Everyone knows that the Cleveland Browns can’t win the Super Bowl without a franchise quarterback, so if backup Jacoby Brissett plays for any length of time, is it time to give up on the Browns? After all, isn’t the plan Deshaun Watson or bust?
Perhaps. But maybe there is a Plan B. Could it be that Brissett is not only cheaper than last year’s number two, Case Keenum, but actually better? Brissett is a mobile, strong-armed quarterback who has been a starter in this league and played very well. Put his numbers next to Baker Mayfield’s and compare. Do you want to guess which quarterback has a greater than 2:1 touchdown-to-interception ratio?
History indicates that backups in Brissett’s position can indeed win it all. It doesn’t happen all the time, and no one should imagine that it’s ever easy. Not all Super Bowls were won by famous quarterbacks or even the first-string quarterback. Some started the season as backups and only became famous by winning the biggest game in sports.
Players who entered the preseason as the backup quarterback and became the starter and led the team to the Super Bowl include Roger Staubach, Terry Bradshaw, Jim Plunkett, Doug Williams, Jeff Hostetler, Kurt Warner, Tom Brady, Trent Dilfer, and Nick Foles. That’s nine times.
Earl Morrall gets added to the list because he came into Super Bowl V with his team behind and won the game; plus he started nine games for the 17-0 Miami Dolphins in 1972. Some of the backups went on to win again as starters. Of course, Brady has seven rings. Bradshaw has four rings, Staubach has two, and Plunkett has two. Morrall has three, though the last one was only for special teams. Hostetler has two rings but didn’t contribute in the first one.
So, depending on how you want to count, the backup quarterback won or contributed 11 times in the season he was actually a backup and went back for 11 more rings as a starter.
Former Browns backup Len Dawson won a title
In a way, you could start with Super Bowl I, which featured former Browns backup quarterback Len Dawson, who had become a starter for the Kansas City Chiefs. We won’t count Dawson as a backup quarterback in the Super Bowl, but since Dawg Pound Daily is a Browns-o-centric publication, we will at least mention Len Dawson as an important footnote in Browns team history.
Let’s call Dawson an Honorable Mention, then. Dawson was the Browns’ backup in 1960 and 1961 before jumping to the new American Football League. However, the guy who won the Browns’ first-string job in 1962 was Dr. Frank Ryan, who led the Browns to the World Championship in 1964, two years before the Super Bowl was created, so it’s not like it was a terrible blunder to let Dawson go. Ryan was one of the greatest quarterbacks of his era, but his career was cut short by a shoulder injury.
A case could also be made for Brock Osweiler — yes, the same dude who the Houston Texans hated so much they gave the Browns a second-round draft choice just to assume his contract — because he took away Peyton Manning’s job in mid-season and racked up a 5-2 record the year as a starter the Denver Broncos won the Super Bowl, though Manning was reinstated for the playoffs.
By the way, in the pre-Super Bowl era, Otto Graham wasn’t the starting quarterback in the opening game with the 1946 Cleveland Browns. Cliff Lewis started at quarterback, and Otto played cornerback, just to mention one example of an undrafted backup quarterback who turned out okay.
Definitely, it would be much better to have the first-string guy in there to lead the team to the Super Bowl, but those who are fixated on glamor quarterbacks as the only way to win are just wrong. Put it this way, this is not a prediction that the Browns have a great defense, but if some NFL team does manage to lead the NFL in fewest points allowed, while also leading in rushing yards, that team is going to go deep in the playoffs and could go all the way.
That’s a big if, but relying on players like Myles Garrett, Denzel Ward, Jadeveon Clowney, and Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah is not a bad start.
Let’s consult the historical record before quitting on Jacoby Brissett and the Cleveland Browns as a hopeless combination. We can start with Earl Morrall, the man with three Super Bowl rings.
10. Earl Morrall, Colts and Dolphins
Earl Morrall was a career backup who got traded to Baltimore for a fourth-round draft pick in 1968 because Johnny Unitas had a sore elbow and couldn’t throw. He became Player of the Year that season, leading the Colts to a 13-1 record (losing only to the Browns that season), and many analysts were saying they had the best defense in NFL history.
