Playoffs? We're talking about the playoffs?

Most of the statistics for the following blog were taken from Wikipedia. The blogger is responsible for one change.

Updated to improve accuracy.

          Peyton Manning is a superb quarterback. From everything you see and read about him the guy is a terrific human being, too, but the discussion here is about football.

          Manning has won multiple Most Valuable Player awards. His attention to detail is legendary and that makes his physical talents all the more potent. He is probably the quarterback opposing coaches least want to play.

          And yet…

          Manning has a losing record as a starting quarterback in the playoffs. He is a Super Bowl champion, but he has also lost the big game. His career record in the post season is nine wins, 11 losses, a 45 percent success ratio.

          Peyton Manning is a sure-fire Hall of Famer, a first-ballot cinch. But if he does not win the Super Bowl this season, he will still have a losing record as a playoff quarterback. Hard to believe? Sure, but nobody said things are easy in the National Football League.

          The winningest playoff passer, as of now, is Tom Brady of the Patriots. Brady’s 17-7 record includes three Super Bowl wins and two losses. His winning percentage in the playoffs is 70.8.

          Of the quarterbacks with at least five playoff starts, Bart Starr has the best record, 6-1, which is 85.7 percent. Six of Starr’s playoff games were NFL title games. The other was a special playoff against the Colts in 1965 when the teams had to have a play-in game to break a regular-season tie and determine which team went to the championship game. The Packers beat the Colts on a foggy day. Starr started the game for Green Bay but was injured during the contest and did not finish.

          John Unitas, Colts passer who did not play for Baltimore when they lost to the Packers in that special playoff game (he was injured), finished his career with a 6-2 playoff record. Three of those wins were in title games.

          The most active playoff quarterback has been Brett Farve. Farve’s 24 starts resulted in a 13-11 record and one Super Bowl win (plus a Super Bowl loss).

          Tobin Rote has an interesting place in playoff history. Rote won a title as the starting quarterback with the Detroit Lions in 1957, then won another title with the Chargers in the AFL in 1963. Few quarterbacks have won titles in two leagues. Otto Graham did it. Norm Van Brocklin won the title with two NFL teams.

          Kurt Warner tried to win titles with two different teams, splitting two Super Bowls with the Rams and then narrowly losing the title game with the Cardinals. Warner’s post season record is 9-4, a 69.4 percent success rate.

          Do you know what Joe Namath’s all-time career post season record is? If you are old enough to have seen Joe Willie Whiteshoes, Hall of Famer and all-time passing gunslinger, play the game, then you know how great he really was. His Jets beat the Colts in Super Bowl III, one of the biggest upsets in football history.

          Namath was 2-1 in the playoffs. He and the Jets beat the Raiders in the 1968 AFL title game and then beat the Colts in the Super Bowl. A year later, Namath and the Jets lost the AFL title game to Kansas City and Namath never reached the playoffs again.

          There was no playoff system as we have it now when Namath and Starr played in the 1960s. You had to win your conference title in the regular season in order to get to the championship game. When the AFL and NFL merged in the 1960s and the Super Bowl was invented, that added one playoff game and the most a team could in a season was two.

          Don Meredith’s record as a starting quarterback in the playoffs in the 1960s was 1-3, all with the Dallas Cowboys. Tony Romo, another Cowboys passer, is also 1-3. Of the two, I’d prefer to have Meredith on my team.

          Tim Tebow is 1-1 in the playoffs. So are Jay Cutler, Alex Smith, Russell Wilson and Matt Schaub.

Your loyal blogger notes that it is impossible to lose a playoff game without first reaching the playoffs. The statistics above are not meant as a negative judgment of any quarterback. Still, the stats are interesting.

Y.A. Title, a great player in the 1950s and 1960s, played in the championship game-only playoff era and he went 0-4 as a starting quarterback in the post season.

If it was easy, it wouldn’t be the playoffs.

The top five quarterbacks, from Wikipedia’s list, are below. Thanks for reading.

Tom Brady, 17-7 (70.8 %), 3 championships.

Joe Montana, 16-7 (69.56 %), 4 championships.

Terry Bradshaw, 14-5 (73.68 %), 4 championships.

John Elway, 14-7 (66.66 %), 2 championships.

 

Brett Farve, 13-11 (54.16 %), 1 championship.