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- | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Year | Age | Opp | Result | Yds | TD |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-237 | T.B. | L, 40-48 | 439 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-251 | at Atl. | W, 43-37 (OT) | 396 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-285 | Ari. | W, 31-9 | 373 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-237 | Hou. | W, 30-28 | 370 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-266 | Was. | W, 43-19 | 363 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-307 | Phi. | W, 48-7 | 363 | 4 |
Joe Flacco | 2024 | 39-264 | at Jac. | L, 34-37 | 359 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-327 | S.F. | L, 46-48 | 349 | 5 |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-293 | LAR | W, 45-35 | 346 | 4 |
Joe Flacco | 2024 | 39-348 | at NYG | L, 33-45 | 330 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-313 | Car. | W, 34-31 | 311 | 3 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 2021 | 39-282 | at Min. | L, 28-36 | 308 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-335 | Ind. | W, 34-7 | 307 | 4 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2024 | 40-317 | Buf. | L, 20-23 | 294 | 2 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2024 | 41-013 | at Jac. | W, 32-25 | 289 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2020 | 41-256 | G.B. | L, 30-37 | 288 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2020 | 41-284 | Car. | W, 27-24 | 287 | 2 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2024 | 40-292 | N.E. | W, 24-3 | 281 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2020 | 41-291 | at Chi. | W, 26-23 (OT) | 280 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-341 | at Ten. | W, 38-28 | 279 | 3 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2024 | 41-034 | Mia. | W, 32-20 | 274 | 4 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 2021 | 39-264 | at LAC | L, 37-41 | 273 | 3 |
Joe Flacco | 2024 | 39-299 | Buf. | L, 20-30 | 272 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-300 | at Cin | W, 51-14 | 265 | 3 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-348 | at Car. | W, 42-10 | 253 | 3 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 2021 | 39-222 | Den. | W, 27-19 | 253 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2020 | 41-263 | at Det. | W, 35-29 | 246 | 2 |
Philip Rivers | 2020 | 39-005 | at L.V. | W, 44-27 | 244 | 2 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2024 | 40-309 | at Min. | L, 17-23 | 244 | 2 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2025 | 41-279 | at NYJ | W, 34-32 | 244 | 4 |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-244 | Cle. | W, 21-18 | 243 | 2 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 2021 | 39-278 | Bal. | W, 20-19 | 236 | 2 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2025 | 41-314 | Cle. | W, 23-9 | 235 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2020 | 41-340 | K.C. | L, 29-32 | 234 | 3 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2024 | 40-330 | at N.E. | L, 22-25 | 233 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2019 | 40-306 | at T.B. | W, 34-17 | 228 | 3 |
Philip Rivers | 2020 | 39-012 | Hou. | W, 27-20 | 228 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2020 | 41-298 | at T.B. | W, 38-3 | 222 | 4 |
Joe Flacco | 2025 | 40-269 | at G.B. | L, 18-27 | 219 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2018 | 39-279 | at Bal. | W, 24-23 | 212 | 2 |
Aaron Rodgers | 2024 | 40-334 | Hou. | W, 21-13 | 211 | 3 |
Ben Roethlisberger | 2021 | 39-251 | Chi. | W, 29-27 | 205 | 2 |
Drew Brees | 2020 | 41-354 | at Car. | W, 33-7 | 201 | 3 |
--Andy Richardson