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18 Responses to “Roethlisberger – Montana Comparison – first 7 years as a Starter!”

1. Satya | January 30th, 2011 | 10:31 pm

   You left out Montana vs Roethlisberger comparisons in the only game that matters — The Super Bowl. If I remember correctly, Montana played his best on the biggest stage (no interceptions in four superbowls). In the last two super bowls, Big Ben has played ok, but not great. Probably the biggest difference that comes to mind.

2. Dutch | January 30th, 2011 | 11:29 pm

   Ben might win his third SB in 7 years. He would be ahead of Montana's pace. Ben was the youngest QB to ever play in a SB. His performance in the SB in 2005 was not the best. But why hold it against him? QB's don't make it to that game at that young age. I think it was his 8 TD's to one Interception that got them to that SB in the first place. Montana through 7 years had not won a road playoff game. Ben was the primary reason that the Steelers won those three 3 road games. Finally, let me add that Ben was not the only person in that 05 SB to play poorly. Go back to the first half and take a look at the penalties, Dropped balls, and lack of running in that first half that helped Ben get out of rhythm.

3. Dak | January 31st, 2011 | 5:00 am

   I’m not sure if this is a rip off or just coincidence but this was also on another site called steelersfury. I’m just putting it out there. Go steelers.

4. John | January 31st, 2011 | 10:38 am

   The more sites this gets referenced on the better. This needs to get out more, im sick of hearing that Ben isnt an elite QB

5. @stealing1stbase | January 31st, 2011 | 1:02 pm

   Ben's performance in Super Bowl XL also included a rushing TD (not figured into passer rating), and all the passes he completed were on third down, converting to first down. He played badly by his standards, but he didn't play horribly like people seem to remember.

6. akaagassi | January 31st, 2011 | 2:25 pm

   Can you expand on what you are using as 'Game Winning Drive'. There are a lot more Game Winning Drives than 4th quarter comebacks – so does that mean a drive that took the lead in the 3rd quarter gets credited to this stat???

7. Dutch | January 31st, 2011 | 3:17 pm

   Dak

   That's a cool site. The owner of that site emailed me once and said some nice things about an article they posted of mine on their board. But I don't copy anyone's work. I've been doing this Montana – Roeth update since Ben's 5th year.

8. Dutch | January 31st, 2011 | 3:27 pm

   I use football references definition of 4th QTr comebacks and game winning drives.
   http://www.pro-football-reference.com/blog/?p=339…

9. Roy | January 31st, 2011 | 3:41 pm

   Wow! Someone needs to send this to ESPN and NFL network.

10. SteelMohawk | January 31st, 2011 | 4:27 pm

    Yeah but Dutch, Ben is a "game manager" and Montana was a quarterback god. Or maybe Ben is a system quarterback, because god knows between Whizzy and Bruised Anus the offensive playbooks will be changed forever, just like the last big revolution in offense, that west coast offense thingee. Who was the qb that was part of that institution?

11. @stealing1stbase | January 31st, 2011 | 6:34 pm

    You just can't compare QBs across eras like this. The NFL is a much different league today than it was when Montana played. Example: there were more 4,000 yard passes in 2009 than in the entire decade of the 1980s. The league is much, much different – QBs are protected now more than ever, there's less contact on WRs allowed downfield now than ever before, etc. I'm not saying Ben isn't an elite NFL QB. What I AM saying is that he damn well should have better stats than the very best QBs in eras before him…the game is way different. To say otherwise is like saying that baseball players in the 1970s should have the same amount of home runs as baseball players when the fences were a good 200+ feet further away and they played with the same ball all game.

12. Dutch | January 31st, 2011 | 9:04 pm

    I disagree Stealing1st base. Bradshaw led the league in Yards per pass attempt in 1978 and 1979 I believe. They won the SB. Ben just led the Steelers to the Superbowl with bascially the same YPA average. YPA has stood the test of time. Montana's and Ben's team averaged the exact same amount of rushing attempts per game through 1st 7 years. is there less contact on the Wide Receivers than Montana's days? Yes. But defenses are faster and more complex than ever before, so the contact penalities were set to just equal things out. Heck the Patriots won 2 Superbowls in the 2000's by mugging the Rams receivers in the SB and Colts receivers in the playoffs. People like to talk about how the game has changed so much. They point to the rule changes. But the rule changes have been made to jsut balance out the bigger, faster defensive player.

13. jimbo | February 1st, 2011 | 1:15 am

    Ben wins games, with the worst O-line maybe ever. If if your to stupid to realize that it isn't that he holds the ball because he wants to, its because if he didn,t, we would have any yards at all because half the time the has guys around his legs before he gets to take 2 steps backwards. We haven't been able to run the ball in 3 years consistantly, the dudes a winner period,any other qb behind that line would not have lasted 1/3 the season let alone won 2 Superbowls, I do not wanna hear it

14. @stealing1stbase | February 1st, 2011 | 9:37 am

    Saying YPA correlates with winning and saying you can compare the stats of two QBs, year by year, in two completely different eras, is saying two different things.

    If we can expect QB stats to look the same across eras, then Terry Bradshaw, Johnny Unitas, Bart Starr, Joe Namath…they were all terrible, inaccurate QBs. Their stats are way more similar to a Rex Grossman than a Tom Brady or Peyton Manning, after all. But we don't do that, because we recognize that those QBs played in a much different NFL than today's game and had to take much more shots downfield with less accurate passes. But the rules didn't change that much, right? Just enough to balance it out so the game is really the same as it always had been, right? So Bradshaw was horrible, right?

15. Roy | February 1st, 2011 | 10:48 am

    Unitas, Starr, Namath all played in a completely different era. Montana did not. The rule for laying off receivers was exactly the same during Montana's career as it is now.

    Furthermore, Montana had the benefit of playing under the West Coast offense, which was built around the pass and gave defenses fits for years.

    Amazing that Ben's stats are exactly the same as Montana's over the first seven years, but pundits still insist he "doesn't have the numbers". These same pundits would all put Montana as either the best QB of all time, or the second best. Oh well. They'll be eating their words before it's all said and done.

16. @stealing1stbase | February 1st, 2011 | 12:01 pm

    "The rule for laying off receivers was exactly the same during Montana's career as it is now. "

    Inaccurate. There has been a documented increase in pass interference penalties called, and in fact there have also been more rule changes about pass interference since Montana's days.

17. @stealing1stbase | February 1st, 2011 | 8:27 pm

    And that's not counting the rules protecting QBs, either, like the "Brady Rule."

18. bradshaw2ben | February 2nd, 2011 | 10:16 am

    I think you'll lose this argument, stealing… there aren't going to be a lot of post Joe Montana QBs with the numbers in their first 7 seasons, especially YPA… amd playoff records… and rings.

    YPA is era-proof. Most of the high YPA guys not only win… they are effective in the post-season, which is the ultimate barometer of who is more than a regular-season fantasy star. Bradshaw, Montana, Ben, Warner… even Brady… have quality PA stats in the post-season that most do not, even the so-called MVPs and great passers.

    great that you put this together, Dutch.