They whipped up on the Vikings and shut out your Browns in the NFL Championship and headed off to Super Bowl III as 18-point favorites, only to be upset by Broadway Joe Namath and the New York Jets, 16-7.
Weird stat of the day: many people believe that being the losing quarterback to Joe Namath’s Jets in Super Bowl III was the last game of Morrall’s career, but the dude acquired three Super Bowl rings after that. Go figure. You can win a few bets in your favorite sports bar with that little factoid.
"“All Earl ever did was win games for me, whether it was as a starter or coming off the bench.” –Coach Don Shula."
After that Super Bowl loss, Hall of Famer Johnny Unitas won his job back, and Morrall didn’t complain about it, but just helped Unitas as much as he could. Hello Baker Mayfield, are you reading about this? This is how you handle a quarterback controversy. The Colts had a bit of a down year, and owner Carroll Rosenbloom began to sour on coach Don Shula.
After the leagues merged in 1970, the Colts, Browns, and Steelers switched over to the American Football Conference to balance out the Conferences. Don Shula left the Colts organization and joined the Miami Dolphins, but the Colts seemed to get rejuvenated under their new coach and won the AFC title.
Thus, the Colts represented the AFC in Super Bowl V versus the Dallas Cowboys. Unitas got hurt in that game, and Morrall came in and led the Colts to a come-from-behind victory over the Dallas Cowboys, 16-13 on a field goal with five seconds left. That was Super Bowl ring number one.
Second weird stat of the day — who the hell gets released with a record of 22-3-1? Earl Morrall did. With his former coach and protector Don Shula over in Miami, the Colts figured Morrall was too old. He was actually a year younger than Unitas, but Morrall was gone and Unitas stayed one more season.
Morrall then won nine games for the 17-0 Dolphins in 1972. The Browns should have won the playoff game in Miami because the Cleveland defense was outstanding and shut Morrall down, but Mike Phipps threw five (count them) interceptions, and the Dolphins eked out a 20-14 victory to preserve the perfect season.
Bob Griese, now healthy again, earned the Super Bowl start over Morrall, but Morrall got a ring also, of course. That’s number two. The Dolphins won again the following season. In Super Bowl VI, Morrall was the holder on the extra point team, so he was not a huge contributor in that game.
Morrall played three more seasons after that. In Baltimore and Miami, Morrall was 33-4-1 as a starter during the regular season and 4-1 as a starter in the playoffs (that does not include Super Bowl V in which he relieved Unitas and was the winner). Who else has a record like this?
It’s true that he was a career backup because he was never regarded as the permanent starter, but how can you go 33-4-1 with 3 rings and be remembered as a loser? Well, that’s football.
9. Roger Staubach, Cowboys
The Dallas Cowboys had had the foresight to draft Roger Staubach in the 10th round of the 1964 NFL draft even though they knew he was going to be a Naval officer for four years after a brilliant career at the US Navy Academy. At the time, it was thought to be a stupid idea. 1969 might never happen, and he might forget how to play football in four years. But the Cowboys were happy to sign Ensign Staubach, and eventually, 1969 did happen.
The Cowboys were rich in talent with Browns nemesis Dandy Don Meredith and gunslinger Craig Morton already waiting in the wings. But Meredith, after three straight Pro Bowls, inexplicably retired after the 1968 season and Morton took over with Staubach as the backup.
Meredith would go on to even greater fame as the color announcer for Monday Night Football, where he was famous for lowering the boom on bombastic Howard Cosell. Everybody loved to hate Howard for his know-it-all attitude and nasal delivery, but every kid loved to imitate his voice and delivery.
Morton led the NFL in yards per passing attempt in 1969 and 1970. Nevertheless, Landry made the decision to replace Morton with Staubach and was rewarded with 10 straight wins. In the playoffs, the Doomsday Defense gave up 12, three, and three points. Staubach wasn’t obliged to do very much in his first Super Bowl, other than not screw it up and let the defense win the game. He threw for a non-amazing 321 yards. That’s not his total for one game, but for three playoff games.
