Younger quarterbacks today are just as affected by this selection bias. You’ll hear that Baltimore’s Joe Flacco(notes) has already “won” three playoff games, while Aaron Rodgers(notes) won’t be a great quarterback – no matter how totally and completely Rodgers has outperformed Flacco to date – because Rodgers hasn’t “won” a playoff game at all. Well, Flacco has participated in three Ravens postseason wins, and he’s thrown one touchdown and one interception total in those three games. You might argue that Flacco did a lot more to help lose two playoff games in which he threw a total of zero touchdowns and five picks, but hey – stats are for losers.
So we’ll ignore that Flacco’s postseason numbers go something like this: 57 of 120 for 660 yards, one touchdown and six interceptions. In Rodgers’ one playoff game (against the Arizona Cardinals in 2009), he completed 28 of 42 passes for 432 yards, four touchdowns, and one pick. The only reason he “lost” that playoff game was because Kurt Warner(notes) put up what may have been the single greatest single-game passing performance in playoff history. Rodgers did everything he possibly could to help his team win – it’s just that Warner did a little bit more. To tack a loss on Rodgers’ performance is absolutely moronic.
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