In light of Larry Fitzgerald’s recent comment on Antonio Brown, “I love AB, Mr. Big Chest is a good friend of mine, but I don’t think he’s going about it the right way personally. You know, to be able to play with an all time quarterback like he’s able to play with, I don’t think he understands how good he has it. You know it can get tough out there” I was interested in looking at just how bad Fitz has had it in regards to quarterback talent throughout his career.
Career Stats
Fitzgerald
15 seasons
Receptions: 3rd – 1,303
Yards: 2nd – 16,279
Touchdowns: T-6th – 116
Brown
9 Seasons
Receptions: 28th – 837 (on pace for 1,395 over 15 years)
Yards: 34th – 11,207 (on pace for 18,678 over 15 years)
Touchdowns: 35th – 74 (on pace for 123 over 15 years)
Fitzgerald’s Quarterbacks
2004: Josh McCown (13), Shaun King (2), John Navarre (1): 58 receptions/780 yards/8 TDs (16 games)
2005: Kurt Warner (10), Josh McCown (6): 103 receptions/1,409 yards/10 TDs (16 games)
2006: Kurt Warner (11), Matt Leinart (5): 69 receptions/946 yards/6 TDs (13 games)
2007: Kurt Warner (5), Matt Leinart (11): 100 receptions/1,409 yards/10 TDs (15 games)
2008: Kurt Warner (16): Went to the Superbowl: 96 receptions/1,431 yards/12 TDs (16 games)
2009: Kurt Warner (15), Matt Leinart (1): 97 receptions/1,092 yards/13 TDs (16 games)
2010: Derek Anderson (9), John Skelton (4), Max Hall (3): 90 receptions/1,137 yards/6 TDs (16 games)
2011: Kevin Kolb (9), John Skelton (7): 80 receptions/1,411 yards/8 TDs (16 games)
2012: John Skelton (6), Kevin Kolb (5), Ryan Lindley (4), Brian Hoyer (1): 71 receptions/798 yards/4 TDs (16 games)
2013: Carson Palmer (16): 82 receptions/954 yards/10 TDs (16 games)
2014: Drew Stanton (8), Carson Palmer (6), Ryan Lindley (2): 63 receptions/784 yards/2 TDs (14 games)
2015: Carson Palmer (16): 109 receptions/1,215 yards/9 TDs (16 games)
2016: Carson Palmer (15), Drew Stanton (1): 107 receptions/1,023 yards/6 TDs (16 games)
2017: Carson Palmer (7), Drew Stanton (5),Blaine Gabbert (4): 109 receptions/1,156 yards/6 TDs (16 games)
2018: Josh Rosen (13), Sam Bradford (3): 69 receptions/734 yards/6 TDs (16 games)
Fitzgerald has had 16 different quarterbacks and will be playing for his fifth different head coach (Dennis Green, Ken Whisenhunt, Bruce Arians, Steve Wilks, and now Kliff Kingsbury) in his
Brown’s Quarterbacks
2010: Ben Roethlisberger (12), Charlie Batch (2) Dennis Dixon (2): Went to the super bowl 16 receptions/167 yards/0 TDs (9 games)
2011: Ben Roethlisberger (15), Charlie Batch (1): 69 receptions/1,108 yards/2 TDs (16 games)
2012: Ben (13), Charlie Batch (2), Byron Leftwich (1): 66 receptions/787 yards/5 TDs (13 games)
2013: Ben Roethlisberger (16): 110 receptions/1,499 yards/8 TDs (16 games)
2014: Ben Roethlisberger (16): 129 receptions/1,698 yards/13 TDs (16 games)
2015: Ben Roethlisberger(11), Michael Vick (3), Landry Jones (2): 136 receptions/1,834 yards/10 TDs (16 games)
2016: Ben Roethlisberger (14), Landry Jones (2): 106 receptions/1,284 yards/12 TDs (15 games)
2017: Ben Roethlisberger (15), Landry Jones (1): 101 receptions/1,533 yards/9 TDs (14 games)
2018: Ben Roethlisberger (16): 104 receptions/1,297 yards/15 TDs (15 games)
Antonio Brown’s stats with Big Ben are significantly better compared to when he’s played with other Steelers quarterbacks.
With Big Ben – 128 games
796 Receptions (6.2/game)
10,670 Yards (83.3/game)
74 Touchdowns (1.73/game)
With Other Quarterbacks – 16 games
41 receptions (2.56/game)
537 Yards (33.6/game)
0 Touchdowns (0/game)
Brown has caught a pass from six different quarterback in his Steelers career. While playing for Mike Tomlin the entire time. With the attention seeking but talented receiver demanding a trade, Brown is likely to be catching passes from his 7th different quarterback in 2019.
Hall of Fame
Both receivers have worked extremely hard to get to where they’re at today, putting together insane career numbers and hall of fame careers. But if Larry Fitzgerald had the luxury of playing with a consistent quarterback like Antonio Brown has been fortunate enough to with Big Ben, Larry could be #1 in all time receiving yards, catches, and touchdowns. If Antonio Brown had to play with all the different quarterbacks Fitz has, who knows where he would be now.
If Larry Fitzgerald, one of the most respected players across the NFL, disagrees publicly about how you’re going about your business, you’ve clearly been doing something wrong.
Thank you for reading and be sure to follow me on Twitter @LonskiWilliam