The Cowboys had several players who would later become Browns — Calvin Hill, Reggie Rucker, and Gloster Richardson. Future Hall of Famers included Staubach, receivers Bob Hayes and Lance Alworth, tight end Mike Ditka, offensive linemen Forrest Gregg and Rayfield Wright, defensive lineman Bob Lilly, and cornerbacks Mel Renfro and Herb Adderley. That’s nine Hall of Famers.
So we can state the general trend as follows: if your team has nine or more future Hall of Famers, they might win the Super Bowl with a backup quarterback.
8. Terry Bradshaw, Steelers
In 1974, Joe Gilliam, not Terry Bradshaw, was the starting quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Gilliam’s story is a tragic one, but he was one of the most spectacular talents that the NFL has ever seen, but only briefly.
Everybody knows Terry Bradshaw, the handsome, blonde-haired Louisiana gunslinger (and a pretty fair country-western singer, too, by the way) who became a Hall-of-Fame quarterback after a rocky start to his career under the tutelage of a tough coach in Chuck Noll.
Browns fans were introduced to Gilliam in 1973. Bradshaw was out with a shoulder injury, and backup Terry Hanratty went down with a broken wrist. So in came third-string Joe Gilliam. Hanratty was famous and highly respected because of being the former starter for Notre Dame, but who was Joe Gilliam?
He was an unknown out of Tennessee State, so we were expecting an easy win. We were so wrong, and totally unprepared for what happened next.
Gilliam came out firing laser shots that we had never seen before. Remember, Bradshaw had one of the strongest arms in the NFL up to that time, but Gilliam seemed to be way beyond Bradshaw.
The only comparison that might be made for Cleveland fans is if you ever had the chance to watch Sam McDowell pitch. The velocity was simply inhuman and deadly accurate. If passes fell incomplete, it was because the receivers were unprepared to catch balls thrown at such high velocity. The Browns managed to eke out a win, 21-16 as Gilliam’s last four passes were incomplete, but it was a frightening experience.
The next year, coach Noll chose Gilliam as the starter over Bradshaw. This caused great excitement as well as a controversy because Gilliam was the first African American starting quarterback in Steelers history, and Bradshaw had been the first overall draft pick. The Steelers started 4-1-1, but what no one knew was that Gilliam was fighting a drug problem. Noll had no choice but to demote him.
Bradshaw, for his part, has had nothing but complimentary things to say about Gilliam and has praised his ability. In the trailer for Jefferson Street Joe, Bradshaw speaks frankly.
"“He absolutely had what it took to lead the Steelers to the Super Bowl. He gave me my job back. I didn’t earn it back. I didn’t beat him out.” — Terry Bradshaw, in Jefferson Street Joe"
At the same time, you hear from Gilliam’s own lips the terrible battle he fought with drug addiction and realize that it was impossible for him to continue as an NFL starting quarterback. Some writers have quibbled that Noll would have waited longer had Gilliam been white, but listen to Gilliam tell his own story about the fight with drugs and judge for yourself.
In any case, Bradshaw became the starter for the Steelers in game seven of the 1974 season and helped them to re-establish the running game. The Steel Curtain defense allowed 13.5 points per game that season and held Minnesota to six in Super Bowl IX, winning 16-6. It should have been a shutout, but the Vikings got their six points by blocking a punt and recovering in the end zone.
Bradshaw was 9-of-16 for 96 yards in the victory. For the season, he completed 45.3 percent of his passes and threw for seven TDs and eight INTs. That’s proof positive that dominant quarterback performances are not necessary to win the Super Bowl if your team has a truly dominant defense and a very good running game.
If you want to say that it’s a Browns hack writer taking shots at a Steeler Hall of Famer, okay. But I will also admit that by the end of his career Bradshaw had established himself as top five in my personal all-time list, along with Otto Graham, Johnny Unitas, Roger Staubach, and Joe Namath. But not in1974. The Steel Curtain deserves most of the credit for that Super Bowl, rather than the offensive unit. The fans who say it is always all about the quarterback are just not correct.
At the beginning of the season, all the buzz is about quarterbacks, but you know the old saying: “Defense wins championships.” It’s often true.
