Here’s a fun fact for you to marinate on this weekend. Tom Brady has nearly completed his 10th NFL season and will compete in his 5th 
Superbowl. In other words, he’s going to the big game 50% of the time and winning them at a .750 clip (3-1). Chew on that Peyton, Eli,
Rodgers or whomever.
In full disclosure, this is Tom’s 12th NFL season but he didn’t start his first season or in 2008 when he tore his ACL. Boom 9 days, go Pats.
Filed under Patriots
Going into the Denver game there was a lot of talk about what Bill Belichick and Tom Brady’s legacies would be if they were to drop their 4th playoff game in a row. At the time I thought it to be a little overblown, frankly it kind of pissed me off. Sure it had been since the 2007 AFC championship that they had won a playoff game, but come on, they had already won 14 playoff games together which qualifies them as a top echelon tandem on its own.
Now that they have won 2 more games(16 total) they could lose their next 3…4…hell they could never win another playoff game(obviously the Tobin Bridge might get a little crowded if this were to happen) and still go down as one of the greatest coach/quarterback tandems in the history of the game.
Below is an overview of every quarterback with 10 or more playoff starts:
|
Quarterback |
Games Started |
Wins |
Losses |
Percent |
| Bart Starr |
10 |
9 |
1 |
0.900 |
| Jim Plunkett |
10 |
8 |
2 |
0.800 |
| Tom Brady |
21 |
16 |
5 |
0.762 |
| Terry Bradshaw |
19 |
14 |
5 |
0.737 |
| Troy Aikman |
15 |
11 |
4 |
0.733 |
| Ben Roethlisberger |
14 |
10 |
4 |
0.714 |
| Eli Manning |
10 |
7 |
3 |
0.700 |
| Joe Montana |
23 |
16 |
7 |
0.696 |
| Kurt Warner |
13 |
9 |
4 |
0.692 |
| John Elway |
21 |
14 |
7 |
0.667 |
| Roger Staubach |
17 |
11 |
6 |
0.647 |
| Phil Simms |
10 |
6 |
4 |
0.600 |
| Ken Stabler |
12 |
7 |
5 |
0.583 |
| Steve Young |
14 |
8 |
6 |
0.571 |
| Donovan McNabb |
16 |
9 |
7 |
0.563 |
| Bob Griese |
11 |
6 |
5 |
0.546 |
| Fran Tarkenton |
11 |
6 |
5 |
0.546 |
| Brett Favre |
24 |
13 |
11 |
0.542 |
| Jim Kelly |
17 |
9 |
8 |
0.529 |
| Mark Brunell |
10 |
5 |
5 |
0.500 |
| Steve McNair |
10 |
5 |
5 |
0.500 |
| Craig Morton |
10 |
5 |
5 |
0.500 |
| Danny White |
10 |
5 |
5 |
0.500 |
| Peyton Manning |
19 |
9 |
10 |
0.474 |
| Matt Hasselbeck |
11 |
5 |
6 |
0.455 |
| Dan Marino |
18 |
8 |
10 |
0.444 |
| Warren Moon |
10 |
3 |
7 |
0.300 |
Notables without 10 starts: Drew Brees 5-4, Johnny Unitas 6-2, Joe Theismann 6-2, Aaron Rodgers 4-2
There is a good chance Tom Brady could end up as the quarterback with the most career playoff starts, most career playoff victories, and in the top 5 of playoff winning percentage. Even if he lost his next 3 playoff games, Brady would still be tied for 10th with John Elway in winning percentage, right behind Montana.
Hello everyone and welcome back from our various chemically induced comas, apparently the Boston Sports List is back in action. What a great time too, especially if you are a football fan. The road to the Super Bowl runs through Foxborough and Pats are ready for revenge against the Ravens. Here are my keys go the game.
1. Big Love, Big Daddy, and Brandon Spikes need to dominate the middle like they did last week.
Kyle Love and Vince Wilfork were men last week. It was awesome to watch. Not to mention, Brandon Spikes is healthy and the results were both impressive and immediate. Every time Spikes blitzed the middle, the entire center of the pocket collapsed and forced Tebow out to either side. That’s not usually what you would want to do with Tebow, but with Flacco, I think it will work. Flacco isn’t exactly the most mobile quarterback. I think that the pressure in his face will force him out of the pocket. I like the idea of him being uncomfortable and having to throw on the run. Torrey Smith is the type of straight line speedster that our secondary has struggled with all year. Forcing Flacco to move won’t give him the opportunity to keep his feet under him and deliver the long ball. I’m honestly not that worried about the other Ravens receivers. Anquan Boldin is the second most overrated WR in football (Sorry Ocho!) and Ed Dixon was not what the Ravens thought he would be when they let an aging Todd Heap go. Having that push in the middle will also allow Ninkovich and Mayo to do their thing outside and hopefully keep Ray Rice in check on any screens or off tackle stuff.
