"Mr. Clutch" vs. "Mr. Right Place at the right time"

The National Football League’s season finale, the Super Bowl, was less than a week ago and I still have football fever coursing through my veins. In fact, what the heck, I think it’s going through my arteries and lymphatics as well. My entire Cardiovascular system is still craving football. I realize that there is in fact “one last, final last game”, otherwise known as the Pro Bowl; but somehow this just doesn’t really satisfy the urge. Although I must admit, some of the Pro Bowl skills competitions always manage to intrigue me, but I can never figure out if they are truly entertaining or I’m just that desperate.

And so, in an effort to keep the feeling alive, I’ve decided to write “one last, final last” football article. As we have all sat through the last few weeks trying to fill the yearly void that the diminishing football schedule has left in our routines, there’s one person who must be feeling it even more than the most ardent of fans. Tom Brady. Well, to be exact, any member of the Patriots who was there for all the title runs; but I’m not writing an article about all of them (although someone should really write an article about the fact that Teddy Bruschi came back from a stroke to play this season). Where was I… oh yeah, Tom Brady really must be missing football right now.

I’m very aware that the Patriots, after their first Super Bowl win managed to miss the playoffs entirely the following season. However, in my opinion, Tom Brady barely missed football that off-season as he attempted to satisfy his urge to be in the spotlight and enjoy his fame. But Brady did learn something that off-season, something that drove him to work as hard as he could to not be left out of the playoffs the next two years: to not be left out of ANY PART of the playoffs.

I don’t buy into a lot of the hoopla that surrounds Mr. Brady. In fact, I think the Partriots run was as much due to the excellence of the entire “Brady Bunch” as it was due to Tom’s excellence at the games most pivotal position. They had a fantastic defense, a coaching STAFF that game-planned extremely well, and a Quarterback who kept you in games, and then always made the one big play you needed. That basically summed up Tom Brady during the Pats’ title runs. He made big plays. Over three Super Bowl runs (notice I won’t use the term dynasty in this article), Tom Brady was a clutch performer. In fact, he’s pretty much earned the right to occasionally borrow Jerry West’s nickname, “Mr. Clutch”.

Take a look at the newly christened champs, the Pittsburgh Steelers. All the same basic factors are there. Great defense (I realize that’s a stretch, but I use the term comparatively to their competition, not to the entire history of the NFL Bears fans)? Check. A coaching staff that game-plans extremely well? Did you watch the playoffs? They flustered the best QB in the NFL , Peyton Manning (it’s not even close, by the way). They made the Denver Broncos look like a very average team. Wait a second, the Broncos WERE a very average team that just took care of business. And in the Super Bowl they tricked the Seahawks into putting the game in Hasselbeck’s hands. I’m no huge Shaun Alexander fan, but he was their bread and butter the whole season, and then suddenly they want to put the entire load on the shoulders and balding head of Matt Hasselbeck? Who do you think the Steelers were more afraid of, Hasselbeck or Shaun Alexander? And no, Jeremy Stevens is not an appropriate answer here. All that to say, you can put a check next to the "game-plans well" section of the Steelers report card...

This leaves us with the one remaining comparative factor between the Patriots and the Steelers; Having a quarterback who keeps you in the game and then always makes the big play when you need it. Hmm… Ben Roethlisberger clutch? Not so much… Who would you take if you had one drive to win the Super Bowl? I’d take Adam Viniaterri, but if I had to choose between these two, I’d go Brady every time.

Don’t take this the wrong way, I like Big Ben. And by Big Ben I mean Big Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons. I love his game, and I love his ‘fro. But I like Roethlisberger too. He’s done an admirable job of leading a veteran team as a young QB. And he meets the first part of the criteria; he keeps his team in the game. USUALLY. Throughout the playoffs he actually did a great job of giving his team an early lead and then not giving the ball back to the opposing team. But come time for the big game, Roethlisberger tried to give the game away, just as he did a year ago against both the Jets and the Patriots games. He made bad throw after bad throw. In fact, he only made one really GOOD play the entire game. He made a great play when he acted as if he were going to run, and then stopped just short of the line of scrimmage to throw a huge completion to MVP Hines Ward. But even on that play he made a throw that very well could have been picked off.

Am I insinuating that Ben Roethlisberger is a choke artist? Not really, but can any one out there make a case that he’s a clutch performer? He’s the youngest Quarterback to ever win a Super Bowl, but how much of that had to do with him, instead of with the rest of his team? I mean, Antwan Randel El made the best throw of the Super Bowl, and he hasn’t played QB since his days at Indiana. In a game where someone usually has to play out of their mind to take the MVP award away from the winning QB, Ben’s level of performance made the common thought process go something like this: “Well, Bettis would be the sentimental favorite, but he didn’t do anything. Hines Ward had good yardage and a TD. Well, we CAN’T give it to Roethlisberger… Okay, let’s go Hines Ward, nice guy, hard worker, team player…”

Would the Steelers have won with Tom Brady behind center? You betcha. Would the Patriots have won three Super Bowls in four years with Ben Roethlisberger as their QB? I’m not sure they would have won any… The difference is simple this. With Tom Brady, all you have to do is keep the game close enough that the game is left in his hands come crunch time. With Ben Roethlisberger, you play to keep the fate of the game OUT of his hands.