7. Jim Plunkett, Raiders
Baker Mayfield fans take heed, because Jim Plunkett was the first overall pick by the New England Patriots in 1971, and proclaimed “franchise savior.” The Patriots were not a good organization at that time, and Plunkett compiled a 23-38-0 record in five seasons.
Of course, the cantankerous New England fan base blamed the team’s lack of success on the quarterback, and he was traded to San Francisco for two number one draft picks. As is usually the case, however, the team didn’t improve when the draft picks were traded away. Plunkett threw too many interceptions in his second year with the 49ers, and they decided to clean house and released him.
At age 30, his prospects weren’t looking too bright, but he caught on with the Oakland Raiders, which was sort of the NFL’s halfway house for derelict football players. For the next two years, he held a clipboard, but in 1980, Dan Pastorini went down and Plunkett became first string.
Browns fans will recall those Raiders with disdain, for they were the recipient of the Red Right 88 play that resulted in a Brian Sipe interception. Browns fans believe Don Cockcroft was certain to be able to kick a field goal on an icy field in a hurricane after missing two field-goal attempts, with one extra point attempt blocked, and another bad snap.
Cockroft was also playing with two herniated disks in his back. But we all knew he was going to make that kick and so a pass play should never, never have been called. In fact, we all called it at the time. “If a pass play is thrown at this point, it will surely be intercepted!” That’s what we all said, and we all have witnesses.
But let’s ask whether the Raiders beat the Browns because of dominant quarterback play. What a laugh. Plunkett was 14-of-30 for only 149 yards and two interceptions and two sacks. He played just well enough to win in freezing conditions.
In the Super Bowl, the Oakland defense held Philadelphia to 10 points. Plunkett was outstanding, throwing for three touchdowns on 13-of-21 for 261 yards. Here again, if the defense holds the other team to 10 points, you may not even need hero ball from the quarterback, though it’s undeniably great if you can get it.
The Raiders repeated in 1983. Plunkett was good but not really mind-blowing, with 20 TDs and 18 INTs. In all, he went 230 for 379 with 2935 yards and a 60.7 completion percentage. He was 11th in the NFL with 209.6 yards per game.
In the Super Bowl, they whipped up on Washington 38-9. Plunkett was 16 for 25 for 172 yards and no INTs. Once again the defense and special teams made the offense’s job easier by holding Washington to only nine points.
The Raiders scored on a special teams fumble recovery in the end zone; plus a defensive interception return for a touchdown. Thus the offense really didn’t need to do anything except not give up points.
6. Doug Williams, Washington
The Dawg Pound will always be grateful to Doug Williams. This article should normally be about how great it is that Doug Williams became the first African American quarterback to earn a Super Bowl ring and that it is really a great historical event that a man from Grambling State was able to lead his team to victory. It was a tremendous accomplishment for Washington and Joe Gibbs and Williams personally after surviving purgatory with the moribund Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
But with apologies to Washington fans everywhere, the best part of the Washington victory was making John Elway blow a 10-0 lead. To refresh your memory, this game was immediately after ‘The Fumble’ game, which the Browns nearly won, but Earnest Byner fumbled to end a drive.
I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Earnest Byner and read his book. People have no idea how hard he took ‘The Fumble’. My own view as a fan is that anytime the defense gives up 38 points, it’s not truly a championship team, and it’s not the running back’s fault. You have to give the defense credit for digging such an enormous hole in the first place.
Super Bowl XXII was also one year after ‘The Drive’, the 99-yard 4th quarter drive engineered by Elway. That feat proved he was an adversary worthy of replacing Terry Bradshaw as public enemy number one in the hearts of Browns fans.
If Joe Gilliam is the most talented quarterback I’ve ever seen, John Elway might have been the one who actually achieved his potential. I don’t think Aaron Rodgers, Tom Brady, or Peyton Manning could throw a football to a receiver any better than Elway. Elway was also a really good runner, and people forget he was a minor league outfielder for the Yankees for a while. He was just a really talented athlete.
