During a Monday evening Q & A session with his Twitter followers, former Pittsburgh Steelers and current Denver Broncos wide receiver Emmanuel Sanders was asked to state the biggest difference between his new quarterback, Peyton Manning and his former quarterback, Ben Roethlisberger.
Sanders answer? Preparation.
“@SubmarineMike88 what is the biggest difference between Peyton and Ben #AskE” Preparation
— Emmanuel Sanders (@E_Sanders88) June 24, 2014
Are you surprised? Should Sanders have even gone there?
Manning has always been regarded as a film junkie and a stickler for details, so I’ not really surprised by the Sanders’ answer. Being more prepared, however, will only take a player so far as ability also plays a huge role in success of a player, especially a quarterback, at the NFL level.
Manning is a great quarterback and destined to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame even though he’s only won one Super Bowl to date. We’ll see if Roethlisberger winds up with a bust in Canton as well, but many believe he needs a third ring in order to be bestowed that honor.
Despite all of his accomplishments, Manning’s career completion percentage of 65.5 is only slightly higher than that of Roethlisberger’s 63.3. In addition, his career interception percentage of 2.6 is only slightly lower than that of Roethlisberger’s 2.8. Roethlisberger, however, has put up his numbers behind some offensive lines that would have likely put Manning out of the league several years ago.
As far as the playoffs go, Roethlisberger’s 10-4 record easily outshines Manning’s 11-12 record. In fact, one of Roethlisberger’s 10 wins came against Manning during the 2005 playoffs. Perhaps Manning should have prepared better for that game. Perhaps Sanders should be prepared to not win the Super Bowl in 2014.
Sanders covered his behind by saying that he considers Manning and Roethlisberger to both be Hall-of-Famers. He also stated that he didn’t return to Pittsburgh in 2014 because he wasn’t offered a long-term contract. Why? Perhaps the Steelers didn’t think that he prepared well enough to play with Roethlisberger. Maybe Manning should be prepared for that as well.
