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Rodgers, Flacco face off tomorrow

I considered titling this article The Icy Hot Bowl. That's what Steeler Connor Heyward termed tomorrow's matchup of 40-year-old Bengals quarterback Joe Flacco and 41-year-old Steelers quarterback Aaron Rodgers. Classic.

I don't believe there have been a lot of matchups of 40-year-old quarterbacks over the years. Guessing here, probably there was a Tom Brady versus Ben Roethlisberger game at some point; that's probably the most recent one. Tom Brady-Drew Brees perhaps. But we'll definitely get one tomorrow.

Given the way the two offenses and defenses are constructed, I think there's a decent chance that both quarterbacks will be passing for decent numbers, both yards and touchdowns. Both defenses are weak against the pass, and both offenses have lesser ground games. Both have scored most of their touchdowns on passes. But I don't want to give away the farm, you can read about it in the Weekly, coming soon.

Using the search tools at pro-football-reference.com, I took a look at all the games from the last 10 years where a 39- or 40-year-old quarterback passed for at least 200 yards and 2 TDs. Flacco and Rodgers each did it just last week (Flacco against Rodgers' original team and Rodgers against Flacco's last team, how about that) and I was wondering how rare it was.

The results gave me 105 games, 62 of which were Tom Brady. I removed those from the table, because I think we're all aware he'd be well-represented. The guy played until he was 45 years old. He's unique.

Table shows the other 43 games, sorted by passing yards. A lot of Drew Brees, and then some Rodgers and Flacco games (in bold). I think one or both might add a game to the list tomorrow night.

39- AND 40-YEAR-OLD NON-BRADY QBS WITH 200 YDS, 2 TDS, 2016-
PlayerYearAgeOppResultYdsTD
Drew Brees201839-237T.B.L, 40-484393
Drew Brees201839-251at Atl.W, 43-37 (OT)3963
Drew Brees201940-285Ari.W, 31-93733
Drew Brees201940-237Hou. W, 30-283702
Drew Brees201839-266Was.W, 43-193633
Drew Brees201839-307Phi.W, 48-73634
Joe Flacco202439-264at Jac.L, 34-373593
Drew Brees201940-327S.F.L, 46-483495
Drew Brees201839-293LARW, 45-353464
Joe Flacco202439-348at NYGL, 33-453302
Drew Brees201940-313Car.W, 34-313113
Ben Roethlisberger202139-282at Min.L, 28-363083
Drew Brees201940-335Ind.W, 34-73074
Aaron Rodgers202440-317Buf.L, 20-232942
Aaron Rodgers202441-013at Jac.W, 32-252893
Drew Brees202041-256G.B.L, 30-372883
Drew Brees202041-284Car.W, 27-242872
Aaron Rodgers202440-292N.E.W, 24-32812
Drew Brees202041-291at Chi.W, 26-23 (OT)2802
Drew Brees201940-341at Ten.W, 38-282793
Aaron Rodgers202441-034Mia.W, 32-202744
Ben Roethlisberger202139-264at LACL, 37-412733
Joe Flacco202439-299Buf.L, 20-302722
Drew Brees201839-300at CinW, 51-142653
Drew Brees201940-348at Car.W, 42-102533
Ben Roethlisberger202139-222Den.W, 27-192532
Drew Brees202041-263at Det.W, 35-292462
Philip Rivers202039-005at L.V.W, 44-272442
Aaron Rodgers202440-309at Min.L, 17-232442
Aaron Rodgers202541-279at NYJW, 34-322444
Drew Brees201839-244Cle.W, 21-182432
Ben Roethlisberger202139-278Bal.W, 20-192362
Aaron Rodgers202541-314Cle.W, 23-92352
Drew Brees202041-340K.C.L, 29-322343
Aaron Rodgers202440-330at N.E.L, 22-252332
Drew Brees201940-306at T.B.W, 34-172283
Philip Rivers202039-012Hou. W, 27-202282
Drew Brees202041-298at T.B.W, 38-32224
Joe Flacco202540-269at G.B.L, 18-272192
Drew Brees201839-279at Bal.W, 24-232122
Aaron Rodgers202440-334Hou. W, 21-132113
Ben Roethlisberger202139-251Chi.W, 29-272052
Drew Brees202041-354at Car.W, 33-72013

--Andy Richardson

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