Who is the greatest QB in Steelers history?

Michael Vick

 

Nope. Voted for Bradshaw.

 

I only have one more thing 2 say.
WOW!!!!!
I find it so strange when I bring up Qbs ,and SB....I get backlash at How that SBs don't make a QB great.....Yet some of those same People are Supporting a Qb here by saying SB wins.....LoL.
Sorry find that strange.
Again I'm proud that both TB12 , and BB7 played for the Steelers

 

People forget that the Steelers actually have 3 HOF quarterbacks in their history. Bobby Layne played his last 5 seasons with the Steelers and led them to a winning record in 4 of those years. Which was quite an achievement for the franchise back in those moribund days of the team.
Layne was also a good runner and during the 1960 season he filled in at kicker for a few games and kicked 5 FG's in 6 attempts.

 

For comparison, in addition to Terry's that we saw above, here are the ALL TELLING TD/Int stats for each quarterback in the Hall of Fame who played at some point in the 1970s. Enjoy.

Roger Staubach: 153 TDs, 109 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was good, but not great - not HOF worthy.
Ken Stabler: 194 TDs, 222 Ints - Stats conclusion: He sucked - HOF? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Fran Tarkenton: 342 TDs, 266 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was good, but not great - not HOF worthy.
Bob Greise: 192 TDs, 172 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was average - not HOF worthy.
Len Dawson: 239 TDs, 183 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was good, but not great - not HOF worthy.
George Blanda: 236 TDs, 277 Ints - Stats conclusion: He sucked - HOF? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Dan Fouts: 254 TDs, 242 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was average - not HOF worthy.
Sonny Jurgensen: 255 TDs, 189 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was good, but not great - not HOF worthy.
Joe Namath: 173 TDs, 220 Ints - Stats conclusion: He sucked - HOF? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.
Bart Starr: 152 TDs, 138 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was average - not HOF worthy.
Johnny Unitas: 290 TDs, 253 Ints - Stats conclusion: He was good, but not great - not HOF worthy.
Archie Manning: 125 TDs, 173 Ints - Stats conclusion: He sucked - HOF? Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha.

Technically Joe Montana goes here, too, but he started just one game in the 1970s - his rookie year of 1979, so no, I'm not including him.

So based on "the numbers" approach, not a single one of the above all time greats deserves to be in the Hall of Fame. And not a one of them did even remotely close to significantly better in TD - Int differential than Terry did. So please, can we stop with the "Ben's numbers were this, but Terry's weren't close" insanity? Please? Honestly, those of you doing that make yourselves sound like stubborn 2nd graders on the playground at recess.

 

Comparing statistics of a player whose career began in 1970 to one whose career began in 2004 without any context like that makes absolutely no sense at all. It is either intentionally unfair or you just don't know what you are talking about. I assumed somebody with Hanratty in his name would understand how dramatically the rules and the way the game is played have changed since then. Remember, Bradshaw played eight seasons before the league adopted massive changes designed to open up the passing game, including the way linemen pass block and the Mel Blount rule.

 

Exactly. I would love to see Bradshaw play in the modern era. I wonder if some modern stars could handle the game back then. Roethlisberger could have done it, but I imagine he would have had some ups and downs early with Noll just as Bradshaw did.

 

As I've said before, for some it's "If I can't see his games in HD, then he sucked."

 

Actually quite a few You just mentioned had better Tds- ints stats then Bradshaw, and some worse.
Though what You are failing 2 mention is....no FA....So You could hang onto a Qb and work with them 2 get better....None of the Qbs in the NFL since the current times have that opportunity....You start out like some of the before hand Qbs You mentioned now....,and You will not be in the NFL very long.
Again...I vote both are great.

 

I agree with TB but it is hard to compare. They all had personal line changes except TB and in my opinion that was the greatest front line in Steeler history.

 

I was in high school when Bradshaw started his career and he was nowhere near ready for the NFL in his rookie year with 6 TD'S and 24 picks. It wasn't until his 5th year in the league that everything clicked and he became the super star that he ended up being. Like STD stated teams today wouldn't have had that kind of patience with him and he would've been unfortunately kicked to the curb early on.
I remember when Joe Gilliam was benched in favor of Bradshaw people were dismayed because Gilliam was putting up big numbers but Chuck Noll knew that in the long run Bradshaw was the better choice. That was the year that they won their first Lombardi.

