Flacco Might Now Be Elite But He's Not Better Than Ben

A cute subject came up on the NFL Network about who's better: Ben Roethlisberger or Joe Flacco? Now after what Flacco just did in the playoffs, throwing 11 tds and 0 picks, along with winning the Super Bowl, he's in my top seven elite quarterbacks list. I have Flacco at number seven, after Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, and of course Big Ben. 

I actually have Ben ahead of Brees and Eli and sometimes ahead of Peyton for fun. But Flacco's not better than Ben, at least not yet. Flacco has had a great start to his career, winning .670% of his games, including NINE playoff games. 

But Flacco's stats still aren't great. His highest total passing yards in one season, and I know how everyone judges quarterbacks on yardage this days, was 3817 this past season. Ben's had two 4,000 + seasons. Flacco's Yards Per Attempt average for his career is 7.1. Ben's YPA is 7.7 one of the highest career averages of all-time. Flacco's Yard Per Completion is 11.7, Ben's YPC is 12.6. Again those are career averages. I thought Ben couldn't throw the ball down the field? 

Flacco's completion % is 60.5 for his career and his best season in terms of completion % is 63.1. Roethlisberger's career completion % is 63.1 and he's had five seasons in which his completion & eclipsed Flacco's best. (2004 66.4%, 2007 65.3%, 2009 66.6%, 2011 63.2%, 2012 63.3%)

Flacco's quarterback rating for his career is 86.3 and his career high for one season 93.6 in 2010. Roethlisberger has the eighth best qb rating in NFL history with a 92.7. Roethlisberger has had six seasons in which he had a qb rating of 97 or better. 

The stats go on. Flacco's career high for TD passes in a season is 25. Roethlisberger has eclipsed that three times, including 2007 when he threw for 32 tds and he missed a game that year. 

Flacco has 10 4th quarter comebacks and 15 4th quarter game-winning drives in his first five years. Roethlisberger had 15 4th quarter comebacks and 18 4th quarter game-winning drives in his first five years. Another win for Roethlisberger. 

Roethlisberger made it to the AFC championship game three times in his first five seasons, winning two of them and winning two Super Bowls. Flacco has won one Super Bowl and is 1-2 in AFC championship games in his first five years. 

Flacco has had a better offensive line and a way better running game. This past year Ray Rice and the Ravens were 11th in total rushing in the NFL. The Steelers were 26th. That's day and night. In 2011 the Ravens had a top 10 rushing offense, the Steelers did not. Give the Steelers Ray Rice. Give Ben a running game and see what he does. Give Ben an good offensive line like the Ravens have and see what he does. 

Roethlisberger has taken his team to the Super Bowl three times. All of his stats are better than Flacco's. Did Flacco play great this postseason, you're God damn right he did. He deserves his props. But he's not better than Ben, at least not yet.