Ben Roethlisberger and Philip Rivers came into the NFL separated by just seven draft slots. Rivers, the All-ACC talent out of North Carolina State, found himself in the middle of Eli Manning’s drama at the No. 4 pick, selected by the New York Giants but immediately shipped to the Chargers organization of whom Manning wanted no part (this was a smart decision). Roethlisberger had to wait nearly two hours later to hear his name called at No. 11 by a Steelers team that had uncharacteristically underperformed in 2003.
The two have had significantly paths since that day. Rivers took two years to learn his trade under Drew Brees. Roethlisberger started 13 regular-season games as a rookie and won all of them. Roethlisberger won a Super Bowl in his second year as a pro. Rivers was the focal point of a team that went 14-2 in his first year as a starter, but never advanced beyond the AFC title game.
Now it’s 2018, and despite inching toward their 40s, each quarterback is having a monster year. Rivers is set to end a four-year postseason drought behind an 8-3 record and a career-best 115.7 passer rating. Roethlisberger has his Steelers within grasp of their third straight AFC North title while throwing for more than 333 yards per game. Each is taking advantage of an offensive explosion and keeping their names among the shallow end of this year’s MVP odds.
But if you had to choose one to lead your offense, which veteran would you tie your Super Bowl hopes to?
Rivers is doing more with less in Los Angeles. Roethlisberger has been the more prolific passer. Roethlisberger has two Super Bowl wins under his belt but has been sloppy with the ball in big moments recently. Rivers is en route to a career low in interception rate but is also 4-5 all time in the postseason. Rivers is capable of playing through insane amounts of pain. Roethlisberger … is capable of playing through insane amounts of pain.
You’d be in a good place with either passer. But if you had to choose one of these QBs to lead an offense with league-average playmakers at all your skill positions and hope for the best, who would you choose?
The case for: Philip Rivers
Let’s start with the elephant in the room: Rivers’ inability to get to the Super Bowl. He, like every other Chargers quarterback but Stan by-God Humphries has fallen short of the year’s biggest game in each of his past 17 seasons as a pro. He’s won just four playoff games in that span and is just 2-2 at home in the postseason.
But there are circumstances surrounding his failures. His 2007 run to the AFC Championship Game was marred by a torn freakin’ ACL. His 2006 postseason, which followed a 14-2 regular season campaign, was cut short after Marlon McCree fumbled away a game-sealing interception to give Tom Brady and the Patriots new life.
In 2008 his defense and special teams gave up 35 points to the Steelers. And in 2013, he completed nearly 70 percent of his passes and posted a 116 passer rating and still couldn’t get back the eventual AFC champion Broncos. For his Chargers career, LaDainian Tomlinson, supposed to be the game-changing support Rivers needed on the ground, averaged just 3.5 yards per carry in the postseason.
Good players overcome obstacles, sure, but few players have been as snakebitten as Rivers in the postseason.
The biggest point working in Rivers’ favor has been his late-career ability to avoid game-changing turnovers. It looked like the latter half of his career was going to devolve into Favre-ian gunslinging after leading the league in interceptions in both 2014 and 2016. Some of that was the Chargers’ tendency to throw him until his arm fell off, but some of these picks were the product of frustration (and an underwhelming supporting cast).
He’s fought off those bad habits to regain his status as one of the league’s best passers, and 2018 has been nothing less than a renaissance. His 7.6 percent touchdown rate is a career high, as is his 9.1 yards per pass. His 1.7 percent interception rate ties a career low. Not only is he delivering the ball accurately downfield, he’s making the right throws and unlocking a new level of the Chargers’ offense.
Take Big Ben out of the Pittsburgh offense and it would survive. Take Rivers out of LA and the Chargers would shatter like a dropped vase. Even with his postseason concerns, Rivers is my guy. — Christian D’Andrea
The case for: Ben Roethlisberger
“Yeah, you know, he’s playing mind games, the rat bastard. He’s setting us up. Tell Ben I’m on to his tricks. I know what he’s doing. I’m not going to let him fool me with trickery and Jedi mind tricks.”
That’s what Terrell Suggs said about Roethlisberger before the Ravens and Steelers played last September. Suggs was talking about Roethlisberger’s latest ailment and how no matter how bad it seems, Big Ben will still “walk his big ass on out” on the field and no one is surprised.
This season, Roethlisberger has been fairly healthy, other than a fractured finger on his non-throwing hand. But Suggs’ sentiment still holds true: never fall for Roethlisberger’s tricks.
He hasn’t been especially sharp this year. He pretty much cost the Steelers the game last week with a baffling dumb throw at the end.
But his stats aren’t bad, either — especially at home, where he’s thrown for 14 touchdowns and just three interceptions. He’s about at his career average in most categories, and he’s even on pace for career high in yards per game and passing touchdowns.
And yeah, it’s Not A Great Look™ when he publicly calls out his wide receivers. It’s also possible that being a dick to his teammates is an effective strategy:
The Steelers have had one losing season in Roethlisberger’s 15 years as their starting quarterback, and that was a dozen years ago. He’s won two Super Bowls and has been a Pro Bowler for four straight seasons. And in recent years, no team has been better in the final month than the Steelers. In the past five years, they’re 20-3 in the last month of the season.
It helps that he has one of the best offensive lines in the NFL protecting him and an arsenal of weapons too. Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster, and James Conner have had some ups and downs this season, just like the Steelers, but they’re all probably going to find themselves on the Pro Bowl roster at season’s end.
I will bang the “Philip Rivers is the most underrated quarterback of his generation” drum any day, but he has a couple arguments against him here:
- He’s prone to costly brain farts, too.
- He’s less clutch, with 28 game-winning drives in his career compared to 41 for Roethlisberger.
- He’s way less experienced in the playoffs.
Some of that is because the Chargers, as a team, haven’t been as successful as the Steelers. It’s been five years since they’ve been to the postseason. That streak should end this year, and Rivers is a huge reason for that.
It’s just not hard to think Roethlisberger and the Steelers will get it together, especially when the games start mattering more. To paraphrase Suggs, they’re not going to fool me. — Sarah Hardy
