|
Against Brady, near-perfect isn't perfect enough
Cold, Hard Football Facts for January 12, 2008
By Kerry J. Byrne
Cold, Hard Football Facts Tom Brady towel-boy
Patriots quarterback Tom Brady added another chapter to his postseason legend Saturday night, with a ho-hum record-setting performance in New England's 31-20 divisional-round playoff win over Jacksonville.
The victory, the 13th in 15 career playoff games for Brady & Co., came at the expense of Jacksonville quarterback David Garrard, who played a near-perfect game.
Unfortunately for him, Garrard needed to play a perfect game – especially on this night, with perfection personified on the other side of the field.
The unheralded Garrard finished his first NFL season as a full-time starter third in the league with a gaudy 102.2 passer rating. We saw why with his nearly brilliant performance Saturday night.
He completed 22 of 33 passes (66.7%) for 278 yards, 8.4 YPA, 2 TD and 1 INT. His 100.3 passer rating, as you'll see below, was one of the best ever against a Bill Belichick-coached defense in postseason play.
And it wasn't enough.
After all, Garrard's opponent on this night was the greatest big-game quarterback of our generation, playing virtually flawless football at the peak of his pigskin powers. New England’s Brady completed a ridiculous 26 of 28 passes for 262 yards, 9.4 YPA, 3 TD, 0 INT and a 141.4 passer rating.
Brady's 92.9 completion percentage for the game is the best in NFL history, period: regular season, postseason, deer-hunting season, Franki Valli & the Four Seasons, or otherwise.
The previous completion-percentage record was set by Brady's former teammate, Vinny Testaverde, when he played for Brady's current coach, Belichick, with Cleveland back in 1993. Testaverde completed 21 of 23 passes (91.3 percent) in a 42-14 win over Jerome Bettis and the L.A. Rams.
The previous postseason record was set by Giants quarterback Phil Simms – the color commentator during Saturday night’s NBC broadcast. Simms completed 22 of 25 passes (88.0 percent) in a 39-20 win over the Broncos in Super Bowl XXI.
(Note: the NFL requires a minimum of 20 attempts to qualify for the single-game completion percentage record.)
Brady also completed a postseason record 16 consecutive passes Saturday night and his offense scored on every drive but two: it missed a field goal at the end of one first-half drive, and then punted with 30 seconds to play in the fourth quarter. His record-setting performance came against a team that finished seventh this season in Defensive Passer Rating.
And the two incompletions? Both were near-perfect passes: Brady threw to into the hands of Ben Watson in the third quarter, but the ball fell incomplete as the tight end was covered like a Lindsay Lohan coke binge on TMZ.com. In the fourth quarter, third-down whiz Wes Welker – he of the franchise-record 112 receptions Welkers – dropped a pass that hit him squarely in the hands.
Otherwise, Brady played what can only be described as an utterly flawless game.
Garrard, meanwhile, committed two mistakes that proved the difference in the game.
Garrard and the Jacksonville offense shredded New England’s defense like parmesan on a pile of pasta on its opening drive to take a 7-0 lead.
But on its second drive, with the game tied 7-7, Garrard was sacked by Ty Warren and fumbled the ball, only to watch as New England’s Mike Vrabel pounced on the pigskin at the Jacksonville 29. The Patriots scored seven plays later.
The Jaguars never regained the lead or the momentum.
They had a chance to pull within one score late in the game. But Garrard, with his offense in New England territory, tossed a softball into the hands of New England safety Rodney Harrison. It was the fourth straight playoff game with a pick by the Boston Bad Boy, tying a record held by Aeneas Williams.
It was also the end of the line for Jacksonville.
Still, it was an impressive performance by Garrard, especially when you take into consideration the quarterback-stuffing ruthlessness of Belichick-coached defenses in the playoffs.
Belichick has now coached 31 postseason games as either an assistant or head man, and has typically humiliated opposing passers. (Belichick's record in these 31 games is 24-7, a 77.4 winning percentage.)
In those 31 playoff games, only five quarterbacks have produced a better performance against a Belichick-coached defense. You might recognize some of the names.
- In the 1985 playoffs, Bears quarterback Jim McMahon produced a 120.3 passer rating in Chicago's 21-0 win over the Giants, with Belichick their defensive coordinator.
- In the 1990 playoffs, a certain 49ers quarterback named Joe Montana produced a 103.0 passer rating in San Francisco's 15-13 loss to the Giants, with Belichick their defensive coordinator.
- In the 1994 playoffs, Steelers quarterback Neil O'Donnell produced a 133.3 passer rating in Pittsburgh's 29-9 win over Belichick's Browns.
- In Super Bowl XXXI (January 1997), Packers quarterback Brett Favre produced a 107.9 passer rating in Green Bay's 35-21 win over the Patriots, with Belichick their assistant head coach.
- In Super Bowl XXXVIII (February 2004), Panthers quarterback Jake Delhomme produced a 113.6 passer rating in Carolina's 32-29 loss to Belichick's Patriots.
That's it, folks. In Belichick's 31 postseason games as a head coach or coordinator, only those five quarterbacks, two of whom are legends, played more effectively against one of his teams than Jacksonville's Garrard did Saturday night.
But against Tom Brady, near perfect is not perfect enough.
|
