NFL playoff thread

From PFR:

PEYTON MANNING
Playoff Comebacks: 2006 (1)
Playoff Game-Winning Drives: 2006 (1)

JOHN ELWAY
Playoff Comebacks: 1986 (1),1989 (1),1991 (1),1997 (1)
Playoff Game-Winning Drives: 1986 (1),1987 (1),1989 (1),1991 (1),1997 (2)

 

Not disputing the facts. Elway was a good-to-great playoff QB, much better than Manning has ever been.

Just correcting the revisionist history about Elway's reputation as a playoff QB, which was very, very different pre-1998 than it is today.

 

I honestly do not remember it. I have seen that it was out there now, thanks. I guess people remember what they want, and what I always remember about John Elway is a one-man band who took teams farther than they should have gone.

 

You are not wrong, either. Elway was exactly that.

But he wasn't seen that way for a period from about 1988 to 1997. (He was seen that way in 1986-87, and again after '98 and ever since. Funny how a Super Bowl victory changes things.)

Manning would have been better served to win his only Super Bowl in his late 30s and then retire, just like Elway. He damn sure better win one more, because that's the only way he's ever going to have a legacy as a QB who came close to living up to his potential.

 

Right now, Flacco's career path, which has a lot left to it, is on par with Donovan McNabb. He plays in a ton of Championship games, but he is not quite pushing his team to the championship level.

Now if he wins this weekend and in the Super Bowl, then he jumps to the next plateau of QBs.

And I hate the "receivers dropped one" because then you need to also ignore catches like Smith made over Bailey that were much better catches than they were throws. All that shit evens out.

 

And if he plays a Simmsesque, error-free Super Bowl and loses 45-38 to the 49ers . . . ?

Not quite pushing his team to the championship level? Again?

Just nuts, the way we've already pigeonholed a QB's legacy, based in large part what a defense may or may not do or what a kicker may or may not do or whether his star WR drops a winning TD pass in the end zone or whether his RB goes for 170 yards or 17.

 

BTE, there's a school of thought that ALL quarterbacks don't measure up to the standards of greatness, at least that's the inference one draws from the posts on quarterbacks on this board. Strike that. When you read the Hall of Fame threads, it's clear that for some people no football players at all achieve true greatness.

 

Hate it all you like, but if you're going to go on and on about his mistakes, you also have to recognize the big plays that he did everything right and the receivers failed him.

 

I've always valued a QB this way: Do I want him starting on my team?

I'd take Joe Flacco in a heartbeat. First off, he has no "legacy" to speak of. It's his 5th year. Yet he's done something few QBs have done in the history of the NFL: lead a team to 3 conference title games -- let alone in his first 5 years -- not to mention his record is 54-26 (seasons of 9 wins, 10, 11 and 12 twice). He completes 60 out of every 100 passes (could be better; Joe Montana completed 64 out of every 100 passes thru 5 years). Flacco has thrown for 17,633 yards and 102 TDs and 56 picks, with 15 GW drives (Montana had 10 thru 5 years).

But obviously it goes beyond stats.

Do you want the ball in his hands 1) during the game but 2) when it matters.

Flacco has proven he is more than just good. That video 93Devil posted probably works against his poo-poo'ing of Flacco because it shows the full range of Joe Flacco. In the first half he was pretty damn good, against THE STEELERS in the a road game in Pittsburgh. He should've been eating the peanuts out of Steeler assholes all day. Instead it was the other way around, until the second half. Flacco struggled, overshot a receiver to throw a pick, fumbled a snap away and looked like you're supposed to look in a road playoff game at Pittsburgh.

And yet look at what happened. It's 24-21 Pittsburgh until Flacco leads a pretty damn impressive drive late in the 4th. Threw the ball right to Boldin at the goal line, which means he did everything a balls-out QB is supposed to do in the playoffs. But because Boldin drops the touchdown pass -- it was a touchdown pass -- the Ravens have to settle for a FG to tie it, and then the Steelers quickly go back ahead 31-24. Let's just say the Ravens go up 28-24 and close it out -- is Flacco now a great QB in your eyes because he won a playoff game at Pittsburgh?

But it wasn't even over. Ravens get another shot. Flacco doesn't look so hot and first, second and third downs and it's 4th and 19. How many QBs do you want with the ball in that situation? I'd take Joe Flacco. What did he do on 4th and 19? Well, he threw a pretty goddamn sweet 20 yards pass that hit the receiver in the hands.

The receiver dropped the ball. But this is an X mark against Joe Flacco. Couldn't win a road playoff game even though he has since become the No. 1 road playoff quarterback in NFL history.

His legacy *could* be Donovan McNabb. His legacy *could* become Joe Montana. Hard to tell.

Tell you what, though: The video I posted shows the real Joe Flacco -- the guy who led the Ravens on a GW drive in the Super Bowl semifinals and threw a perfect pass to Lee Evans in the end zone.

I want that QB leading my team.

 

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I love how people keep posting "if this happens, will you still thay that" type of responses, but year after year, it's the same quarterbacks who keep playing in the big games and for the Super Bowl.

You want to know why the Bills never play in the playoffs? Because their QB is not as good as Wilson, Luck, RGIII, Ryan, Flacco, Brady, Manning, Dalton, Romo, Eli, Roethlisberger, Cutler, Rivers and a list of others.

It's the most important position on the football field times 10.

 

If Roethlisberger hadn't thrown one of the dumbest interceptions of the year against the Bengals with under a minute to go in the game, the Steelers would have made the playoffs.

But remember, Flacco is a choker and Ben always comes up big in those moments.

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