I didn’t watch a lot of Tampa Bay Football, but when I did, it seemed like Williams had to run for his life due to lack of blocking, then he would throw a cannon shot to a receiver, hit the guy between the numbers and have the ball bounce off. Then for some reason, the announcers would blame Williams. “Well, it seems he is having trouble making his reads today.” Rule number one of lazy broadcasting is that it is always the quarterback’s fault.
But back to the Super Bowl.
In the first quarter, Elway connected for a 56-yard bomb to put Denver up 7-0, and then in the next possession connected with another deep pass to set up a field goal. It was an awful feeling.
But then Doug Williams, the supposedly washed-up veteran, started connecting with some of his receivers. Ricky Sanders got free deep and hauled in a pass and went to the house for an 80-yard touchdown. Then a touchdown by Gary Clark put Washington ahead 14-10.
Then rookie Timmy Smith took off on a 58-yard touchdown run to put Washington ahead 21-10. By the time the second quarter was over, the score was 35-10, Washington. Williams had gone 9-of-11 for 228 yards and four touchdowns. They added another touchdown in the second half.
Williams’ final stat line was 18-of-29 for 340 yards and four TDs. Timmy Smith rushed 22 times for 204 yards and two TD and basically picked up where Earnest Byner left off in the AFC Championship game. Denver’s rush defense was rags, face it.
Washington basically bludgeoned Denver to death. Had the Browns gotten past the Broncos, realistically they would not have been prepared to deal with Washington. Williams was way more advanced than some of the backup quarterbacks discussed elsewhere in this article. Denver’s defense was ready to be crushed and Williams executed. Good riddance.
5. Jeff Hostetler, Giants
Jeff Hostetler was the backup for Phil Simms, who was a pedigreed franchise quarterback, drafted in the first round by the Giants in 1979. Simms had set the record for pass completion percentage against the Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXI (immediately after The Drive against Cleveland, following the 1986 season), completing 22 of 25 passes (88.0%) in the 39–20 victory over the Denver Broncos and setting the record for highest completion percentage in a Super Bowl.
So thank you, Mr. Simms. Anyone who beats up on the Broncos is definitely a friend of the Dawg Pound. The Giants didn’t make a deep playoff run again until 1990 when Simms went down, and suddenly Hostetler became the new starting quarterback.
There could never be a Cleveland backup quarterback like Jeff Hostetler. In college, Hostetler transferred to West Virginia, meaning he had to sit out one season. Thus he had five years of college and was 23 when he entered the NFL. Hostetler was drafted in the third round in 1984 and simply sat behind Simms. He was a second-string for seven years. By 1990, Hostetler was 29 years old, had two NFL starts, and had won both of them.
Never mind seven years, how many times have the Browns kept a quarterback who was a third-round pick on the bench for as long as seven quarters? And has there ever been a drafted rookie quarterback in this century that did not start at least one game?
The Browns usually manage to convince themselves that they see a quarterback savior in someone like Cody Kessler, DeShone Kizer, Kevin Hogan, Brandon Weedon, Colt McCoy, or Johnny Manziel, so they have to throw him onto the field as a rookie to see if he is that special transformational talent capable of making a bad team into a playoff juggernaut (answer: NO). If it doesn’t happen within just a few games, the front office usually gets discouraged and gives up.
So when Simms went down with a serious foot injury in 1990, Hostetler was prepared. He led the Giants to two wins to close out the season with a 13-3 record and the coveted first-round bye. In the playoffs, they cruised over the Chicago Bears, 30-3, and then eked out a win versus San Francisco, 15-13. In the Super Bowl, Scott Norwood was wide right with a last-second field goal attempt and the Giants were World Champions, 20-19.
Hostetler was 20-of-32 for 222 yards and a touchdown. It was a very credible performance against a tough Buffalo defense.
Is it unthinkable that a backup quarterback should lead a Championship caliber offense to score 20 points? Is it totally outside the reach of someone like Jacoby Brissett? That’s less obvious.
Both Simms and Hostetler went on to quarterback playoff teams. Simms had trouble staying healthy so he and Hostetler both had turns as the number one for the Giants.
