Today’s Sportstat: February 1, 2020
Super Bowl starting quarterbacks
Quick trivia quiz: Can you name the 12 QBs who have won two or more Super Bowls? Can you also name the eight starting QBs who lost two or more Super Bowls? Finally, who are the four starting quarterbacks that have won two or more Super Bowls and lost two or more Super Bowls?
Answers below.
Patrick Mahomes and Jimmy Garoppolo will be the starting QBs in this year’s Super Bowl, both making their first starting appearance in the big game.
For the Chiefs, this will be their third appearance in the Super Bowl. The starting QB in their other two Super Bowl appearances (Super Bowl I and IV) was Lenny Dawson. For the 49ers, Garoppolo becomes the fourth QB to start a Super Bowl for the franchise (Joe Montana, Steve Young, Colin Kaepernick). This is the 49ers seventh appearance in the Super Bowl.
Tom Brady has made the most Super Bowl starts for a QB with nine… he is followed by John Elway with five. Brady is one of 12 Super Bowl starting QBS with two or more wins in the Super Bowl. The list of Super Bowl QBs who won two or more:
6-Tom Brady
4-Terry Bradshaw, Joe Montana
3-Troy Aikman
2-John Elway, Bob Griese, Eli Manning, Peyton Manning, Jim Plunkett, Ben Roethlisberger, Bart Starr, Roger Staubach
Of these 12 QBs who have won two or more Super Bowls, only Jim Plunkett is not in the Hall of Fame. Brady and Roethlisberger are still active; Eli Manning just retired, and Peyton has been retired for a couple of years.
There have also been eight starting QBs who have lost two or more Super Bowls. They are:
4-Jim Kelly
3-Tom Brady, John Elway, Fran Tarkenton
2-Peyton Manning, Craig Morton, Roger Staubach, Kurt Warner
The only quarterbacks to win two or more Super Bowls and lose two or more Super Bowls? Tom Brady, John Elway, Peyton Manning and Roger Staubach.
It’s interesting to note that there have been three times when a pair of QBs faced off against each other twice in the Super Bowl… Staubach and Bradshaw, Aikman and Kelly, and Brady and Eli Manning. The same QB won both games… Bradshaw, Aikman and Eli Manning.
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99 Stats Until Kickoff (#80) Beware of the 25-year-old Super Bowl QB
Joe Flacco (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
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.)
In the 47-year history of the Super Bowl, we have had 48 players (there were co-MVPs in 1978) who were selected as the MVP of the game. Joe Montana, quarterback of the San Francisco 49ers won three of those awards, most in the game’s history. Four other players won the award twice: Bart Starr, Terry Bradshaw, Tom Brady and Eli Manning, all QBs.
As we take a look at the list of Super Bowl MVPs, several interesting stats evolve:
First, quarterbacks seem to be the primary focus of the Super Bowl MVP award. Of the 48 MVPs, 26 have been QBs. The 2013 Super Bowl as no exception as Baltimore QB Joe Flacco was chosen as the game’s MVP.
Here’s a position look at the MVPs.
Super Bowl MVP Awards, position, (average age of those MVPs)
26: Quarterbacks (30.0)
8: Defensive players (26.6)
7: Running backs (27.0)
6: Wide receivers (26.5)
1: Kick returners (26.0)
Secondly, we notice that when it comes to the age of the player named the game’s MVP, most are in their 20′s. In fact, of the 48 MVPs, 30 were in their 20′s, 18 were in their 30′s. Here’s a look at the number of MVPs within each age. The age with the most MVPs is 25 with seven.
Age, Super Bowl MVP Awards
Age 23: Two
Age 24: Five
Age 25: Seven
Age 26: Five
Age 27: Five
Age 28: Three
Age 29: Three
Age 30: Two
Age 31: Three
Age 32: Four
Age 33: Four
Age 34: Four
Age 38: One
* The oldest Super Bowl MVP was Denver’s John Elway in 1999. He was 38 years old.
* The youngest Super Bowl MVP was Raiders running back Marcus Allen who was 23. Pittsburgh receiver Lynn Swann was also 23 when he won his Super Bowl MVP in 1976, but Allen beat him by 15 days; Allen was 23 and 302 days, Swann was 23 and 317 days.
* Of the 18 players who were in their 30′s when they won the Super Bowl MVP, 14 of them were quarterbacks.
* Dallas’ Randy White, who shared MVP honors with teammate Harvey Martin in the 1978 game, is the only MVP to win his award on his birthday. He won his MVP on his 25th birthday.
“99 Stats Before Kickoff” (Stats you need to know before the start of the 2013 NFL season) is available from e-book publisher Smashwords. Go to www.smashwords.com to download a copy, including a pdf version which can be viewed on your home computer. Cost is $2.99.
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
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