Shaun King, Tampa Bay's 22-year old quarterback, was struggling. He was trying so hard to be good -- too good, really -- that every pass seemed to sail over its intended target.
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| Shaun King got off to a shaky start, but he finished strong in his first playoff start. |
Into the third quarter of the Buccaneers' NFL divisional playoff game against Washington on Saturday, King had completed only four of 16 passes. When he was intercepted by Darrell Green, the Redskins drove for a field goal, and the Bucs were looking at a 13-0 deficit. Backup Eric Zeier started warming up on the sideline.
History, clearly, was against King. Rookie quarterbacks playing in their first NFL playoff game had won only a single game in five attempts going back to 1960. Pat Haden, the old Rhodes Scholar, managed to lead the Los Angeles Rams to a 14-12 victory over Dallas in 1976.
"He's always been resilient, that's probably his greatest characteristic," Tampa Bay quarterbacks coach Clyde Christensen said of King. "He was just thinking too much. We just kept talking about this and said, 'Hey, you just go out and chuck the ball, that's what you do best. You can't aim it, you can't worry about the wind. You just have to throw it.' "
And so he did. King completed two critical back-to-back passes of 16 and 17 yards in driving the Bucs to their first touchdown. He led the winning drive with 7:29 left, lofting a steely 1-yard touchdown pass to third-string tight end John Davis on third-and-goal.
The Bucs beat the Redskins 14-13 and King finished a respectable 15-for-32 with 157 yards.
"You all said our rookie quarterback couldn't get it done," Bucs defensive tackle Warren Sapp said. "We had all the confidence in the world. This young fellow could get it done. He has something special, and we're glad he's on our side."
Three of the four teams in the NFL's final four feel the same way.
Believe it or not, the Bucs, Rams (with Kurt Warner) and Titans (Steve McNair) all start quarterbacks who had never, ever played in an NFL playoff game until this postseason began. Jacksonville's Mark Brunell is the lone exception, and he has played in only six games, plus a little more than a quarter of Saturday's stunning 62-7 victory over Miami.
In fact, Dolphins quarterback Dan Marino, who played in his 18th playoff game at Jacksonville, has more experience than the four remaining quarterbacks combined. They've played in a total of 11 postseason games -- five of them this season.
Quite an experience
Football is a game where experience is critical. And the quarterback is by far the most important player on the field. So how is it that seven of the 12 teams that made the NFL playoffs started quarterbacks who were playing in their very first postseason game?
Archie Manning never played in a playoff game in his 13 NFL seasons. His son, Peyton, has already gone him one better.
"With all the young quarterbacks, I think what you're seeing is a sign of the times," Archie said. "It comes back to the parity in the league. Really, if you think about it, it's unbelievable. We've never seen anything like this."
It's true, in a statistical sort of way.
Going into this year's playoffs:
Nine of the 12 starting quarterbacks hadn't started more than one postseason game.
Miami's Marino and Troy Aikman of Dallas had appeared in 30 playoff games between them, while the other 10 quarterbacks combined for a total of eight. Aikman, who was ushered out by the Vikings in an NFC wild-card game, had the only winning record, an impressive 11-3.
Last year, you will remember, was the year of the wise, seen-it-all quarterback. The four quarterbacks who survived to reach last year's final four were Denver's John Elway, the Jets' Vinny Testaverde, Minnesota's Randall Cunningham and Atlanta's Chris Chandler. The balding Chandler, at 34, was the puppy of the group.
In 1998, five playoff teams started quarterbacks with at least 12 games of postseason experience. Only three teams started quarterbacks with no playoff experience. Last year's 12 starters had logged 71 playoff starts, compared to only 38 for this year's field.
George Young, sitting on the 12th floor of the NFL Park Avenue offices, considered the numbers thoughtfully. The league's senior vice president of football operations sees a trend.
"The system we're playing under makes it easier for the down teams to come up," Young said. "Of course, it also makes it easier for the up teams to go down. A lot of these teams have been down, so they made changes, and they have young quarterbacks.
"I don't know if you could say it's a concern for those teams. But quarterback is a position where experience is essential. I guess it's probably a consideration for them. We'll just have to see how it shakes out."
As people around the league point out, experience is a relative thing. All of the surviving quarterbacks have played in big games -- not the least of which were down the stretch of the 1999 season.
"I always told my kids, 'Listen, you want to play in big games,' " Archie Manning said. "It's all about bowl games. It's all about going to Miami and facing the Dolphins or playing the 49ers in a must-win situation. These young guys have all done those kinds of things."
Greg Garber is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
