Playing quarterback at the NFL level is a tough job—and let’s face it, not all signal callers are created equally. Even ones with similar talent levels!
Some guys are known for their ability to rise to the occasion when their team needs them most.
On the other hand, there are also some quarterbacks, who always seem to fall apart in those high-leverage situations.
Let’s take a look back and peg the 5 most clutch quarterbacks—and the 5 that always crumbled under the pressure!
Clutch: Tom Brady
It is hard to get more clutch than Tom Brady. Over his illustrious 23-year career, Brady developed a reputation for being one of the most reliable quarterbacks the league has ever seen—both during the regular season and in the postseasons.
And we saw this on display even in 2022, during his very “twilight-ey” last season sown in Tampa Bay… I mean, the guy was down four points with 44 seconds yet and still managed to get the job done, marking his 55th career regular season comeback victory.
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And you can tack on another 14 if you factor in all of the postseason comebacks he’s led too!
Simply a preposterous display of clutch-ness.
With Brady, the aggregate numbers are so ridiculous that you can forget some of the amazing moments along the way… Like the stunning drive that he led New England on against the Rams in his first Super Bowl victory to win the game in the closing minutes—or the legendary “tuck rule” game against the Raiders in ’01 – ’02…
It often gets lost in the lasting memory of Vinatieri drilling the kick, but up until that very moment, it was all Brady.
There is a reason that 12 is widely regarded as the GOAT!
Crumble: Fran Tarkenton
Fran Tarkenton was one of the most exciting quarterbacks in his generation… In many ways, he was long before his time with the way that he would scramble around in the backfield, extend the play, and fire the ball downfield.
He could also advance the ball with his legs in a way that few quarterbacks of his era could… He accumulated 3674 yards and 32 touchdowns on 675 carries throughout his 18-year career.
And with all of that production, he racked up quite a few accolades… He was a three-time All-Pro selection, made nine Pro Bowls, and even earned league MVP honors in 1975!
Unfortunately, his highly decorated career did have one big black mark on it… When the lights got bright—Tarkenton always seemed to shrink. He went to three Super Bowls, lost all of them, and played terribly—to a combined stat line of 489 yards, one touchdown, and six interceptions
Not what you want to see out of your All-Pro quarterback during a clutch-time moment.
Clutch: Eli Manning
There are a lot of criticisms one could spout about Eli Manning’s career… inaccurate, immobile, and so on… He a far cry from his brother—and he was not a perfect quarterback by any means… but man was he clutch.
When the playoffs roll around, Eli always seemed to find a way to rise to the occasion. Not just in the two Super Bowls against Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, and co. – but in the playoff games leading up to the big game too…
Even during the stretch run of the regular season, when the Giants needed to rally to qualify for the playoffs.
When the pressure was on—Eli was at his best. And he has two Super Bowls to show for it!
Crumble: Peyton Manning
To his credit, Peyton Manning was able to put some of the “unclutch allegations” to bed by finally delivering a Super Bowl to the Indianapolis Colts in ’06. But even with that one W – he has more than enough blemishes on his resume to get pegged to the wrong side of this list.
The reality is, he has had some of the worst playoff outings—especially juxtaposed to how successful his and the Colts’ regular seasons were—of all-time.
Take, for example, his 14 for 31, 137 yard, two interception stat line Manning posted during the 2002 playoffs, when his Colts got walloped by the Jets 41 to nothing.
Just a couple of years later in the AFC Title game against another AFC East team, the New England Patriots, he squandered a strong outing from his defense against Tom Brady and threw four interceptions and just 237 yards, as the Colts lost 24 to 14 and missed out on a shot to get to the Super Bowl.
The following year it was more of the same, but in the Divisional Round, when they lost 20 to 3 to New England and Peyton posted a passer rating of 69.3, the worst of his season to that point.
Like I said, he did exorcise some of those demons, but with all the talent he and those Colts teams had, he has to catch some flack for these kinds of performances.
Clutch: Joe Montana
By the pure numbers, Joe Montana may be the single most clutch quarterback to ever do it. In 23 career postseason outings, he logged a monstrous 95.6 passer rating.
As a reference point, Tom Brady’s postseason passer rating is 90.4.
And when he got to the Super Bowl, Montana elevated his game even further. In his four Super Bowl appearances, all of which were wins, by the way, he completed over 67 percent of his passes, averaged 285.5 yards per game—a high mark for the era—and threw 11 touchdowns to 0 interceptions.
Brady does edge out Montana’s 31 fourth-quarter comeback victories, but considering how dominant the Niners were at that time, that stat doesn’t tell the full story.
The fact of the matter is that whenever the pressure was cranked up, Joe Montana always seemed to rise to the occasion—and it is hard to get much more clutch than that.
Crumble: Philip Rivers
While Philip Rivers seems to get a pass because of the admittedly legendary move that he pulled by playing on a torn ACL against the New England Patriots in the 2008 AFC Championship Game, the reality is—that the Chargers longtime Pro Bowl quarterback was never really able to deliver with the pressure on.
Yes, it was gutsy of him to play mere days after tearing his ACL, but he also completed just 19 of 37 passes for 211 yards and surrendered two interceptions. And maybe we’d give him more of a pass on that performance if it wasn’t so on par with what his typical postseason outings were like during a stretch when the Chargers were regularly one of the best regular season teams in the NFL year in and year out.
