Joe Flacco Is the King of the NFL Playoffs
Since 2008, Flacco’s 10 Postseason Wins Are the Most for Any Quarterback
Joe Flacco has 10 career postseason wins. GETTY IMAGES
For fans of any NFL team besides the Baltimore Ravens, quarterback Joe Flacco is the last player you want to see, especially during the postseason.
Since joining the league in 2008, Flacco’s 10 postseason wins are more than any other quarterback, including the combined win total for Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.
Flacco’s win in Pittsburgh on Saturday night was also his seventh on the road, two more than any other passer in NFL history, according to Stats LLC. Since 2008, Mark Sanchezhas the second-most road wins with four, picked up during the New York Jets’ back-to-back runs to the AFC championship game during the 2009 and 2010 seasons. Brady and Manning have zero road wins during this span but due to their regular-season dominance, they’ve only each played one game away from home during this period.
So it’s hardly surprising Ravens head coach John Harbaugh anointed Flacco the game’s best quarterback, period, following Baltimore’s 30-17 win. That is a label more commonly associated with Brady for the same reasons—winning when it matters most. But Brady is just 4-5 in the postseason since Flacco’s 2008 debut. Flacco’s 10-4 postseason record includes two wins in three attempts in New England. Baltimore travels to New England on Saturday for an AFC divisional playoff game.
In the closing seconds of the 23-20 loss in the 2011 season, Ravens wide receiver Lee Evans dropped a pass in the end zone and kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal that would have tied the game.
In Flacco’s last five playoff games, all wins including a victory in Super Bowl XLVII, he has connected on 91 of 155 passes for 1,399 yards with 13 touchdowns and no interceptions. His passer rating has topped 100 in every contest. Only one quarterback in history has a longer streak of playoff games with a 100-plus rating: Joe Montana (eight games spanning the 1988-90 postseasons).
