By: Jeremy Trottier

The NFL fandom consists of a few things, but primarily it ends up just becoming a debate because everyone has differing opinions.  One of the players who gets debated the most is Ben Roethlisberger, one of the most statistically great QBs of all time.  In this article I will be speaking on my opinion of Big Ben, and whether or not he is overrated. 

Statistical Success & Achievements

Big Ben ranks among the all-time legends of the sport statistically, #5 all-time in passing yards (64,088), #8 all-time in passing touchdowns (418), #5 all-time in games started (247), and only is 18^th in interceptions all time with 211.  His statistical success is pretty much undoubted, as he tops many of the best players this sport has ever seen in passing stats. 

His accolades are where things get even more interesting, as he has one of the best resumes of all time.  2 Super Bowls, NFL OROY, 6x pro-bowler, 2x passing yards leader, most career 500-yard passing games, tied for the most perfect passer rating games, and the most completions in a game ever.  It is hard to be a name on top of one of the most storied franchises of all time, but Ben has done that, being one of if not the best QB in franchise history, and potentially the best player. 

So…is he overrated?

Overrated or underrated is difficult to quantify, as they are the view of the people and fans, so there is no one way to show it.  From what I can tell, he is generally considered to be lower than what he was, as many people take away from him with the fact that he always had top-tier talents, which granted, he did.  The issue with that notion is you could also say he made a lot of people successful, as he was able to push the ball downfield at an exceptional rate.  So overall, I would say he is generally properly or even underrated at times by the general NFL fan, as he should be considered likely a top 10 QB of all-time. 

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By: Jeremy Trottier

Derek Carr has been the source of some contention among NFL fans in the last few years.  Some believe him to be top 10-15 in the league, and some believe he may not be nearly that good and is more average.  In this article, I will be breaking down whether or not I believe he is underrated, properly rated, or overrated, based on his statistics and production over the last season.  So without further ado, let’s start off with his statistical production:

2021 production

Interestingly enough, last year Carr had one of his better seasons in terms of passing yards and completion %, which makes this a compelling debate.  This was not only because of the extra game either, he had 700 more passing yards than any other season in his career, a monumentally larger amount than normal. 

In 2021 Carr put up the following stat line:

• 17 games played (all 17 started)
• 428 completions on 626 attempts (68.4%)
• 4,804 passing yards, 23 touchdowns, 14 interceptions
• 94.0 passer efficiency rating, 282.6 yards per game, 217 first downs

Granted, his inflated passing yards were due to a lot more passes than normal.  However, he remained consistent in terms of completing passes as he still completed a very high percentage even with this extremely high workload.  In terms of where he stacked up among other QBs, he finished in the following spots:

• #5 in passing yards
• #13 in touchdowns
• #6 in interceptions (most thrown, not least thrown)
• #7 in first downs
• #5 in completion %
• #14 in QBR and PER

Overall, he did exceptionally well passing at this rate considering how horrendous the Las Vegas Raiders offensive line was last season.  The Raiders OL got Carr sacked 40 times on the season, less than only Joe Burrow, Ryan Tannehill, Zach Wilson, and Baker Mayfield, precisely 1 of whom had a great season. 

Now it comes down to whether or not Carr is over or under-rated.  I believe, as of right now, he is underrated by a slight bit, not by a huge amount, however.  His talent is definitely within the top 15 quarterbacks in the league, and he is definitely going to improve this year with the addition of Davante Adams to the team.  Overall, I would say he is generally properly rated by the NFL fandom but underrated in most other cases. 

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By: Jeremy Trottier

With the NFL offseason primarily wrapped up, we see some of the veterans of the world being traded and some remaining the same.  Matthew Stafford was traded to the Los Angeles Rams this offseason, which should definitely do him well as a player.  While Matt Ryan has remained in Atlanta with Julio Jones potentially on the move in the near future.

However, in this article I will be dictating which of the two quarterbacks is more overrated currently, as well as why.  Granted, this is not a dig at either QB, as they are both phenomenal talents, its more about who gets more hype for doing less.

2020 Performances

One of the easiest ways to determine this is how each quarterback performed in their respective teams.  They had relatively similar weapons in terms of value, between Julio Jones, Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones jr., Calvin Ridley, TJ Hockenson, and Hayden Hurst.  While they are different in terms of where the value lies, they are about the same in terms of receiving cores so the numbers should show dividends.

Here are each of their statlines from 2020:

• Matt Ryan: 16/16 games started, 4-12 record, 407 completions on 626 attempts (65%), 4,581 yards, 26 touchdowns to 11 interceptions, and a 67.0 QBR
• Matthew Stafford: 16/16 games started, 5-11 record, 339 completions on 528 attempts (64.2%), 4,084 yards, 26 touchdowns to 10 interceptions, and a 68.4 QBR

These stats show Matt Ryan threw more often and completed slightly more effectively, but Stafford threw more proportional touchdowns (more on less attempts) as well as one less interception and a better QBR. Overall, their stats do not really change a ton, as they are so vaguely similar in different ways that neither are really “overrated” solely based on this.

Supporting Cast

As I brought up earlier, the supporting cast plays a huge role in how a QB plays and their stats.  As if one QB has significantly better players around them, they will perform much better, as one would expect.  With that said, here are each of their supporting casts and info regarding each:

Matt Ryan:

Receiving threats: Julio Jones, Calvin Ridley, Hayden Hurst, Olimade Zaccheaus, Russell Gage

O-line: According to PFF (21^st) According to sacks (28^th)

Defense: 19^th overall

Matthew Stafford:

Receiving threats: Kenny Golladay, Marvin Jones Jr., T.J. Hockenson, Danny Ammendola

O-line: According to PFF (13^th) According to sacks (27^th)

Defense: 32^nd overall (worst in the league)

One of the main points of emphasis here is defense, as it allows the offense back on the field with every turnover it forces and however well it performs.  Matt Ryan was working with a middle of the pack defense statistically, while Stafford worked with the worst in the league.  The offensive lines are favoring the Lions, however according to sack numbers are pretty much the same.  Stafford also had a slightly worse receiving corps, in terms of depth, and with WR1 Kenny Golladay injured all but five games this is taken away.

Conclusion

This ended up being significantly closer than I thought it would be.  Matt Ryan has the better overall stats due to passing more often than Stafford, however also passed more efficiently.  With that said, Stafford had overall the worse supporting cast around him.  This comes down to which factors a bigger role into overratedness.  

With everything taken into account, Matt Ryan has to be considered the slightly more overrated player here.  Mainly because Stafford was working with absolutely nothing on defense, and about the same in terms of weapons and line.  However, if Stafford were to perform statistically worse than Ryan this year with the Rams, this is a completely different conversation entirely.

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