When Tom Brady and the New England Patriots face the Pittsburgh Steelers, things generally do not go well. You may have seen the statistics going around recently that Brady has the highest quarterback rating against the Steelers out of all quarterbacks in NFL history against a single opponent (with a certain minimum of games started) at 113.
Brady is an excellent quarterback against everybody, of course, but you also don’t want to hold the distinction of allowing the highest passer rating ever against a single quarterback. That tells you that the Steelers have been uniquely bad in comparison to all teams historically against arguably the greatest quarterback of all time.
With that said, it’s not as though it’s common for any team to have any success against him. He owns a career quarterback rating of 97.6 and has an overall 205-59 record, so…that’s pretty good. And for a competitor such as Ben Roethlisberger, it’s always a special opportunity to face an opponent like that.
“Any time you can share the field with maybe the greatest of all time, you should cherish it and value it and try to outplay him”, he told reporters yesterday during his media availability in front of his locker room. “It’s not an easy task. I don’t go up against him [directly] but it’s a neat thing to play against one of the best of all time”.
Asked what is Brady’s secret to continuing to play effectively into his 40s, he joked that it was the “avocado ice cream”, but added more seriously, “he just works hard. he understands football. He understands offense, defense. He’s incredibly smart”.
While not exactly the most athletic player in the league, Roethlisberger did praise Brady for his abilities. As a thrower in that regard. “People will laugh about his running or his catching abilities, but he’s an incredibly talented athlete when it comes to his arm and some of the things he can do, throwing while he’s falling, arm angles and things like that. especially for an older guy, he does pretty good”.
Brady is closing in on 6000 completions for his career and will likely hit 70,000 passing yards on Sunday against the Steelers. He was able to join the 500-touchdown club earlier this season already, so this has been a historic year for Brady.
It has gotten to the point, however, that a Steelers win against a Brady-led Patriots team in and of itself would be historic. He has completed just under 70 percent of his passes against the Steelers in 13 games (11 wins), averaging nearly 300 yards per game with 30 touchdowns to four interceptions. It’s hard to do much worse.
