I'll take Bradshaw over Brady any day.

Maybe it's fortunate that new generation of Steeler fans didn't get to experience seeing a 5 year veteran QB benched in place of a heroin addict.

 

Different QBs for different eras. Bradshaw toughness and arm were right for his era. I'm not sure you would want him trying to read today's defenses.

 

I listen to him on the TV every week. I don't need to buy into it, I get to experience it.

 

Either way you get four Super Bowls. The writer says that Bradshaw only belongs in the conversation for the best big game quarterback and that he should't be considered for best of all time overall. Terry Bradshaw had his first 300yd game of his career in Super Bowl 13. Terry Bradshaw won MVP the year the Mel Blount rule was instituted also if I'm not mistaken. He benefited from it too in his last few years.

 

A lot of them!!

 

Out of curiosity, what is it about Bradshaw you didn't/don't like? You think he was overrated and a product of a great defense or something like that?

 

I don't dislike him at all....I loved him when he played and I love him now. Even when he played he wasn't considered the sharpest tool in the shed and that was not a huge problem in the era he played. Today he would never make a team. Colleges are full of tough guys with big arms that aren't cerebral enough to be successful in the NFL today.

 

Noll showed A LOT of patience with Bradshaw. In today's NFL where instant gratification is demanded, I just wonder how Bradshaw's career would have played out. But I'll tell you this, Bradshaw IS NOT AND WAS NOT DUMB! And there is no quarterback I'd rather have in a big moment in the Super Bowl than Bradshaw. When he had to come up big in the BIG GAME he did, EVERY SINGLE TIME!

 

Yea, but you could say the same thing today. Brady would not have made it back in Bradshaw days as he would be broken with the hits he would of taken. It's totally different today with the defenses having their hands tied. Do you remember the game when Bradshaw got slamed into the turf on his head. Brady might of been dead after that type of hit.

 

Can't really compare Bradshaw and Marsha. Terry played in a run first league and still put up good numbers. Brady plays in the fantasy football era where stats are everything. That's why I posted in a different thread that IF all things were equal, Brady would be #4 or 5.

 

True. Like I said, different QBs for different eras. Montana would like have struggled in Otto Graham's era and Brady would have struggled in Montana's era. Different games different qualities that make a successful player.

 

I think that is really the criteria for trying to make your judgment on whether a QB is one of the all time greats. Does his ability (physical, mental, system(s) they played in translate well to past or future eras.

I think Bradshaw was no dummy, he was the Offensive Coordinator. Bradshaw was interviewed one time and he talked about how he didn't throw the ball as much because he understood the importance of possessing the ball and to keep his defense off the field and primed to create havoc. He used to fake injuries when things were going bad to pump up his own defense. So I think Bradshaw is more than capable of playing in today's game.

 

My position is that is really isn't very useful trying to compare QBs across eras. Or i guess it is like trying to compare the best soccer player with the best rugby player to the best lacrosse player. The game across eras has really changed that much.

 

I was gonna post the same thing (sorta)! I think most of the good QB's of Bradshaw's era would excel in today's game But the same cannot be said for most of today's QB's in Bradshaw's era! JMO

 

The "era" argument is a little bit skewed though because backers weren't as fast then as they are now. It wasn't like it is now where you have guys that are linebackers with excellent 40 times. So with the SIZE of the backers today and the SPEED of the backers today it would be just as hard for a guy from then with the 70s skill set to win now as it would be for a guy with today's skill set to win then. The game is definitely faster now and could those guys that came from a more methodical time adjust to the modern speed? They said the other night that Dan Quinn coached the hawks to play against Brady by setting a stopwatch for less than 3 seconds and said "if you don't get there by then you're not gonna get there" and apparently that was how they practiced trying to rush him. Did guys back then get the ball out that quick?

 

That is one opinion, I don't believe it. But since there is no way we will ever know I guess we will just have to be happy not agreeing.

 

Kind of off topic but I found this recently and thought it was very interesting.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/400399-the-steelers-dynasty-of-the-70s-came-down-to-a-coin-toss