Ryan and Flacco will be linked forever in history

December, 31, 2008
Dec 31
1:20
PM ET
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By Pat Yasinskas

Posted by ESPN.com's Pat Yasinskas

No matter how the rest of their careers play out, Atlanta's Matt Ryan and Baltimore's Joe Flacco are going to be paired together as rookie quarterbacks who took their teams to the playoffs. Their early success may even open the door for teams to play young quarterbacks earlier in the future.

But history says the odds are against young quarterbacks doing what Ryan and Flacco have done. Since the NFL-AFL merger, only six rookies have started playoff games and here's how they fared:

How Teams Headed By Rookie QBs Have Fared In Playoff Games
DateScoreQuarterbackRound
1/3/09?Matt Ryan'09 NFC wild card
1/4/09?Joe Flacco'09 AFC wild card
1/15/05PIT 20 vs NYJ 17Ben Roethlisberger'04 AFC divisional
1/23/05PIT 27 vs NE 41Ben Roethlisberger'04 AFC championship
1/15/00TB 14 vs WAS 13Shaun King'99 NFC divisional
1/23/00TB 6 at STL 11Shaun King'99 NFC championship
12/28/91RAI 6 at KC 10Todd Marinovich'91 AFC wild card
12/28/86RAM 7 at WAS 19Jim Everett'86 NFC wild card
1/4/86CLE 21 at MIA 24Bernie Kosar'85 AFC divisional
12/31/83MIA 20 vs SEA 27Dan Marino'83 AFC divisional
Tags:

Uncategorized, Falcons-Cardinals, Baltimore Ravens, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan

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ABOUT THIS BLOG

Pat Yasinskas
Pat Yasinskas

Yasinskas joined ESPN.com in January 2008 after covering the Carolina Panthers for The Charlotte Observer for nine seasons. He began his journalism career with The Tampa Tribune in 1990.

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