Playoffs full of seasoned QBs
METAIRIE, La. — Shortly before Drew Brees turned 30, he had a talk with retired San Francisco 49ers quarterback Steve Young that made him feel a bit better about entering the fourth decade of his life.
"He said, 'Man, your prime as a QB is 30 to 35,"' Brees recalled. "Now I would say Kurt Warner and Brett Favre are breaking that mold by going toward 40 and playing at such a high level. But that makes you feel good because it shows that your skills can still be very high at that age."
Brees turned 31 on Friday (the same day his only child, son Baylen, turned 1, and is the youngest of four quarterbacks in the over-30 club whose teams are still playing.
At 40, Favre is the oldest, followed by Warner, 38, and Colts quarterback Peyton Manning, 33. Should Favre's Minnesota Vikings beat Dallas and Warner's Arizona Cardinals beat New Orleans this weekend, the average QB age in the NFC championship game will be 39 — a veritable Graybeard Bowl.
"It's not like 30 is a very old player; a lot of guys are just getting into it," said Warner, who did not play in an NFL game until he was 27. "But I definitely think the experience helps, especially at this time of year, and I think it takes time to build things. Very seldom do you have a quarterback that comes in in their first year and the team around them's good."
The two youngest quarterbacks still playing this season are New York Jets rookie Mark Sanchez, 23, and Baltimore's Joe Flacco, 24. They play on teams built in large part around defense and the running game, and they threw for the fewest yards and touchdowns of any of the eight QBs suiting up this weekend.
On Sunday, Favre will try to outgun a quarterback 11 years his junior in 29-year-old Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo, while San Diego's Philip Rivers, 28, will be the senior signal caller in his game against the Jets.
Favre hopes his experience will give him an edge, but to him, there are a number of factors, sometimes beyond quarterbacks' control, that allow them excel into their late 30s and, in his case, beyond.
"I just think that this year I'm playing on a very good football team," Favre said. "Warner is playing on a very good football team, Brees. Now, it helps to play well at our position, but you've got to have a good cast around you. The stars have to kind of be aligned, too, and it seems like this year that's the case."
