On Monday, CBS Sports activities analyst Douglas Clawson put forth an inventory of the NFL’s 10 most clutch quarterbacks. He described his major standards:
· Quarterback conversion charge on game-tying or go-ahead drives within the fourth quarter and additional time
· Anticipated factors added (EPA) per play in these conditions (seems to be at worth added on all performs between rushes, passes, sacks and fumbles)
It shouldn’t be a shock that the Kansas Metropolis Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes topped this checklist.
1. Patrick Mahomes
The factors I laid out above says C.J. Stroud is essentially the most clutch quarterback within the NFL proper now, however I’m making an exception and giving Patrick Mahomes the crown for 2 causes.
1) Pattern measurement alert. Stroud has solely performed one season and has had eight game-tying or go-ahead drive alternatives.
2) Playoff numbers. That is why Mahomes is the reply to the query I posed on the prime. Who would you like with the ball in his fingers with the sport on the road? It’s Mahomes and it’s not even shut. He’s an absurd 15 of 21 changing potential game-tying or go-ahead drives within the fourth quarter and additional time of his playoff profession. That’s the very best conversion charge (71 %) of any QB since at the least 2000 (min. 10 drives), nicely above Tom Brady who’s second (53 %). If we had information of this stat previous to that, I’m positive it will say it’s the very best charge in NFL historical past, too.
After Mahomes and firm went 3-for-3 on these drives to beat the San Francisco 49ers within the Tremendous Bowl, I laid out the stats for why he’s the perfect “nearer” in sports activities since Michael Jordan. Jordan is the gold commonplace for clutch play within the NBA, making 9 of 18 on potential game-tying or go-ahead pictures within the last 24 seconds of his playoff profession.
Mahomes is the gold commonplace within the NFL and every part about his playoff resume screams clutch.
Takeaway
I admire that Clawson dug into some information to come back to this conclusion — however there ought to be little doubt about this. The Chiefs have received three Tremendous Bowls within the final 5 seasons. In all three, Mahomes has pushed his group down the sphere to win in both the fourth quarter or additional time.
In 2019, Mahomes led his group again to win each one in all its postseason video games after trailing by at the least 10 factors. Within the last seconds of 2022’s AFC Championship, Mahomes’ gutsy third-down scramble allowed Kansas Metropolis to win with a 45-yard Harrison Butker discipline objective. (Though Joseph Ossai’s penalty on that play put Butker 15 yards nearer, he in all probability would have made it from 60 anyway).
However within the 2023 season, we began to see one thing totally different. After falling to 9-6 with a humiliating residence loss to the Las Vegas Raiders, the underachieving Chiefs grew to become overachievers, profitable six straight video games to develop into the primary group to win back-to-back championships in virtually twenty years.
Throughout that stretch, there have been clutch performances from everybody. After the Cincinnati Bengals took a 17-7 lead the next week, Butker made six straight discipline objectives (as Steve Spagnuolo’s protection shut down the Bengals) for a 25-17 win. Within the first quarter in opposition to the Los Angeles Chargers in Week 18, security Mike Edwards’ 97-yard fumble return made the distinction in a 13-12 win. Spagnuolo’s unit stepped up once more in playoff wins in opposition to the Miami Dolphins and Baltimore Ravens, whereas working again Isiah Pacheco’s fourth-quarter efficiency sealed Kansas Metropolis’s Divisional win over the Buffalo Payments.
So sure… Mahomes stays the league’s most clutch quarterback. However in 2023, it rubbed off on his teammates. Issues don’t get extra clutch than that.