Ultimately, however, Hostetler went on to the Raiders and led them to the playoffs in 1993 and made it to the Divisional Round before faltering against the Buffalo Bills, 29-23. Simms stayed healthy and took the Giants to Divisional Round in 1993, but they were steamrolled by the 49ers, 44-3, and Simms chose to retire at age 38.
Hostetler ended his career with two Super Bowl rings, with one earned as the starter in place of Simms. Simms also had two rings. The first was as the starter for Bill Parcells, and for the second, he had to defer to Hostetler because of his injuries.
4. Kurt Warner, Rams
Kurt Warner was one of the greatest undrafted quarterbacks of all time (who was better? Otto Graham). He played his college ball at Northern Iowa, which is not exactly the greatest feeder school for the NFL.
Worse, he only started one year at Northern Iowa. There was only one scouting report prepared on him, as far as football historians are aware. What probably helped a lot was playing Arena League ball, which helped him make lighting-fast progressions, find the open receiver, and make decisions quickly.
One of the jobs he held in the offseason really was working in a grocery store to help pay the bills. There’s certainly no shame in that. Where would any of us be without good solid people working in grocery stores to feed our family? So thank you to everyone, including Warner, who has worked to put food on the table for Americans. That’s awesome.
Nevertheless, it was still rather ridiculous that an Arena Football League quarterback was picked up by the St. Louis Rams as a backup. When high-priced free agent Trent Green went down in 1999, the know-it-all sports media and fans alike knew that the Rams were done. If Deshaun Watson should go down due to a suspension or some other reason, this is exactly the same situation that the Browns will find themselves in.
Except that the Rams weren’t quite done. Credit head coach Dick Vermeil for believing in Warner. Moreover, The Rams had offensive stars all over the place on offense, starting with running back Marshall Faulk, offensive tackle Orlando Pace, and wide receivers Isaac Bruce, Torry Holt, and Az-Zahir Hakim.
It wasn’t called “the Greatest Show on Turf” for nothing. Mike Martz was the offensive coordinator and king of the productive but quasi-suicidal “run and shoot” offense. Warner had the rocket launcher arm to make it all happen. Together they piled up 526 points (32.9 points per game), tops in the NFL.
The Super Bowl was a thriller, won by the Rams 23-16 as the Music City Miracle Titans ran out of time inches from the goal line.
During his career, Warner tried to play hurt with a broken hand, was terrible and was not forgiven, much like Baker Mayfield. That earned him a change of scenery to the New York Giants. The Giants wanted to play Eli Manning, so they could not wait to usher Warner out the door.
As a result, he became an Arizona Cardinal. He led the Cardinals to a Super Bowl trip, which is really impressive, but they lost to the accursed Pittsburgh Steelers, which we really cannot forgive him for.
3. Tom Brady, Patriots
Young football fans have grown up hearing about Tom Brady all their lives, but us old guys remember when he was a punk from That School Up North. My best friend is a Patriots fan, so I watch a lot of Patriots games with him and his sons, and I lived in Cambridge, Mass, for a short time during the Dead Zone after the Browns left town when there was no football at all in Cleveland.
So that’s my apology for being tuned into the fan buzz around the Patriots, especially in the 1990s when Drew Bledsoe was the quarterback and Bill Parcells was the coach, followed by former Browns coach Bill Belichick, of course. I didn’t like Belichick at the time. I was still resentful that he had cut Bernie Kosar. I felt at the time that Belichick was too risk-averse and too timid to go for the touchdown rather than the field goal, unlike Parcells, who always presented the offense with the opportunity to win the game, rather than counting on the other team making mistakes.
Circa 2001, Brady was kind of an off-beat California kid who threw a nice spiral ball. He seemed friendly during interviews, perhaps even too friendly (was he tough enough for the NFL?), but you could imagine that if the offensive line could protect him he could deliver a forward pass to an open receiver.
However, the Patriots had Drew Bledsoe, who had been the first overall pick in 1993. He was a tremendous passer, poised, and did everything well, although he was susceptible to the occasional bonehead miscue.
In 2001, the Patriots lost their first two games. Bledsoe went down after a jarring hit by Mo Lewis of the Jets and suffered a collapsed lung and other complications that would keep him out for several games.
