No. 3: Steelers QB Ben Roethlisberger

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ESPN.com IllustrationHall of Famer John Randle would still love to sack Ben Roethlisberger. MATCHUP GALLERY

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WARREN MOON: If Ben Roethlisberger had to play in the era when they went both ways, he could do it. He is a big, classic style of football player. I like his toughness. He is one of the toughest quarterbacks in the league. Maybe not the most talented, but the toughest of all of them.

JOHN RANDLE: Big Ben plays the game the way I was taught to play it. He reminds me of the old Steelers -- that Bradshaw, Lambert, Ham kind of player. If he gets hurt, he leaves, and comes right back. He's the type of guy I'd want as a QB. He's like something from a movie, or like those Bugs Bunny and Road Runner cartoons: He gets smashed and bam -- he comes right back.

JAMES LOFTON: Ben Roethlisberger is playing a position where he's not supposed to get hit, but he gets hit and he always gets up and keeps playing. I've done a couple of his games and seen him in the pregame and said, "He's not going to make it through the game." But he plays, and he's still defenseless on the field because he can't really get away from defenders, but he still hangs in there and does his job and does it really well.

FLOYD LITTLE: He performs in spite of the hurts and pains and always wants to be in the huddle regardless of his pain. That's the type of players we were -- we lined up whenever the opportunity presented itself, and he really could play in our era. He goes into the locker room, gets taped up, comes back and gets the team a win.

DWIGHT STEPHENSON: Love him or hate him, Big Ben is one of the toughest, gutsiest players in all of the NFL. Last year he breaks his nose and it is sitting under his left eye socket. The trainer bends it back straight, throws some tape on it, he plays a couple of plays with a mask on, doesn't like the mask, rips it off and goes back in and plays.

Roethlisberger knows what it means to play with pain after breaking his thumb, tearing cartilage in his knee, separating his shoulder and fracturing a bone in his foot. But his toughest moment came when Ravens defensive tackle Haloti Ngata broke his nose on Dec. 5, 2010. He stayed in the game and threw the winning touchdown pass to Isaac Redman in a 13-10 Steelers win.

It was my toughest injury because it happened so early in the game and it affects your breathing. So, every breath, every time you run, every time you do something, not only is the pain there but you feel the blood draining in your throat. You feel the blood coming out. There's no air going through there. That one sticks out as much as any of them.

I knew that it hurt a lot and when the blood starting running down my face right away, I kind of assumed [it was broken], but I didn't know how bad it was until later.

I broke my foot and you deal with that. I broke my thumb. But because you have to breathe and there's constantly blood coming down your throat and down your face ... it's like a really, really bad runny nose.

His mobility outside the pocket has allowed him to keep plays alive, and his ability to make fourth-quarter drives ranks among the all-time greats. Big Ben reminds me of Roman Gabriel, the old Rams quarterback. Big, strong, fairly mobile.

HALL OF FAME CHANCES: Another Super Bowl ring or two could make him a Hall of Famer.

John Clayton, a recipient of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's McCann Award for distinguished reporting, is a senior writer for ESPN.com. Follow Clayton on Twitter @ClaytonESPN

"Today, when you think about Ben Roethlisberger and me, you think about old-school mentalities, no matter what it is." -- Ray Lewis

— BigBen7.com (@_bigben7) January 27, 2012

ESPN AnyEra team has Big Ben Roethlisberger coming in at #3! And Troy Polamalu at #2! What great respect 20 HOFers have for these two!

— Raymond Dolish (@The_Zer) January 27, 2012

#NFLAnyEra@_bigben7 comes in at #3!! Toughest QB around!! Big Ben can win Superbowls in any era he would play in!! Much luv to # 7!!

— Michelle DeGore (@DeMich717) January 27, 2012

#NFLAnyEra big ben makes sense since big armed, big body qbs with bens accuracy would have been perfect for any era pre80s @espn

— Thomas Wolfe (@guballboy) January 27, 2012

#NFLANYERA TOP 20

Honorable mention and No. 20 | 19 | 18 | 17 | 16 | 15 | 14 | 13 | 12 | 11 | 10 | 9 | 8
7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | MORE: Twitter | Facebook | NFL Blog Network Additional reporting by ESPN The Magazine's Morty Ain, Louise Cornetta, Amy Parlapiano and Alyssa Roenigk.

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