2018-19 Playoffs Are About QB Preeminence

2018-19 Playoffs Are About

Quarterback Preeminence

by Laddie Morse | January 11, 2019

These last several games of the postseason leading up to and including the Super Bowl, will be all about a quarterback establishing their dominance in the NFL. Tom Brady, quarterback for the New England Patriots, has been referred to as the GOAT — greatest of all time — and while I may eventually have to give in to that moniker for him (I prefer Joe Montana), it’s clear that right now, this season, he doesn’t appear to be the greatest among the current choices. So, if he’s not the best QB in the game, who is? That’s why these 2018-19 playoffs are about quarterback preeminence.

Most teams who’ve had a QB that could consistently put his team on his back and assert his will down the stretch of a game… has been able to lead his team to a Super Bowl victory. Brady has led his team back to victory in the 4th quarter over 40 times in his career (including playoff games). Here’s a list from Pro Football Reference of current QBs who have led their teams to comeback victories in the regular season (including the # of times they’ve done that and their place on the all-time list):

• Ben Roethlisberger – 31 (6th all-time)
• Drew Brees – 34 (3rd all-time)
• Tom Brady – 35 (2nd all-time)
• Peyton Manning – 43 (1st all-time)

The past 17 Super Bowls (since the Tom Brady era began and he led the Pats past the Rams following the 2001 season) have been won by these QBs:

• SB 36 – Tom Brady
• SB 37 – Brad Johnson
• SB 38 – Tom Brady
• SB 39 – Tom Brady
• SB 40 – Ben Roethlisberger
• SB 41 – Peyton Manning
• SB 42 – Eli Manning
• SB 43 – Ben Roethlisberger
• SB 44 – Drew Brees
• SB 45 – Aaron Rodgers
• SB 46 – Eli Manning
• SB 47 – Joe Flacco
• SB 48 – Russell Wilson
• SB 49 – Tom Brady
• SB 50 – Peyton Manning
• SB 51 – Tom Brady
• SB 52 – Nick Foles

Four QBs have won the Super Bowl in the past 17 seasons who don’t fit the elite mold (highlighted in red above). Less than 25%. So, if your team has an elite QB, your odds of winning the big one go up by 75% or more?

With Peyton Manning out of the picture… and Tom Brady’s performance sliding at least a little bit… It leaves the door wide open for other, younger, QBs to step up and grab the mantle of “best” in the league today.

Since Ben Roethlisberger is not in these playoffs, and Russell Wilson’s team has been eliminated, that leaves Drew Brees who apparently has lost the battle for the league’s MVP to Patrick Mahomes. No one would doubt that Brees, Brady, Rivers, and Luck could still all be labeled as elite, but there is only one preeminent quarterback. I don’t think the Rams QB Jared Goff is ready to challenge the league’s elite for the top dog spot and neither is Dak Prescott, if ever. Nick Foles could go down in NFL history as the best 9th inning closer, but I doubt he’ll ever be in the position to be counted as the league’s best choice at QB (unless he gets traded and then wins a Super Bowl with that team).

With a number of new quarterbacks coming into the league like the Browns Baker Mayfield or the Jets Sam Darnold, or the Cards Josh Rosen, they are all likely a couple years way from leading their teams into Super Bowl contention and certainly into the possibility of becoming the league’s best quarterback.

While being able to bring your team back from being down is an important quality for any good QB, what makes one “great” is being able to do so in the last game of the year. When Lenny Dawson was able to “matriculate the ball down the field” he propelled the Chiefs to the top of the AFL and the NFL in what was called the World Championship at that time. The year before that, Joe Namath was able to lead the Jets, and the AFL, to a win and he became the preeminent signal caller of that time as well.

The so-called “Tom Brady era” started two years after Kurt Warner had led the Greatest Show on Turf Rams to a victory over that Titans. I thought certain we were about to crown Warner one of the greatest QBs ever when Brady appeared out of nowhere to lead the Patriots over the Greatest Show for what was to be the first of his many (8, I believe) appearances in the Super Bowl (including 5 victories). When you’ve started for your team 17 out of 19 years for your team and taken them to the Super Bowl in almost half of those seasons, you deserve to be called the GOAT… at least the GOAT of your era.

In the early 1990s it was Troy Aikman who seemed to have the best arm in the game. Squeezed in between the Cowboys second and third Super Bowl victories of the 90s, Steve Young got the “Monkey off his back” and was also recognized as one of the games premiere talents in Super Bowl 29. In SB 32, Brett Favre was going for his second SB win in a row when he was rudely interrupted by John Elway who did win two in a row to assert his own claim as the game’s most outstanding QB. It was the very next year that the Rams met the Titans in the Super Bowl.

Although Tom Brady appears to have slipped a tad this year, he still led the Patriots to an 11-win season by throwing for over 4,000 yards for the tenth time in his career. For Patrick Mahomes to take the mantle as the “preeminent” man at QB, he’ll first need to win out this year. He may be the next Brett  Favre, but he’ll need to get the Chiefs to a Super Bowl before that mantle is transferred to him… no matter how many 5,000 yard seasons he is able to generate. Fans of the game in the 1980’s all knew Dan Marino was one of the best QBs of his time, but because he never won the Super Bowl, he’s usually left out of the GOAT conversation (perhaps unfairly so). However, because Joe Montana was four out of four when he took the 49ers to the Super Bowl, he is still thought by many to be the true GOAT at QB (and he is probably still my pick because of that perfection — 4-of-4 — at least my heart wants him to be). 

The Saints Drew Brees, by becoming the all-time passing yards leader this year, breaks his own record every time he completes another pass and has certainly been deserving of being the league’s preeminent arm and face of the NFL. Who can forget when in the moments right after he’d led the Saints to victory over the Colts in the Super Bowl, him holding his son as colored streamers filled the sky. However, there comes a time when a true successor appears and this year it looks like there’s a new sheriff in town.

It’s my belief that the Kansas City Chiefs have the preeminent player in the National Football League in Patrick Mahomes II. However, it’s going to take actual images of Patrick Mahomes holding up the Lombardi Trophy, while drowning in a sea of red, for that vision to become reality.

Yes, the 2018-19 playoffs are about QB preeminence but the real question is.. who’s it going to be? Will we get a new one in Philip Rivers? Or will it be Brady or Brees again? I have a feeling that the last man standing this year in the NFL will be Patrick Mahomes… on a float, in a parade, in the middle of February, in downtown Kansas City.

Then, once again, the center of the NFL universe will be Kansas City Missouri. All because of the greatness of Patrick Mahomes.

Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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