Tom Brady's quarterback rating last night against the NY Jets was 89, well below his 2010 regular seasoning rating of 111. He was sacked five times, threw one pick, and his team was 5-14 on third down.
Against the same Jets team in the Wild Card round, Peyton Manning threw a 108.7 QB rating against the Jets, completing nearly 70% of his passes. That 108.7 rating was higher than his regular season rating of 91.9, which was his lowest regular season rating since his second year in the league back in 1999-2000. Against the Jets, Peyton was sacked once, had zero turnovers, and was 6-13 on third down. Also keep in mind that Peyton played with game without Dallas Clark, Austin Collie, Anthony Gonzalez, and right tackle Ryan Diem.
Here's what Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz wrote following the Colts loss to the Jets:
But after a sample size of 19 games, it's pretty clear: He's a different quarterback in the playoffs. He's a lesser quarterback in the playoffs. I don't know if it's paralysis by overanalysis or what, but after all these years, I still don't trust him in a playoff game.
The stats don't lie: His teams are 9-10 in the postseason. His teams have been one-and-done seven times. His quarterback rating, 94.9 during the regular season, is 88.4 in the postseason. In those 10 playoff losses, the Colts have averaged a touch more than 14 points per game.
Fourteen.
As is always the case with Bob, we're going to have to forgive him for being ignorant of the sport he covers because, once again, only an 'ignorant troll' takes the 'quarterback wins' stat seriously.
But, lets look at the stat he does give us: QB rating.
Manning's rating is 88.4 in the post-season. For Bob, that seems pretty low. For the rest of the intelligent world, it's excellent. Consider that Tom Brady's playoff QB rating is 85.7. Guess this means that Tom Brady (three Super Bowls) can't get it done in the playoffs either. Meanwhile, players like Troy Aikman (88.3), Joe Montana (95), and John Elway (79) had comparable QB ratings in the post-season to Peyton Manning's.
Guess they all suck too, right?
Regarding the fourteen point average in ten playoff loses, I'll go out on a limb and say that such a number is probably not the fault of the QB with the high playoff rating. Oh, and just FYI: In the eight games John Elway's Broncos lost in the playoffs, they averaged 15 points per game. In the playoff loses for Aikman's Dallas Cowboys? 14 ppg.
Yes, I agree: This was a very lazy, poorly written article by Bob.