Judas;4355342 said:
You don't think Roethlisberger ran for his life in some of those play off games? How much did New England's defense pitch in or New Orleans or Green bay's defense pitch in to help them win? You need to come out of your little tiny world you live in and see more than the love you have for a lguy who can't get it done.
No Super Bowl-winning QB has ever truly carried his team there. Do you even know how much those guys weigh?
I won't even go into
Roethlisberger's first championship (2005 season) - that should be obvious to anyone with a memory. But, leading up to
Roethlisberger's second Super Bowl (2008 season)
their defense was ranked 1st overall, 1st vs. pass, 2nd vs. run, 51 sacks, 20 INT, 9 FR. They held fourteen of their sixteen regular season opponents under 300 yards of total offense - and half of them to 10 points or less. Now THAT'S defense. And Roethlisberger? 17 TD, 15 INT, 46 sacks - passer rating 80.1 (24th).
In an AFCDG the Steelers beat the Chargers 35-24... awesome Big Ben, right? Wrong. He went 17/26 for 181 yards and 1 TD (0 INT). Fortunately for them, Santonio Holmes had a 67-yard punt return for a TD - and Willie Parker rang up 146 on 27 carries with two of the Steelers' three rushing TDs on the day. Although the Steelers' defense did yield 308 yards and 3 TDs to Phillip Rivers - much of that came after the Chargers found themselves trailing 28-10 less than one minute into the 4th quarter. The Steelers' D also picked off Rivers once, sacked him four times, and allowed the Chargers a paltry 15 yards rushing.
In the AFCCG the Steelers beat the Ravens 23-14. Roethlisberger was 16/33 for 255, 1 TD, 0 INT, 4 sacks - nothing to write home about. However, his Ravens' counterpart Joe Flacco had a terrible day at the office. Flacco was 13/30, 141 yards, 3 sacks, 3 INT - with the second a 40-yard 'pick 6' returned by Troy Polamalu. Both the Ravens TDs came from Willis McGahee (60 yards on 20 carries, 1 lost fumble). Steelers also added FGs of 34, 42, and 46 yards.
In Super Bowl XLIII Roethlisberger went 21/30, 256, 1 TD, 1 INT - 5 of 7, 74 yards, and his lone TD coming as 'Big Ben' did the dink-and-dunk thing on the game winning 78-yard drive. He attempted one deep pass (incomplete) during that drive. Everything else was a short ball - one of which Santonio Holmes happened to run 40 yards with to the Arizona 6. And, while Ben's 6-yard corner endzone pass was well-placed, it required an amazing job of body-control and concentration for Holmes to haul it in for the winning TD. Which is just part of the reason Holmes, not Roethlisberger, was named the game MVP. Another being James Harrison's return of Kurt Warner's lone INT of the day right before halftime - talk about huge. Heck, it could easily argued that Warner outplayed Roethlisberger - going 31 of 43, 377 yards, 3 TD, and 1 INT despite going up against the league's top-ranked defense. Prior to the game winning drive Roethlisberger was 16 of 23 for 182 yards, 0 TD, and 1 INT. Santonio Holmes should get a Christmas card from Big Ben every year - include some cash in it, too. Because he and the Steelers defense are more responsible for his 'big game' reputation than Roethlisberger is.
In
Tom Brady's first Superbowl win (XXXVI, 20-17 over the Rams) he threw for all of 145 yds, 16 of 27, 1 TD, 0 INT. But his defense contributed three sacks, a fumble recovery, and two INTs - one of which was returned 58 yards for a TD. And Vinatieri had the game winning FG with 00:06 left.
In the Divisional round Brady threw for over 300 yards in the snow (0 TD, 1 INT). But their defense held the Raiders to 230 net yards and 13 points (1 sack, 0 INT, 0 FR) - Vinatieri going 3/3 on FGs, including the 23-yard game winner in OT . Final: 16-13 Patriots.
In the AFCCG, Brady was 12/18 for 115 yards (0 TD, 0 INT) before being knocked out of the game (just before halftime) on the Steelers second sack of him - Drew Bledsoe completing their lone TD drive on offense. Meanwhile the NE defense held the Steelers to 17 points and about 60 yards rushing (3 sacks, 3 INT, 0 FR). Troy Brown had a 55-yard punt return for a TD - and recovered a blocked Steelers' 34-yard FG attempt in a wild play that resulted in yet another Patriots' special teams TD. And again Vinatieri went 3/3 on FGs with a long of 40 yards. Final: 24-17 Patriots.
In
Brady's second championship campaign (2003) he threw for 3620 yards, 29 TD, 19 INT - passer rating 85.9 (10th). Meanwhile, the Patriots' defense yielded a league-low 14.9 points per game: 41 sacks, 29 INTs, and 12 FR. They also held each of their AFCDG (Titans) and AFCCG (Colts) opponents to 14 points in winning 17-14 and 24-14 respectively. And they ultimately prevailed in a shootout with the Panthers in Superbowl XXXVIII, 32-29... Vinatieri with the game-winning FG from 41 yards. The Patriots defense had four sacks in the SB - compared to 0 for the Panthers.
In
Brady's third championship season (2004) he threw for 3692 yards, 28 TD, 14 INT - passer rating 92.6 (9th).The Patriots defense allowed 16.3 PPG (T-2nd), 45 sacks (T-3rd), 20 INT (T-7th).
In the AFCDG round NE beat the Colts, 20-3. Brady was 18 of 27 for 144 yards, 1 TD, 0 INT, and sacked 3 times. He added another TD on a QB sneak. Peyton Manning was 27 of 42 for 238, 0 TD, 1 INT, and sacked once. The Patriots defense kept the Colts out of the endzone, collecting 1 INT and two fumbles, while the NE offense racked up 200 yards rushing with no turnovers. Vinatieri was 2 for 2 on FGs.
They then beat the Steelers in the AFCCG, 41-27. Brady was 14 of 21 for 207, 2 TD, 0 INT, sacked twice - Big Ben 14 of 24 for 226, 2 TD, 3 INT, sacked once. The NE defense created four turnovers, 1 fumble and three picks, which ultimately resulted in 24 NE points - 3 TDs and a FG (one INT being an 87-yard 'pick six' by Rodney Harrison). The Steelers defense created zero turnovers. Everything ELSE in that game was fairly even: First Downs: NE 18, PIT 19; Net Yardage: NE 322, PIT 388; TOP: NE 28:29, PIT 31:31, etc.
In Super Bowl XXIX NE prevailed over the Eagles 24-21. Brady went 23 of 33 for 236 yards with 2 TDs, 0 INT and sacked twice. His Eagle counterpart Donovan McNabb finished 30 of 51 for 357, 3 TDs, 3 INT and sacked four times. Both teams lost one fumble, neither of which resulted in a score. But Brady did have a drive-killing redzone fumble on 2nd-and-four from the PHI 4-yd line. And none of McNabbs three picks ultimately resulted in a Patriot score. But they did kill his teams' drives: one occurred on 1st-and-10 from the NE 19 yd line and another on 1st-and-10 from the NE 36. Outside of the 4-to-1 difference in turnovers everything else was pretty even: First Downs - NE 21, PHI 24; Net Yards - NE 331, PHI 369; Penalties - NE 7/47, PHI 3/35; TOP - NE 31:37, PHI 28:23. Which is why the lone FG attempt of the game proved to be the difference in the final score. Just a well-fought and pretty even matchup - one of the better Super Bowls I've seen.
Welp... I'll have to save New Orleans' and Green Bay's defensive contributions to their championships for another day.
