Thank Goodness it worked out that way.

2004 - The chargers drafted Eli Manning with the number 1 pick and the Bolts ended up with the side arm slinger known as Philip (I complain all the time) Rivers after Eli refused to go there. I remember so many Steelers fans thinking that our team was actually a contender in possibly getting that clown. Rivers will never amount to anything outside of being a half decent coach to his 6 children. Could you imagine how different things would be right now if Ben had won his first game of the 2003 season against Iowa and all the hype would have been on him instead of the media praising Manning and Rivers? I always look back and think what a perfect season in his Junior year at Miami would have meant long term and now I finally know. We as Steelers fans would still still be looking for the "One for the Thumb" all the while screaming Bubby Brister II.

 

Yeah, this four time pro bowl quarterback will never amount to anything. What does that say about me?

 

I was thinking the same thing. Rivers has ben able to put up some pretty impressive numbers during his career. Put him in Ben's shoes and I'm willing to bet we wouldn't have seen that much of a performance difference, if any.

 

Rivers seems to be regressing for sure, but to say the guy wasn't one of the top QB's in the league is a little shortsighted. He put up great numbers every year for a long time. Also to his credit, some of the picks last night weren't his fault. If you watch the plays again, you'll see Eddie Royal ran an incorrect route on 2 of the picks.

I wouldn't be surprised if we still had our 2 SB's with Rivers as our QB.

 

The number that counts will be Superbowl appearances and wins not Pro Bowl appearances. So what if he can sling it 50 times a game and pad his stats. Going to the big dance and coming out triumphant is something that I doubt he will ever accomplish. Sure, Its better than me, you, or any other average guy out there but in all the talk after his career is finished he will just be mentioned among the Pro Bowlers right up until they cancel the popularity contest.
Ben is by far a better QB.
One thing I did pity Rivers on though was the offsides calls last night that he got flagged for in the 1st qtr. If you watch the 4th qtr, he was still doing the exact same hand and head jerking moves but no flag. A little consistency here regular refs please.

 

You are forgetting about the defenses that we had when we won the super bowls.

 

No one is saying that we would have rather had Rivers than Roethlisberger, but for the bendovers to think that the only QB that could have won super bowls with those steelers teams is Roethlisberger is just plain homer.

 

My thought exactly. We definitely did not win SB 40 because of Ben and he would be the first to admit it....

Having said that, I am glad we have Ben simply because I cant stand River's constant whining :roll:

 

This. I hate Rivers, but some on here act like if we had any other QB in history other than Ben, we wouldn't have won those SB's. That's not just homerism at it's finest, that's downright ridiculous.

 

The number that counts will be Superbowl appearances and wins not Pro Bowl appearances. So what if he can sling it 50 times a game and pad his stats. Going to the big dance and coming out triumphant is something that I doubt he will ever accomplish. Sure, Its better than me, you, or any other average guy out there but in all the talk after his career is finished he will just be mentioned among the Pro Bowlers right up until they cancel the popularity contest.
Ben is by far a better QB.
One thing I did pity Rivers on though was the offsides calls last night that he got flagged for in the 1st qtr. If you watch the 4th qtr, he was still doing the exact same hand and head jerking moves but no flag. A little consistency here regular refs please.[/quote:1su7rdmv]


So you know what Rivers would have done as the Steelers QB? Would he have had the worst performance of a winning QB in Super Bowl history like Ben did?

 

xEleventybillion

 

No, not everyone of course, but I do think there's a very good chance we would have still win those 2 SB's with Rivers as the QB of those teams. He was a very good QB, but he sure does seem to be regressing the last couple years.

 

thank you.

ive come to two conclusions when we see these topics about Ben and how good or important he is to this team.

first one is: that a lot of people have forgotten just how many bad qb's we had to endure between Terry and Ben. also that the Steelers had some pretty good defenses during their 25 year super bowl win drought, yet they couldnt find 1 qb to help them win a ring during that stretch.

and B: there are probably a lot of younger Steeler fans on these message boards and have absolutly no idea of what it was like to suffer through that 25 year drought and just how lucky we are to have Ben as our qb.

sure you can have an average qb and get to a super bowl and maybe even win it. case in point, Ben in his 1st super bowl win, but an average qb doesnt get you to 2 super bowls and win twice. Ben has become an elite qb and this year he has taken that next step.

the way i see it is, the first super bowl they won with Ben was pretty much all on the defense. Ben had a great playoff run that most people tend to forget when trying to make their arguement against him. the second was a pretty balanced mix of offense and defense. now its time for Ben and the offense to get one for the defense.

 

and B: there are probably a lot of younger Steeler fans on these message boards and have absolutly no idea of what it was like to suffer through that 25 year drought and just how lucky we are to have Ben as our qb.


Nice point. I was just thinking about this the other day. We cannot ever overlook the difference Ben has made to our team- to take a quick look back:

the 1985-86 Steelers had 2 super WR, Louis Lipps and John Stallworth, several good running backs (Frank Pollard in 85, Earnest Jackson in 86,) at least compared to what we have today- and a better OL than our current team, with Mike Webster still around, plus Tunch and Wolf. The defense still had some good players in David Little, Mike Merriweather, Dwayne Woodruff, Keith Willis and Donnie Shell.

But these teams were awful- posting a limp 13-19 record those 2 years.

In fact the more I think about the current team and those two very unsuccessful ones-the main difference between them comes at the Qb position. Those teams were bad because the Qb play (mainly from Mark Malone) was horrible, while this team still has a shot because they have a championship Qb.

 

Rivers has good numbers because the AFC west was one of, if not the, weakest division in football. He got to play the Broncos, raiders, and chiefs twice a year, imagine if he had to face the ravens twice a season.

 

"Ben has become an elite qb and this year he has taken that next step."

Your kidding right? Whats another name for a homer?

 

This is EXACTLY what I told my buddy last night who came up to watch the game. He is a DIE HARD CHARGERS fan and was complaining about their O-line. I said "dude don't even talk to me about the O-line" and then I said "BUT it might actually be WORSE on Rivers because he can't make plays with his legs and Ben can". We don't know how lucky we are to have a qb that can make plays with his legs. If not for that fact we would not have even been CLOSE to competitive these last few years.