Brady came in and ran the offense effectively and the team won, eventually finishing 11-5. Just as was the case with Kosar in 1993, Belichick wanted to make a move, but this time he kept both quarterbacks engaged. Brady had an ankle injury in the playoffs versus Oakland, the so-called “tuck rule” game, in which it was ruled that Brady did not fumble. It turned out that Brady was also injured in that game with a sprained ankle.
Hence Bledsoe got the start for the AFC Championship versus the Steelers and eked out a win, 24-17. Rather, the Patriots were saved by their defense, which came up with a game-saving interception by Lawyer Milloy that killed a potential Steeler comeback.
The Patriots somehow survived the Greatest Show on Turf in the Super Bowl. Belichick presented Warner with as many as eight defensive backs, and the storyline was that Warner was totally baffled.
Baffled or not, Warner threw for 28 completions out of 44 attempts for 365 yards. However, he connected for only one touchdown and two interceptions. Brady was a bit more tame, on 16 for 27 for 145 yards, one TD, and zero INTs, but nevertheless was awarded the Super Bowl MVP trophy.
I think we can agree Brady is starting material by now, although, throughout his career, there were advocates for Matt Cassell and Jimmy Garoppolo on the grounds that they were cheaper, and it was better to invest in defense.
The consensus view is that Brady is the “GOAT” based on his career. However at the beginning of most seasons including this one, Brady is usually ranked about 10th or so on the quarterback rankings, so it is appropriate to question what people mean when they say he is the GOAT.
He’s the longest-lived quarterback of all time and has more shiny hardware in his trophy case than anyone else, but throughout most of his career, most people didn’t believe he was that good at any particular moment in time. Other than the years he was paired with Randy Moss, he wasn’t perceived as the top quarterback in the NFL.
In Super Bowl LI, Atlanta Falcons offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan had absolutely no fear of Brady, pouring it on with risky pass plays in the second half, ahead by 28-3. However, head coach Dan Quinn was peeing his pants seeing his team put the ball back in the hands of number 12. Ultimately, of course, poor Shanahan decisions and audacious plays by Brady and the Patriots got them another Super Bowl victory.
We saw the same pattern in Tampa Bay in 2020. The offense struggled and coach Bruce Arians wanted to run the offense his way and did not want to give young whippersnapper Brady too much authority. He finally relented and it worked out okay.
However, in 2021, Arians reasserted himself and kicked Brady’s favorite receiver off the team for allegedly faking an injury. Guess he showed Brady who’s boss.
This season, you can refer to any quarterback ranking you want. For example, Chris Simms is one of the best in the business. He ranks Brady eighth this season, behind Josh Allen, Patrick Mahomes, Justin Herbert, Joe Burrow, Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford, and Russell Wilson.
That’s pretty much where Brady has been his entire career. It’s only when you step back and look at his career, or when it is the fourth quarter in the Super Bowl, that he separates himself from the other quarterbacks.
2. Trent Dilfer, Ravens
How good was Trent Dilfer? Good enough to win a Super Bowl, it says here.
If Dilfer was as lousy as many fans and writers claim, and if only franchise quarterbacks can win the Super Bowl, Dilfer cannot possibly have a Super Bowl ring, can he?
But he does. Also, how did a lousy quarterback win 15 games in a row? Or should we not count the playoffs and the Super Bowl in that streak? Hello statheads out there, what are you thinking? How can the Super Bowl not count?
He definitely won for the wrong team, however, because he led the Baltimore Ravens to their first Super Bowl. Nobody in Cleveland wanted to see Art Modell win anything. Modell’s story is a complex one, and there is plenty of room for praise for what Modell did as far as establishing Monday Night Football is concerned.
But he also fired Paul Brown, cut Jim Brown (or forced him into early retirement if you want to parse words), fired Marty Schottenheimer, was the worst general manager in NFL history, and completely botched the opportunity to improve his position with Cleveland Stadium. So, no, the ledger is not completely negative, but there is quite a bit in the minus column for the former owner of the Browns.
