When debating the greatest NFL quarterbacks of the early 21st century, the conversation often goes to two names, Peyton Manning and Tom Brady.
And it makes sense. Both won multiple Super Bowls and rank at the top or near the top of the leaderboard in every major passing statistic. They also controlled the NFL narrative from the mid-2000s to the mid-2010s, with their playoff battles being some of the most iconic in NFL history.
However, for some, the Steelers’ Ben Roethlisberger was right up there with them and deserves to at least be in the conversation. While this is far from the conventional take, it’s hard to discredit it when a former player of the caliber of Ed Reed is the one who shares it.
Reed was talking about the Manning vs. Brady debate on The Pivot Podcast, with former Steeler Ryan Clark when he mentioned Roethlisberger.
“I always said [Brady and Manning] were 1A and 1B.” Reed said. “ You pick it however you want it. But you can’t rule out the guy in Pittsburgh.”
From a typical perspective, Roethlisberger is a step below Brady and Manning, although all three are already or will be Hall of Famers. But let’s look at it from Reed’s perspective, particularly in the playoffs.
Reed’s Ravens’ tenure was from 2002-2012, coinciding with the primes of all three quarterbacks. During this period, Tom Brady had a lot of playoff success, but the one team that always seemed to give him trouble was the Ravens. In three matchups, Brady went just 1-2 against Baltimore, including the 2009 Wild Card game drubbing, which was perhaps the most dominated a Brady-led Patriots team ever was in the playoffs. In fact, the two biggest playoff losses for the Patriots in the Brady era were the two aforementioned losses.
Now for Manning, the Colts did go 2-0 against the Ed Reed Ravens in the playoffs, but that doesn’t tell the whole story. The Colts combined for just 35 points in those two victories, including a particularly ugly 15-6 Colts win in the 2006 Divisional round. In that game, Reed himself picked Manning off twice.
Now let’s look at Roethlisberger. He was 2-0 himself against the Ravens in the playoffs while Reed was there. Unlike Manning, however, the offense had a lot of success in those games. They scored 64 points in the two games combined, and Roethlisberger didn’t throw a pick in either one. Whether this had to do with the Steelers’ increased exposure to the Ravens in the regular season is anyone’s guess, but Roethlisberger at least seemed to have that elite defense figured out in the playoffs.
From the perspective of someone like Reed, you can see how Big Ben is up there with the best of the best at the quarterback position. And while the masses wouldn’t likely agree, I’d argue Ed Reed’s opinion should carry a little more weight than the average fan.
