Houston/Kansas City
Last year, after the Ryan Lindley disaster in the playoffs, I looked at the worst passing performances in playoff history. At the time, Lindley had the 9th worst passing game ever. Well, now it’s the 10th.
Against Kansas City yesterday, Brian Hoyer completed 15 of 34 passes for just 136 yards with 0 touchdowns and 4 interceptions. He also lost a fumble on his three sacks, which lost 17 yards. Calculating Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt doesn’t factor in fumbles, but Hoyer still finished with -68 Adjusted Net Yards for Brian Hoyer on those 37 dropbacks. That’s a -1.84 ANY/A average. On the season, Kansas City allowed 4.91 ANY/A.
As a result, that means Hoyer averaged 6.74 ANY/A fewer than expectation. On 37 dropbacks, that gives him a grade of -249 Adjusted Net Yards relative to league average, after adjusting for era and opponent. That’s the 4th worst passing performance in playoff history behind Kerry Collins in the Super Bowl against the Ravens, Stan Humphries against the Dolphins in the ’92 playoffs, and Jake Delhomme‘s implosion against Arizona seven years ago.
Cincinnati/Pittsburgh
Since 1994, there have been just five times where a team scored to take the lead in the final two minutes, only to lose the game moments later:
- In the 1998 playoff game between Green Bay and San Francisco, Brett Favre hit Antonio Freeman for a 15-yard touchdown to give the Packers a 27-23 lead with 2 minutes to play. But with 8 seconds left, Steve Young threw the game-winner to Terrell Owens in The Catch II.
- Last night, with 1:56 left, A.J. McCarron threw a 25-yard touchdown pass to A.J. Green to give Cincinnati a 16-15 lead. Of course, about 17 things happened in the final two minutes of this game, which ended with an 18-16 Steelers win.
- With 1:48 left in a Saints/49ers game in the 2011 playoffs, the Saints trailed 29-24 before Drew Brees connected with Jimmy Graham for a 66-yard touchdown pass. But with 9 seconds left, Vernon Davis caught a 14-yard touchdown from Alex Smith in The Catch III to give the 49ers the win.
- In the 2012 playoffs, Seattle trailed Atlanta by 20 points in the 4th quarter. But the Seahawks scored three straight touchdowns, including a Marshawn Lynch lead-changer with 34 seconds left. But after two passes from Matt Ryan to Harry Douglas and Tony Gonzalez for 41 yards, Atlanta won the game 30-28 on a last-second field goal.