You've probably heard how stupid Bradshaw was, how he couldn't spell cat if you spotted him the c and the t.

I was reading about Bradshaw and how glad he was to be out of football. His own coach wouldn't defend him and it got under his skin. When he left, he didn't even look back. Ironically, he became a pretty good football announcer though, despite hating actually playing the game.

There's so much discussion of Joe Montana and how he was the greatest QB ever. I'm not disputing this. Montana played in 4 SBs and was perfect. Flawless. 10 TDs, 0 INTs. No matter how bad things got, Montana played it cool and ended up leading his team to victory.

Well, what about the other guy who has a 4-0 record in SBs? There's this Terry Bradshaw guy.

No, he's not stupid. That was slander against him because opposing teams knew he was an overly sensitive man and they could get under his skin. So they kept attacking his intelligence.

Whereas, Bradshaw called his own plays. He made his own changes. He's definitely no dummy. And his SB performances were quite good.

Did you know, all four SB games he played in, he had over a 100 rating? His 9 TD/4 INT ratio doesn't look as good as Montana's but this was before the West Coast Offense and Bradshaw was throwing the ball considerably farther. In two of the games, his average completion was well over 20 yards a catch.

Now, compare him with another great QB - John Elway. A lot of folks today rate Elway considerably higher than Bradshaw. I've always wondered why. Elway in the Super Bowl was awful, just awful. In 5 SBs, he only threw 3 TDs, but he was picked off 8 times. His second SB performance got him a 36.8 rating and the 3rd SB performance got him a 19.4 rating.

Even his first win, he was pretty bad. Brett Favre outplayed him by a considerable margin but he was bailed out by one of the most dominating RB performances in SB history. Of his 5 SBs, only one of them was a solid game and that was his fifth and final trip.

During the regular season, I remember announcers practically drooling about Elway's scrambing abilities. Yet Bradshaw had better years in his early years scrambling for more total yards and more TDs in his early years before injuries took their toll on his body. Elway ended his career with 33 TDs, Bradshaw 32. Yet no mention of Bradshaw's scrambling ability.

I'm not knocking Elway, but rather making a comparison. I've yet to see on anyone's best QB ever list Bradshaw ahead of Montana or Elway except for a few Steelers fans which for obvious reasons, I'm going to discount.

Why the lack of respect for Bradshaw?

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It boils down to his defense and the mediocre stats he put up throughout his career.

When you're a part of a team that has one of the most dominant defenses ever, conventional wisdom has it that they were carrying the team.

Then, when you check out the QB's stats and those are pretty mediocre in nearly every year, one might come to the conclusion that Terry was riding the coattail of an amazing defense and Franco Harris.

I also think once you get a label attached to you, it sticks with you forever, and there is nothing you can do to get rid of it. In Bradshaw's case he was labeled an idiot, and despite the fact that he clearly isn't, a lot of people still think of him that way.

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As bad as his stats were, different eras. The WCO + rule changes both drastically pushed average QB ratings up. Like there's no way you can convince me that Brad Johnson was a better QB than someone like Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath, or YA Title.

Look at Namath's stats for example. Worse than Bradshaw when it comes to rating, but he was a perennial Pro Bowler.

The reason I use rating for Bradshaw when it comes to SBs is just how good he was in the big game. He threw the deep ball to Swann and Stallworth a lot. In 4 SB games, you had 45, 53 and 64 yard passes to Swann, and 47, 75 and 73 yard passes to Stallworth. Who else completes the deep ball in SBs any more (besides Favre)? Bradshaw did.

I know certain people don't like scramblers but I always hated pocket passers, so preferred guys like Bradshaw and Elway to Brady and P Manning. Bradshaw in his early years was a heck of a scrambler before his body got too banged up.

So different eras were a big part of statistics.

I do understand the argument about the Super D that he played with. But let's not forget that Bradshaw's O's were pretty dang good - 1, 5, 5, 6. So not all the credit goes to the D.

And Harris wasn't a dominant RB. He was consistently good. Wallie and OJ were the dominant RBs of those days (and later Earl Campbell).

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And Namath is another overrated guy. His flamboyant lifestyle and "the promise" got him into the HoF. And even in that SoB, it was the defense that did the job. The Colts scored a whopping 7 points on them, while the defense picked off the Colts 4 times.

When you put Terry's numbers up against guys from an earlier era without Namath, they're pretty much worse. They come close to Sammy Baugh, who played in the 30s, 40s and early 50s. Or Norm van Brocklin, who played from '49 till '60. He gets put to shame by guys like Bart Starr, Fran Tarkenton, Sonny Jurgensen and Roger Staubach, all of who played years before he did or just overlapped his playing time.

That he had to throw to Swann and Stallworth doesn't make that any better. Not even in that kind of offense. That exact same kind offense did wonders for Plunkett's career in Oakland.

My dad would love you for that write up. He grew up in Pittsburgh as a Steelers fan during the late 60's through 80's. He's the reason why I'm a Steelers fan as well. I heard so many stories and seen so much video, I couldn't not like them.

The knock on Bradshaw I believe is Stallworth and Swann and Franco Harris ... all considered great ... and then you combine that with the vaunted Steel Curtain defense that I think had darn near the whole defensive starters in the Pro Bowl one year. With all that greatness around him, his play I feel was over looked. If I remember correctly, he had one helluva arm.

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I like Bradshaw!
And like was said, he was called stupid. But listening to the guy talk, i never got the impression that he was dumb. Quite the opposite. Plus, i LOVE his sense of humor. He never seemed to take himself too seriously.
Yes, he had great players around him, but still HE had to perform well in order to produce wins. His coach hated him, and that is sad. He SHOULD have been able to enjoy what he AND his team accomplished.
He never seemed to be conceited, like alot of pros are today.

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Over shadowed by the Steel Curtain D.

He had a big arm and was blessed with some very good, athletic receivers who made him better than he probably was. Throw in another dimension of a solid running game, and a person would not be wrong calling him overrated. He still has 4 big diamond rings though, I wonder if Danny boy Marino would give he some of the gawdy stats to trade for one.

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