Pittsburgh Steelers QBs Russell Wilson and Ben Roethlisberger are linked in a number of ways. They both won a Super Bowl as young players, for example, and have a history of extending plays. Sometimes that results in big plays down the field—or in the backfield. There is a reason both of them have taken so many sacks.
Now sacks are another thing that Wilson and Roethlisberger have in common. After taking a season-high five sacks on Wednesday, Wilson has now been sacked more than Roethlisberger. And that’s saying something, because only two players have taken more sacks than them. This is the sack that broke the tie.
Russell Wilson has taken 29 sacks with the Steelers this season in 10 games. For his career, he has now taken 556 sacks. That moves him ahead of Ben Roethlisberger (554) for the third most in NFL history.
This is actually the second time this season Roethlisberger has fallen down the list. Earlier this year, Aaron Rodgers moved past him, now at 564. The next sack Rodgers takes will tie him with Tom Brady for the most sacks ever taken. Which means Russell Wilson, who is younger, is on pace to take over the reins as the most-sacked quarterback in history.
In fact, there is no active quarterback who is even particularly close. Matthew Stafford is a distant third to Rodgers and Wilson with “only” 502 sacks taken in his career. And I don’t think Stafford will play any longer than Wilson will.
Wilson is only in his 13th NFL season, and Roethlisberger played for 18 years. To go by games, Wilson has taken 556 sacks in 198 games, Roethlisberger had 554 in 249. Wilson has taken a sack on 8.5 percent of his drop backs, Roethlisberger had 6.2.
And Wilson says that he still wants to play for another seven years—more than half of what he’s played. If he were to start throughout that time, we are talking about sailing past 800 career sacks taken. Of course, with the way things are going, I’m not sure we can count on that.
This little note is, of course, not Steelers history, but rather NFL history. Roethlisberger still has by far more sacks taken in a Steelers uniform, Wilson with just 29. It is worth noting, though, that Roethlisberger took far fewer sacks as he got older because he avoided them more. Wilson could similarly adopt more of an avoidance mentality. If he remains with the Steelers, it would also behoove them to continue to improve their offensive line.
While Russell Wilson takes more sacks than Roethlisberger did, he also throws touchdowns more frequently and interceptions less frequently. That’s probably a reasonable trade-off, but Roethlisberger had more career success. Oh, and that Tom Brady guy was pretty good, too.
