99 Stats Until Kickoff: (#28) Joe Flacco’s 2012 playoffs were ‘Montana-esque’
From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We have seen on several occasions where a quarterback with a “hot” hand can lead his team through the playoffs to a Super Bowl victory. That was certainly the case with Baltimore Ravens’ signal-caller Joe Flacco, who won the Super Bowl XLVII MVP with three touchdowns on 22-for-33 passing.
There might be a few people out there that would disagree with Flacco’s MVP honor, instead looking at Jacoby Jones’ 56-yard TD reception and 108-yard kickoff return as MVP-worthy. I don’t think you would have gotten much push-back had Jones won the MVP.
But one thing is for sure: Flacco was the MVP of the 2012 NFL playoffs… no doubt. He had 11 touchdowns and no interceptions, leading the Ravens to four wins. Flacco also broke a playoff record held by Drew Brees for most pass attempts in the playoffs without an interception with 126. Brees in 2009 led the Saints to an NFL title with a post-season performance that included no interceptions on 102 pass attempts.
Following are the nine QBs who finished a playoff season with no interceptions on 70 or more pass attempts.
Quarterback, team, season, playoff pass attempts with 0 interceptions
Joe Flacco, Baltimore, 2012: 126 pass attempts
Drew Brees, New Orleans, 2009: 102 pass attempts
Troy Aikman, Dallas, 1992: 89 pass attempts
Steve Young, San Francisco, 1994: 87 pass attempts
Daryle Lamonica, Oakland, 1968: 86 pass attempts
Joe Montana, San Francisco, 1989: 83 pass attempts
Tom Brady, New England, 2004: 81 pass attempts
Neil O’Donnell, Pittsburgh, 1994: 77 pass attempts
Jeff Hostetler, New York Giants, 1990: 76 pass attempts
Three other notes:
* Twenty quarterbacks went through a playoff season with no interceptions on 50 or more passes.
* Prior to Flacco’s 2012 playoff performance, Joe Montana had the most TDs, 11, without an interception in a playoff season. He did it in 1989. Flacco is now tied with Montana with the 11 TDs. Steve Young had nine TDs with no interceptions in 1994. Three players are tied with eight TDs: Troy Aikman (1992), Drew Brees (2009) and Phil Simms (1986).
* Of the 20 QBs with no interceptions on 50 or more pass attempts in a playoff season, 12 won the Super Bowl that year.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
99 Stats Until Kickoff: (#25) QB success a key to NFL playoff victories
From May 30 and every day until September 5… the start of the 2013 NFL season… Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ will publish “99 Stats Until Kickoff” a daily dose of NFL stats that will get you ready for the 2013 NFL season.)
Joe Flacco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
You don’t have to be a football expert to know that having a quarterback at the top of his game can go a long ways to leading a team to a successful season. In fact, many teams in the past have seen their QB single-handedly lead their team to success in a season.
Case in point: One of the indicators of QB success has been the Passer Rating. The value of this formula has been enthusiastically debated, but for the sake of this blog, let’s assume that Passer Rating is a valuable tool to evaluating NFL quarterbacks. Since 1966, the start of the Super Bowl era, there has been 226 quarterbacks who have had a Passer Rating of 100.0 or higher in a playoff game. Of those 226 games, the QB’s team has won 197 of those games, a winning percentage of .872. You can certainly make the point that a good QB performance (100.0 or better) in a playoff game will lead to victory and advancement in the post-season.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers on January 5, 2013 in a Wild Card round game versus Minnesota, became the 15th QB since 1966 to have five or more playoff games with a 100.0 or higher Passer Rating. Rodgers’ Passer Rating was 104.9 in the Pack’s win over the Vikings.
Baltimore’s Joe Flacco became the 16th QB to have five or more playoff games with a 100.0 or higher Passer Rating when he turned the trick in all four of his playoff games this past season. Flacco’s Passer Rating in the four playoff games last season was: 125.6 against Indianapolis, 116.2 against Denver, 106.2 against New England, and 124.2 against San Francisco in the Super Bowl.
Here’s a look at the 16 QB’s since 1966 that have had five or more playoff games with a Passer Rating of 100 or higher.
Playoff games with 100-plus Passer Rating (since 1966), QBs
12: Joe Montana
10: Brett Favre
9: Troy Aikman
8: Tom Brady
7: Terry Bradshaw
6: Roger Staubach
5: Drew Brees, Jake Delhomme, John Elway, Joe Flacco, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Aaron Rodgers, Ken Stabler, Steve Young
Here’s a few more stats regarding Passer Rating in the playoffs:
* Since 2000, there have been 84 playoff games where a QB had a Passer Rating of 100.0 or higher. Those teams have won 70 of the 84 games, a winning percentage of .833.
* Only two quarterbacks since 1966 have had a Passer Rating of 100 or higher and lost two playoff games: Joe Montana and Warren Moon.
Let’s look at the other end of the scale… QBs that had terrible games, a Passer Rating under 50 in a playoff game. Since 1966, there have been 192 playoff games where the QB had a Passer Rating under 50 in that game. Those teams have won only 24 of the 192 games, a winning percentage of only .125.
The last quarterback to win a playoff game with a Passer Rating under 50 was Ben Roethlisberger. On January 23, 2011 in the Steelers 24-19 win over the New York Jets, Roethlisberger had a Passer Rating of 35.5.
