Throwback Thursday: Cleveland Browns quarterbacks with Super Bowl rings

Trent Dilfer is the perfect example of why the backup quarterback is important. Dilfer went in for a struggling Tony Banks in the team’s eighth game of the 2000 season and temporarily became the Baltimore Ravens first-string quarterback. He didn’t exactly set the world on fire with 12 TDs versus 11 INTs. But it was good enough to get the Ravens into the Super Bowl, where he started and won the game.

He was underwhelming in the Super Bowl also, completing fewer than half his passes, but the team rode their defense to a 34-7 win over the Giants. Four interceptions, four sacks, and a fumble recovery was the difference in this game. Dilfer’s job was to let the defense win the game, which he did.

Dilfer did not hold his regular job in Baltimore and instead moved on to Seattle and finally in 2005 to Cleveland. Dilfer went 4-7 with the Browns, which is not too bad. The main rap on Dilfer, who had been a first-round draft pick of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,  was that he threw too many interceptions.

With the Browns, he had a decent season, not a great one. He passed for 2,321 yards and 11 touchdowns but threw 12 interceptions for a passer rating of 76.9. He established his season-high in terms of passing completions at 59.8 percent. But the Browns wanted a competition for the job between young Charlie Frye and Derek Anderson, and it was on to San Francisco the following year for Dilfer.

For his career, he threw fewer touchdowns than intercepts, a ratio of 113 to 129. Ouch. That’s why teams tended to see him as not quite starter material. But he earned respect as a capable quarterback in Cleveland as well as at other stops, including one magical year with a Super Bowl victory.