This is the conundrum of Trent Dilfer’s career. He played with losing organizations like the Tampa Bay Bucs and the Cleveland Browns and didn’t turn them around — and it’s assumed to be his fault. He didn’t get the credit he deserved from the Ravens, but it will be up to other fan bases to correct that issue because in Cleveland we just don’t care about the Ravens, thank you.
Nevertheless, it must be possible for the backup quarterback to win the Super Bowl, because that is what he did. This fan believes that Dilfer was actually much better than the fan bases gave him credit for. Tampa Bay was a joke in the Dilfer era, and frankly so were the Browns. One player does not automatically result in wins.
The Ravens won with him, using a run-first offense with a tight end (Shannon Sharpe) as the best receiver. Jamal Lewis and Priest Holmes were both workhorse running backs and together racked up 2,469 total yards from scrimmage.
Their most productive wide receiver was Qadry “The Missile” Ismail with 655. It wasn’t exactly the wide-open passing attack that head coach Brian Billick was known for when he was the offensive coordinator in Minnesota with the Ultimate Weapon, Randall Cunningham, at quarterback, and Randy Moss and Cris Carter catching passes downfield.
But they also had the No. 1 defense in the NFL under defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis, giving up only 10.3 points per game, and Dilfer was able to lead three yards and a cloud of dust to the Super Bowl and win it, 34-7, with the only Giants points coming on a kickoff return. Dilfer was 12 for 25 for 153 yards against a stout Giants defense.
Nevertheless, Billick was dissatisfied with the makeshift offense, and Dilfer was let go despite the Super Bowl win. Elvis Grbac, coming off a flashy campaign with the Kansas City Chiefs, was signed in hopes the offense would be all shook up.
But Grbac went from 4,169 yards passing with Gunther Cunningham’s Kansas City Chiefs to 3,033 yards passing for Baltimore (not an improvement over Dilfer’s performance). So if Brian Billick was such a passing guru, and Grback was a 4,000-yard passer, why didn’t he post better numbers than Dilfer?
Dilfer started 11 games for the 2005 Cleveland Browns and coach Romeo Crennel and went 4-7. The Dawg Pound holds Dilfer personally responsible for not going 11-0. Had he not led the Ravens to the Super Bowl, we might consider being more reasonable. As it is, forget it.
1. Nick Foles, Eagles
It doesn’t happen all the time, but sometimes, the backup outplays the stud. Looking at the photo of Lily Foles above, she’s not listening to the critics who said her dad could not win. Dear reader, you shouldn’t listen to those critics either.
If so-called football experts say that only elite quarterbacks can win the Super Bowl, they are wrong. This is football, and it’s America. You have to prove it on the field.
It wasn’t that long ago that Nick Foles outplayed Thomas Edward Patrick Brady Jr. and the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LII, and the Philadelphia Eagles became World Champions.
It sounds ridiculous, but after the 2017 season, the Eagles remained committed to Carson Wentz as their “franchise quarterback” after that Super Bowl win. Carson Wentz? Really?
Wentz has been a disaster in Philadelphia and then Indianapolis. Now he is moving on to Washington.
Foles was soon allowed to leave to become the first-string quarterback for the Jacksonville Jaguars, then on to Chicago as a backup, and now Indianapolis backing up Matty Ryan.
The whole franchise quarterback argument breaks down completely with the Eagles in 2017. You simply cannot claim that backups are hopeless. It’s not true. Foles threw for 373 yards and three TDs versus the Patriots, and also added a touchdown reception via the “Philly Special.” You might as well admit that with the right team, a backup quarterback has a chance to win.
So why not Jacoby Brissett? Brissett has a career 36 to 17 TD to INT ratio, most of it compiled while playing for the Colts and Dolphins — not exactly NFL powerhouses over the years — and yet has completed over 60 percent of his passes.
He has a strong arm and is mobile. We’re pretty sure he can be trained to hand the ball off to Nick Chubb, Kareem Hunt, and D’Ernest Johnson. The Browns should score points and they should be able to win some games.
So what’s the problem? If the Joe Woods defense has a career year, who’s to say how far Brissett can lead them?