John Clayton of ESPN.com released his final QB rankings yesterday and Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback came in at No. 4 on Clayton’s list, behind Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.
“Roethlisberger grew up as a person after starting the season with a four-game suspension and remained every bit as good as a quarterback. The only knock is his tendency to have low-scoring games against top defenses, ” Clayton said on Roethlisberger.
Seeing Roethlisberger at No. 4 on Clayton’s list is somewhat of a surprise as Roethlisberger’s often overlooked by the so-called NFL experts and even has been for years by Clayton who even as late as the 2008 season was on radio in Pittsburgh still calling Carson Palmer a better quarterback than Roethlisberger.
Roethlisberger is often overlooked because the focus is always on meaningless volume statistics but a key career statistic shows that Roethlisberger is one of the most prolific passers in NFL history and holds a significant edge on Manning and even Brady in this category.

“Ben Roethlisberger’s name never comes up when it comes time to name the elite quarterbacks.
It should.
The truth is Big Ben is one of the most prolific passers in the history of football. The problem is many fans and pigskin pundits are obsessed with meaningless volume numbers and not the meaningful efficiency numbers — such as average per attempt — that have a high correlation to success.
Roethlisberger’s career average of 8.04 yards per attempt is the fifth highest mark in the history of football. Three of the guys ahead of him are in the Hall of Fame (Graham, Luckman, Van Brocklin).
He’s topped 8.0 YPA in a season four times in seven years. Peyton Manning’s done it twice in 13 seasons. Tom Brady? Just once.
The Steelers instantly became contenders the day Big Ben walked on the field. And they are a threat to win it all again. Roethlisberger’s historic ability to puncture defenses with long passing plays is the biggest reason.” –coldhardfootballfacts.com