 

one of the best responses to this question. Thanks

 

Bradshaw threw the winning TD pass in 4 Super Bowls. No way can I vote for any of the others but it's a small list anyway- Layne, Bradshaw, Ben.

 

Wow. Unless a QB has a 3 to 1 TD to INT ratio today he’s not worth squat. Back then it was 1.5 or 1 to 1. I do remember that it was very common for DBs back then to have double digit interception seasons which is extremely rare today. Like Blast said earlier in this thread, you could mug a receiver back then and get away with it. Today if a DB breathes on a receiver out comes the laundry.

 

Don’t worry about him

He’s a long time senile old guy that voted for Johnny Unitas just to be a smart alek

Most people just ignore him

 

I've watched TB and Ben. It's not debatable if the question is Who was the best QB. Ben was by far the best QB we ever had.

Everyone seems to only have a short term memory. Because Ben was mediocre the last 2 seasons they're ignoring his prime years. Conversely everyone only thinks of TB prime years of winning 4 SB's.

TB was a great QB but the ONLY reason he's being mentioned with Ben is the 4 rings. TB was on a FAR superior team for about 8 years. Ben had some nice teams but none of them were anywhere near the caliber of the 70's dynasty. Anyone think we wouldn't have won 4 SB's if Ben was leading that team during his prime? As soon as the team declined so did TB's play. He had one of the best O-lines the league has ever seen for many years w/ 2 HOF WR's and 2 HOF RB's and a great TE. And yet the reason we won 4 SB's was our defense.

You can judge a QB on their talent alone. There's been several mediocre QB's to win SB's and some greats that never won any. Terry IMO was similar to Troy Aikman. Ben was more like John Elway & Brett Favre...but better than anyone when it came to come from behind wins and last minute drives.

 

Super Bowl XIII and XIV were won by the Steelers offense. I give you the first two in '75 and '76 were won by the Steel Curtain Defense. But Bradshaw, Swann and Stallworth were crucial to those wins in '78 and '79. Steelers lose both of those Super Bowls without the stellar play of the offense with Bradshaw leading.

 

Why is this even a debate? You are judged as a QB in your biggest moments. Bradshaw had one in every Super Bowl he won. The last two super bowls the Steelers won was because of him.

Now, with that. If Roethlisberger takes the Steelers to the end zone on that last drive in Super Bowl XLV, Roethlisberger has an argument. He would have had two game winning drives to win Super Bowls and he would be 3-0 in a salary cap Era. He likely would have won SB MVP too. So, ya, sometimes one drive can determine your status.

So, Bradshaw by a mile. Big Ben was unclutch the last 10 years of his career when it came to playoff games. That doesn't help Ben either.

 

Exactly why stats comparisons across eras are ridiculous and completely meaningless. Especially this particular one. That's why in these debates I don't rank guys that I never actually watched. And because I don't do it, I also don't pay any attention to the rankings of anyone born after roughly 8 years prior to the bulk of a guy's career. So for this debate, I'm not interested in the thoughts on Bradshaw from anyone born around or after the early 70s. Anyone who falls into that category either wouldn't have seen him play at all, or wouldn't have been old enough to understand what one was seeing until his career was almost over.

 

Hines got mugged and did more mugging than any wr in steelers history. And he did against bigger players.

 

I don’t think it was so much Terry not being #1

Ben certainly deserves a good conversation

I think bringing NOD into the conversation is where some of us think you lost your marbles.

 

No way of knowing for sure, but one thing we do know for certain is that Ben was mediocre to bad in Super Bowls. In his first, he had the lowest rating for any winning quarterback in Super Bowl history. In the others he was average save for the magical drive and TD pass to Holmes. Terry Bradshaw was MONEY in the Super Bowl and made big time plays when he had to at the most critical times in those games. Some of those throws to Swann and Stallworth were absolutely incredible. For that reason, he’s the greatest in Steeler history in my mind.