Ben Roethlisberger says Tom Brady is the greatest Quarterback in the league

AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar

Thanks Big Ben.

The Steelers come to Foxborough this Sunday to take on Tom Brady and the New England Patriots. Normally two teams in Super Bowl contention, both have been having their fair share of issues.

Big Ben's Steelers are only 2-6 and are coming off to a loss to the Oakland Raiders. Meanwhile, the Patriots are sitting pretty at 6-2 but have been winning in ugly fashion, and haven't exactly gotten much inspiring play from their quarterback, Tom Brady.

Still, the man has the respect of Big Ben Roethlisberger, who told 93.7 The Fan in Pittsburgh that Brady was the best quarterback in the league.

ProFootballTalk:

“I speak off championships,” Roethlisberger said. “That’s no disrespect to some of these other guys that are doing some amazing things in the NFL right now. But to me, it’s about wins and championships, and he’s got more championships than anybody. So to me, he’s the best quarterback in the league, and he’s done it for a long time. . . . The number one factor is championships.”

While, as PFT points out, that would put Peyton Manning on the same plane as Trent Dilfer and Joe Flacco, I can still see his point. For whatever reason, we judge individual players by how many rings they have.

Certainly, Brady is deserving of the praise and we Patriots fans will take it from Ben. Brady not only has the rings, but he was Super Bowl MVP in two of the three they've won and has engineered clutch comebacks in 3 out of the five Super Bowls the team has been to. The Brady-Manning debate will probably never end. The two are virtually on par when it comes to regular season success, though Manning obviously has the edge. However, Brady has that post-season success that hold such a heavy weight.

Either way, Tom Brady has not been playing like the greatest quarterback in the league this season, and he'll have to turn it around at home against a team he's historically had some success against and beaten on his way to some of those Super Bowl wins.