It wasn’t just the postseason performances that illuminated his struggles in crunch time either… Check out this stat pulled from Stathead… When trailing by a single score with three minutes or less remaining, Philip Rivers has thrown just 9 touchdowns to 17 interceptions and has posted a 57.1 passer rating.
Granted, that is essentially desperation time… so, mistakes will happen. But still—that is a tough look from a guy who was supposed to be one of the best quarterbacks of his generation.
Clutch: Roger Staubach
There is a reason that the legendary Dallas Cowboys quarterback, Roger Staubach, was regularly referred to as “Captain Comeback.”
15 fourth-quarter comebacks in eight seasons as the Cowboys starter may not seem that impressive at a glance, but keep in mind, Dallas really wasn’t trailing in that all that many games to begin with.
He also has an extremely impressive postseason resume. Staubach led the Cowboys to 11 wins, two Super Bowls. And much of that success came from Roger putting the team on his back… Keep in mind, this was a time that very few quarterbacks were putting up big numbers the way that they are today. So while the stats he accumulated during his 20 playoff starts won’t jump out at you—they were significant for the era he played in.
Roger also has an epic feather in his clutch cap—in the form of that legendary Hail Mary that he delivered during the 1975 Divisional round against the Minnesota Vikings.
Dallas was down 14 to 10 with 32 seconds less and Staubach delivered a dime down the field to Drew Pearson at the five-yard line.
He stumbled into the endzone and boom—game… Cowboys!
I mean think about it… Staubach is literally credited with inventing the Hail Mary and that’s essentially a footnote on his epic career.
He has to be considered one of the most clutch quarterbacks to ever do it.
Crumble: Jim Kelly
This one pains me to do—because by all accounts—Jim Kelly is a great guy. And he led one of the league’s most charming franchises, the Buffalo Bills, to unprecedented success during the 1990s, but based on his track record, he, unfortunately, has to be pinned to this list.
It isn’t just that he never won a ring… but that he went to and lost four straight Super Bowls, which, frankly seems impossible. And to make matters worse, Kelly didn’t play up to his All-Pro standards during those games either.
Playing under the bright lights of the Super Bowl, Kelly threw seven picks to just two touchdowns… Not great!
And his total playoff numbers are a far cry from the kind of numbers he put up during the regular season as well. In 17 career postseason games, he completed less than 60 percent of his passes and threw only 21 touchdowns compared to 28 interceptions, while averaging around 227 passing yards per.
Sad to say it, but Jim Kelly was always prone to crumbling under the pressure.
Clutch: Ken Stabler
Ken Stabler had a Hall of Fame career, but if you just glance at his career numbers you might wonder why he landed in Canton… After all he completed less than 60 percent of his career passes and threw 28 more interceptions than he did touchdowns.
BUT… and this is a big BUT… Stabler had a couple of great seasons, including 1974, when he won league MVP honors, leading the Raiders to an 11 and two record in his 13 starts, throwing for 2469 yards and 26 touchdowns to just 12 interceptions. And… more importantly, he was long one of the most clutch quarterbacks that the game has ever seen.
He led the Raiders to five consecutive AFC Championship games between 1973 and 1977, which was a record for almost 40 years until Brady snapped it in 2016 and regularly over achieved during the postseason, even leading the Raiders to a Lombardi Trophy in Super Bowl 11.
In 13 career playoff games, he threw for 2641 yards and 19 touchdowns to just 13 interceptions. Might seem modest to today’s standards, but he was legit.
And… he gained a reputation for making ridiculously improbable plays happen when the pressure was at its highest—and all seemed lost.
He was the crux of the infamous Holy Roller play during the ’78 regular season when he and the Raiders shocked the Chargers with a last-second victory. And he regularly made crazy clutch passes look easy…
Like in ’77 when he dropped a dime into the arms of Dave Casper to set up a field goal that forced overtime and set them up to beat the Colts…
Or the year before when he found Clarence Davis for a touchdown in the closing seconds of the 1974 AFC Divisional Round match up with the Miami Dolphins to edge out the reigning back-to-back champs 28 to 26.
Stabler was a clutch as they come, end of story!
Crumble: Dan Fouts
Dan Fouts is one of the men responsible for what the modern NFL looks like in terms of passing the football. He, along with head coach Don Coryell, ran a pass-heavy offensive scheme – of the likes the NFL had never seen before.
As a result, Fouts put up monster numbers and seemed to break passing records every year… From 1979 until 1982 he led the league in passing, which is a pretty tough thing to do for four straight years. He also became the first player in history to throw for 4K yards in three straight seasons.
The point is—he was a hell of a quarterback—and the Chargers were a great team. But for all the regular season success that he and the team found, they always seemed to struggle once the postseason rolled around.
In fact, Fouts qualified for the postseason just four times in his career and when he did, his performance fell off a cliff. He went three and four in seven starts, completing just 55.6 percent of his passes and threw only 12 touchdowns compared to 16 interceptions.
For this reason, we have to besmirch the name of a Hall of Famer that helped to revolutionize football as we know it!
