowl years, because he's this generation's gold standard ...

2008 playoffs -- 77 of 109 (70.6 percent), 737 yards, 6 TDs, 3 INTs, 96.0 rating
2005 playoffs -- 55 of 81 (67.9 percent), 587 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs, 109.4 rating
2004 playoffs -- 75 of 126 (59.5 percent), 792 yards, 5 TDs, 2 INTs, 84.5 rating
2002 playoffs -- 60 of 97 (61.9 percent), 572 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT, 77.3 rating

... Say what you will about that miserable Super Bowl against the Seahawks, but the numbers are there.

 

Fixed.

 

Hard to settle for a field goal when the other team will play barely a lick of defense at the end.

 

Junkie, so Pittsburgh should trade Roethlisberger if Kyle Orton or Jason Campbell are on the table?

 

Of course, the ball was complete and you are assuming the tackle. You are also ignoring all of the other plays he made on that drive.

Anything to suit an argument that really doesn't hold up.

 

OOP, no way Holmes gets as far as he did without Francisco slipping. Obviously he still would have made the catch, but Francisco's slip helped him gain another 15 to 20 yards.

Doesn't take anything away from Roethlisberger, who was very good on that drive.

 

Roethlisberger is a damn fine player. He's not at the Brady-Manning level, but he's surely near it. A quarterback can win one Super Bowl as a spear carrier for a bunch of champs. Two Super Bowls, he had to have SOMETHING to do with it.