C.J. Stroud set the bar high for playoff debuts and Jordan Love matched it – almost exactly.
One day after Stroud went 16 for 21 for 274 yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions to lead Houston past Cleveland in the best playoff performance ever for a rookie quarterback, Love put up almost the exact same line.
Love went 16 for 21 for 272 yards – 2 fewer than Stroud – three TDs and no interceptions to lead Green Bay over Dallas on Sunday.
Both quarterbacks posted passer ratings of 157.2 that are tied for the third-best ever for a quarterback with at least 20 attempts in a playoff game. Peyton Manning had a perfect rating of 158.3 in the Colts’ wild-card win against Denver in the 2003 season and Josh Allen had a 157.6 mark in a wild-card game two years ago for Buffalo against New England.
They both broke Lynn Dickey’s record for the best passer rating in a first postseason. Dickey had a 150.4 rating for the Packers in the 1982 wild-card round against the Cardinals.
While Love is in his fourth season, Stroud did it as a rookie. He became the eighth rookie quarterback to win a playoff start in the Super Bowl era and can join Brock Purdy (2022), Mark Sanchez (2009) and Joe Flacco (2008) as the only rookies with two in a season with a win on Saturday at Baltimore.
Stroud and first-year head coach DeMeco Ryans joined Rex Ryan and Sanchez and John Harbaugh and Flacco as the only rookie coach-QB combos to win a playoff game since the merger.
