Quote:
Originally Posted by chiefzilla1501
I agree on the clutch component. But his entire career he's been blessed with one of the best defenses in the NFL.
Quite simply, Big Ben is clutch because his defense puts him in opportunities to win when it matters most. They do so by protecting leads, covering up when Ben makes a mistake late in the game, and by making stops when they matter most (most of the time). Big Ben can win lots of games despite a 17-point performance. Brees or Thigpen score 17 points and they are clobbered. I just have to question if Big Ben could possibly play on a team that features a defense as poor as New Orleans. While playing for Pittsburgh demands that you be clutch in the 4th quarter, playing in New Orleans demands that you be perfect and flawless for the first 3 or else the game falls out of reach in a hurry.
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That's the 'aikman doesn't belong in the hall of fame' argument. Problem is, you can say the same thing for every championship-winning QB in history. They've all had the benefit of great teams around them. Because that's exactly what it takes to win.
And Thigpen doesn't really even belong in this discussion. I'm not the world's biggest Brees fan, but he's a whole echelon above Thigpen. Maybe he'll develop into somebody that we can talk about in that context in four or five years, but his name shouldn't even be mentioned with the others at this point.