Five quarterbacks have had four or more playoff games with a Passer Rating under 50. Craig Morton tops the list with five such games. Mark Brunell, Pat Haden, Ron Jaworski and Jim Kelly each had four.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
QB success a key to NFL playoff victories
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a sports statistics blog published with a focus on stats that go beyond the numbers.
Joe Montana (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
You don’t have to be a football expert to know that having a quarterback at the top of his game can go a long ways to leading a team to a successful season. In fact, many teams in the past have seen their QB single-handedly lead their team to a title.
Case in point: One of the indicators of QB success has been the Passer Rating. The value of this formula has been enthusiastically debated, but for the sake of this blog, let’s assume that Passer Rating is a valuable tool to evaluating NFL quarterbacks. Since 1966, the start of the Super Bowl era, there have been 219 quarterbacks who have had a Passer Rating of 100.0 or higher in a playoff game. Of those 219 games, the QB’s team has won 192 of those games, a winning percentage of .877. You can certainly make the point that a good QB performance (100.0 or better) in a playoff game will lead to victory and advancement in the post-season.
Green Bay’s Aaron Rodgers last weekend became the 15th QB since 1966 to have five or more playoff games with a 100.0 or higher Passer Rating. Rodgers’ Passer Rating was 104.9 in the Pack’s win over the Minnesota Vikings. Baltimore’s Joe Flacco was the only other QB last weekend to have a 100-plus Passer Rating as he had a 125.6 Passer Rating in their win over the Colts.
Here’s a look at the 15 QB’s since 1966 that have had five or more playoff games with a Passer Rating of 100 or higher.
Playoff games with 100-plus Passer Rating (since 1966), QBs
12: Joe Montana
10: Brett Favre
9: Troy Aikman
7: Tom Brady, Terry Bradshaw
6: Roger Staubach
5: Drew Brees, Jake Delhomme, John Elway, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Dan Marino, Aaron Rodgers, Ken Stabler, Steve Young
Here’s a few more stats regarding Passer Rating in the playoffs:
* Since 2000, there have been 77 playoff games where a QB had a Passer Rating of 100.0 or higher. Those teams have won 65 of the 77 games, a winning percentage of .844.
* Only two quarterbacks since 1966 have had a Passer Rating of 100 or higher and lost two playoff games: Joe Montana and Warren Moon.
Let’s look at the other end of the scale… QBs who had terrible games, a Passer Rating under 50 in a playoff game. Since 1966, there have been 190 playoff games where the QB had a Passer Rating under 50 in that game. Those teams have won only 24 of the 190 games, a winning percentage of only .126.
The last quarterback to win a playoff game with a Passer Rating under 50 was Ben Roethlisberger. On January 23, 2011 in the Steelers 24-19 win over the New York Jets, Roethlisberger had a Passer Rating of 35.5.
Five quarterbacks have had four or more playoff games with a Passer Rating under 50. Craig Morton tops the list with five such games. Mark Brunell, Pat Haden, Ron Jaworski and Jim Kelly each had four.
Follow Jerry on Twitter @StatsonTapp
NFL QBs: Success with a 100.0+ Passer Rating
Jay Cutler... Image via Wikipedia
Sports Stats ‘on Tapp’ is a biweekly blog published every Wednesday and Sunday
Now that the NFL has officially kicked off the 2011 season with the first week of pre-season games, let’s look at a few numbers of interest.
It goes without saying that a quarterback who has a good game will have a positive affect on his team’s success. One of the ways to gauge a QB’s success in a game is the Passer Rating. If we establish a rating of 100 or better as a QB who has had a real good game, how well have some of the teams of the game’s best signal-callers (past and present) done in these games? First, let’s look at some of today’s quarterbacks. (Minimum of 15 regular season games with a Passer Rating of 100 or more)
Active Quarterback W-L Pct.
Jay Cutler 21-0 1.000
Matt Ryan 16-0 1.000
Tom Brady 60-3 .952
Donovan McNabb 43-4 .915
Ben Roethlisberger 38-4 .905
Joe Flacco 17-2 .895
Peyton Manning 73-9 .890
Drew Brees 44-9 .830
Tony Romo 28-6 .824
David Garrard 22-6 .786
Matt Hasselbeck 29-8 .784
Aaron Rodgers 20-7 .741
Matt Schaub 17-7 .708
Michael Vick 17-7 .708
Matt Cassel 12-5 .706
Eli Manning 19-8 .704
Jason Campbell 11-5 .688
WE INTERRUPT THIS BLOG FOR A TRIVIA QUESTION: What is considered a “perfect passer rating?” 150, 158.3, 140, or 145.5? Answer at end of blog.
How do these active QBs above compare to some of the NFL’s best? Here’s how some of the retired QB’s fared in regular season games when they had a 100 or higher Passer Rating in a game (the list includes those QBs who passed for 250 or more TDs in their career)
Retired Quarterbacks W-L Pct.
Johnny Unitas 37-0 1.000
Drew Bledsoe 38-2 .950
Brett Favre 99-9 .917
Joe Montana 64-6 .914
Warren Moon 40-4 .909
John Elway 54-10 .844
Dan Fouts 35-7 .833
Fran Tarkenton 62-15 .805
Dave Krieg 46-12 .793
Dan Marino 53-14 .791
Sonny Jurgensen 31-13-3 .691
Vinny Testaverde 32-17 .653
TRIVIA ANSWER: A perfect passer rating is considered to be 158.3.
Did you know? Only three quarterbacks have passed for three or more “perfect games” in their career… Peyton Manning (4), Ben Roethlisberger (3) and Kurt Warner (3)
Sports Stats 'on Tapp' 