2. Getting the Wide Receivers Involved
If there is a weakness to this Ravens Defense, it would have to be their corners. Therefore, Brady needs to get the wide receivers involved in the passing game. Deion Branch had a good game last week. Why? Mainly because our tight ends required safeties to come up and cover, leaving one on one matchups on the outside. That’s what we need to do. There has been a lot of grumblings about Ochocinco. A lot of Pats fans have said, “They are just saving him for the playoffs.” Hopefully, we’ll see Sunday.
3. Tight Ends
See above, really. Our tight ends will keep Ed Reed and the other Ravens safeties busy and that should open up some one on one matchups on the outside. Ed Reed will go down as one of the best safeties of all time, however, I’ll take him matched up on Gronk. I’ll take Hernandez on him too. Especially after being hobbled a bit last week, I’m not sure that Ed Reed can keep with him. Ray Lewis used to be able to cover the tight end too; but he, like Reed has lost a step. Continue reading
Filed under Bruins
The Patriots open up the 2011-2012 playoffs with a tilt at home against the Denver 3:16’s. Around the country, fans of other teams hate the Patriots with a passion. They think Bill Belichick is an evil cheater, that runs a cult, not a football team. This is the kind of thing that happens with a decade of unrivaled success under his belt.
This week, Timmy 3:16 Tebow is coming to town for the second round playoff tilt. Tebow has been compared to a modern day Jesus Christ. Some think he is the second coming of the Fathers son. Football fans around the country love Tebow. He was doubted by every professional analyst, and proceeded to throw it back in their faces. He is a story of hope and perseverance. He is a figure that people around the country can latch onto as their own. He is the people’s champ, and will have their full support against the hated Patriots.
Call me crazy, but I’d rather have our teams hated than loved. When others hate you, that means your doing something right, and consistently winning. The fact that we are playing the most popular athlete of 2011 is fantastic. We get to make the entire country watch Tebow get Brady’d tonight. We get to watch hope and perseverance crushed by our evil empire.
Also, I don’t know if anyone told Denver fans this, but Brady just happens to be GOD. Sorry Tebow, you are about to get a spanking by your daddy.
In Tommy and Bill we Trust!
– Elias
Filed under Patriots
With so much hype revolving around Tim Tebow and the Broncos coming into Foxboro tonight, you are either to the point of disgust or fully engrossed. I personally am fully engrossed. It is pretty hard not to marvel at what has gone on in Denver over the past couple of months. Sure, there are plenty of things you can point to discounting the validity of what Tebow has accomplished, but isn’t that what sports are all about? There is one thing over this past week that has gotten over looked to some degree this week however….that guy on the other side of the ball named Tom Brady, remember him?
Tom Brady revels in these types of moments. He loves being the underdog, he thrives on it. Now, saying the Pats are the underdog is certainly an overstatement (they are 13.5 point favorites). But no-one is going around, in the words of one of the biggest sports-vaginas today Roberto Lungo, “pumping Brady’s tires” and that is totally cool with me. I would rather have Tom Brady feeling a little dismissed, disregarded, or however you want to put it, that’s what he lives for and its been a while since it has been the case. I would argue that it might be the case to some degree tonight and I love it.
Any talk regarding the Patriots tonight has either been trashing their defense or stating how there is no way they can lose this game. What really pisses me off is that all of the pundits have pretty much painted this as a lose-lose for the Pats. if they win, ahh they were supposed to, Denver sucks. If they lose, oh my god the Pats have lost their last four playoff games (one of which was a Super Bowl mind you) Brady and Belichick are no longer great. You know what i say to those people…blow me.
Should the Patriots beat the Denver Broncos today? Hell yeah! But does really discount all of the accomplishments that Belichick and Brady have compiled? Hell no! So let’s take it for what it is. The Pat’s got a bye to the divisional playoffs and 13.5 point favorites. Now that I have got this off my chest I will be able to enjoy the game more. I was starting to feel like it didn’t matter the way everyone was talking the Patriots had no way to “win” today.
All of that being said, I will definitely be a little pissed and disappointed if the Pats lose tonight, but it will not take away from all of the great times we have had in the past watching them As a matter of fact, I think either way I am going to pop in “3 Games to Glory” or “21” tomorrow morning.
-Brophy
The Boston Sports List 