Freaky Friday: Roles Reverse When Flacco and Brady Face Off in January
When it comes to NFL playoff resumes, there are few that read better than Tom Brady’s. With an 18-8 playoff record, five Super Bowl appearances, and three championship rings, the Patriots quarterback is one of the top postseason performers of all time.
But while Joe Flacco doesn’t get all of the accolades as his Patriots counterpart, the Baltimore Ravens quarterback has carved out a solid career over his first seven seasons, and has also become quite Brady-like when it comes to stepping up as the calendar turns to January, especially when the two square off head-to-head.
Since coming into the league in 2008, Flacco’s Ravens have made the playoffs in six of his seven seasons, going 10-4, while the QB has completed 56 percent of his passes with 21 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Six of those picks came in his first two playoff runs, and his last postseason interception occurred in the 2011 AFC Championship Game against the Patriots.
The Super Bowl XLVII champion also has the distinction of having never gone one-and-done in his playoff career, having won at least one game each time he’s played in the postseason, something Brady experienced for the first time against Flacco’s Ravens in the 2009 playoffs.
When Brady and Flacco have faced off in the postseason, it’s been difficult to tell which quarterback is the first-ballot Hall of Famer and which is the up-and-comer. In three games against one another in the playoffs, Flacco holds a 2-1 edge, with a 57.3 completion percentage, five touchdowns, and two interceptions. Brady in those three games has completed 56 percent of his passes, but has just three touchdowns against seven interceptions.
In the Ravens’ 2009 wild card round drubbing of the Patriots, the sophomore quarterback Flacco let the Baltimore run game do the talking, handing off 46 times to Ray Rice, Willis McGahee, and Le’Ron McClain, while attempting just 10 passes of his own for admittedly low numbers on the stat sheet – 34 passing yards and one interception. After falling behind early, Brady tried to take it upon himself to get the Patriots back in it, but completed just 23 of his 42 pass attempts for 154 yards, with two touchdowns that were negated by three interceptions, finishing the game with a QB rating of 49.1.
By the next time they played, in the 2011 playoffs, Flacco was a more seasoned veteran, having won five playoff games over his four seasons and was ready to take on the Patriots for the AFC championship. Flacco played well in that game, going 22-for-36 with 306 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. Brady completed an identical number of passes on the same amount of attempts, but totaled just 239 yards and no touchdowns with two interceptions, as the Pats held on for a 23-20 win that was a dropped touchdown and missed field goal from being another painful loss to Baltimore.
The 2012 AFC title game, a rematch from the previous year, was Flacco’s coming out party against a Patriots team looking to appear in back-to-back Super Bowls. The Ravens’ QB went 21-for-36 in passing with 240 yards, two touchdowns, and no picks. Just like in their first playoff meeting, Brady tried to do everything himself, completing 29 of 54 pass attempts for 320 yards with a touchdown and two interceptions, as the Pats were shut out over the second half, while the eventual Super Bowl champions scored 21 unanswered points to turn a 13-7 halftime deficit into a 28-13 win.
Flacco may not have the regular season numbers – although he is coming off the best statistical season of his career – but at just 29, Flacco has already won more road playoff games (7) that any other quarterback in NFL history.
Having chalked up victories against Brady, Peyton Manning, and Ben Roethlisberger – three quarterbacks that have combined for 11 Super Bowl appearances and six rings – Flacco has shown he can get it done against the best the league has to offer. And come Saturday, Tom Brady and the Patriots better be ready for a quarterback and a team that has no fear about coming into Foxborough and breaking the hearts of the home team.
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