Well, Terry Bradshaw had plenty to say Thursday.
Speaking on 93.7 The Fan's Cook & Joe Show, Bradshaw opened up on a variety of topics, including his perceived disdain for Pittsburgh and for the Steelers organization, the debate between himself and Ben Roethlisberger and whether Tom Brady really is the greatest quarterback of all time.
It began with a favorite discussion among Steelers fans and among football junkies in general: Bradshaw vs. Roethlisberger. Bradshaw has more Super Bowls with four and the nostalgia of those legendary '70s teams attached. Roethlisberger has the sheer numbers and two Super Bowls of his own.
To Bradshaw, the numbers win out in the conversation.
“I would give it to Ben,” Bradshaw said. “His numbers far exceed mine. I may have more Super Bowls, but he is a much better quarterback. I wasn’t bad in my era but he is a big, strong, accurate [quarterback and] puts up monstrous numbers and he's won two Super Bowls. I pass that baton on to him gladly. I absolutely have no problem with that. He deserves it.”
Last July, I dug into the debate myself, adjusting for the inflation of the modern passing game and trying to account for every possible influence on the numbers. My conclusion? Bradshaw edged Roethlisberger — but just barely. I gotta say, however, Bradshaw's opinion means something, and his humility makes me reconsider.
And Bradshaw's quarterback takes didn't end there Thursday. He was also asked where Brady ranks among all-time greats, and while Bradshaw readily admitted Brady was in the discussion, he refused to name him the best to ever do it.
"First of all, I don't think he's the greatest quarterback of all time. It's hard to say ... He may be the greatest quarterback we've had in the last 30 years. Is he better than [Roger Staubach]? No. Is he better than Dan Fouts? No. Dan Marino? No.
"I'm talking talent-wise when you put all of this together. Does he have more Super Bowls than anybody? Yes, therefore he's 'the best,' and I absolutely have no problem saying if you've got the most Super Bowls — and he's done it — you can be in there. But I don't put anybody as the greatest of all time. I don't do that."
As the conversation continued, it became clear Bradshaw was not a fan of Brady's move from the Patriots to the Buccaneers. It wasn't necessarily the move itself but simply the drama of it all, the back-and-forth between Brady and Bill Belichick and the reality-TV narrative that took shape before Brady finally made the move.
After calling it a "soap opera," Bradshaw opened up.
"You gotta be kidding me," he said. "I never wanted to leave Pittsburgh! No matter what my relationship with [Chuck Noll was] which was a good working relationship. It was not always pleasant. I damn sure didn't always like him. But I respected him, and I knew if I listened to him and learned from him and followed his direction that we would win. That's all I cared about, was winning.
"So now he's going to Tampa Bay and he's going to prove to us that he's whatever he is ... It's like golly. Geez Louise. Get this over with."
Finally, Bradshaw was probed about his sour feelings toward the city of Pittsburgh. After leaving the Steelers and retiring from football on less-than-ideal terms, many felt Bradshaw was harboring hatred toward the Steel City.
Bradshaw says it's all overblown.
"Listen, I never had a problem with Pittsburgh," he said. "Everybody else thought I had a problem. I never had a problem. I just wasn't in love with Pittsburgh. I am a Southern boy. I was always going to leave."
Then, Bradshaw dug into the heart of his issue with Noll, comparing it to that recent Brady/Belichick "soap opera."
"I had problems with Chuck Noll, but not that I couldn't work with him and not that — when I left, maybe I was a little like, maybe Tom Brady wanted Bill Belichick to say, 'Oh my god. How am I going to live without him? He's the best that I've ever seen and on and on and kiss up.' Maybe he stays then," Bradshaw said. "I don't know. But I shook Chuck's hand. The day I left Pittsburgh, he came in and he shook my hand and I said, 'Coach, I can't play anymore. I'm sorry.' He said, 'I wish you the very best.' And we shook hands, and that's it.
"Maybe I wanted him to be kissy-up to me and stroke my ego. I'm sure I did. I'm sure I did."
After Noll, the secondary issue for Bradshaw was this:
"I didn't like my image in Pittsburgh, being dumb," he said. "It p----d me off. I had to live with it, but I damn sure wasn't happy about it ... I was a serious football player. Very serious. So I didn't like that. And the people that started that were in Pittsburgh. I know exactly who he is. I never mentioned his name, and I'm never going to mention his name. It doesn't do anybody any good to do that."
As a final point, the hosts probed Bradshaw on his refusal to attend the funerals of Art Rooney, Sr., Dan Rooney, or Noll himself. Once again, Bradshaw says it's not the deal people want to make it.
"Well, if I'm worried about what people are going to measure me by because I don't go to someone's funeral, I wish I would've gone to the funeral," Bradshaw said. "I just don't go to funerals. Period. I went to Joe Greene's wife's funeral. He's a teammate. And that's it. I just believe that I handled it the way I wanted to handle it, and you may not like it or appreciate it. And I'm sure someone that's got a lot more class than I have would've been there, but ... you know what? I've talked to a lot of people about not going to those funerals, but that doesn't mean that I didn't love and care for Mr. Rooney.
"Dan Rooney I didn't know that well. I wasn't close to Dan Rooney, and I worked for Chuck for all those years, but I wasn't close to Chuck. And having been gone from the city and the organization for so many years, I don't know why people are so hard on me. Maybe they need to look at themselves and stop worrying about judging me. I'm a good guy."
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