In January of 1990 -- the 1989 playoffs -- Joe Montana rattled off three straight incredible games. The 49ers legend compiled 800 yards on 65-of-83 passing (78 percent), fired 11 touchdowns and didn't throw a single interception. His five touchdowns and 297 yards paced San Francisco to a 55-10 demolition of John Elway's Denver Broncos in Super Bowl XXIV. The performance capped what remains the best postseason ever from a quarterback.
Joe Flacco's January and February of 2013 didn't eclipse Montana's accomplishments, but he arguably came as close as anybody in the 23 years since, and almost certainly closer than any other Super Bowl winner. Flacco did it in one extra game and 43 extra pass attempts, but he matched Montana's playoff record 11 touchdowns (also shared with Kurt Warner in the 2008 season) and zero interceptions. His 1,140 yards rank third all-time, just behind Warner and Eli Manning in last year's playoffs.
We only have WPA and EPA data dating back to the 2000 season, but Flacco's playoff run ranks second in both to Warner, and tops of any Super Bowl winner:
http://public.tableausoftware.com/shared/3GZB35T9S?:display_count=yes
Flacco racked up 1.84 WPA and 49.4 EPA, easily leading all other 2012 playoff participants; his 8.3 AYPA led all quarterbacks as well and his 0.34 EPA/P trailed just Russell Wilson. Only his completion percentage (57.9) lags compared to the rest of the elite playoff performances, but he made up for it with absurd proficiency with the deep ball: at least four completions thrown at least 15 yards down the field per game, and a total of 17 on 35 attempts. These deep balls racked up 561 yards -- nearly half Flacco's playoff total -- on just over a quarter of his attempts.
http://www.advancednflstats.com/2013/02/joe-flaccos-playoff-run-was-truly-elite.html
Journeymen typically don't do this for the original team that drafted him and started every season only having one year that was below average and that was 2011. You factor in his playoff stats to his regular season stats his yards per attempt and passer rating would be much higher and against terrific defenses such as Denver & San Francisco.
Also contracts don't pay for what you did but on what you will do and this is the best time for that since Flacco is improving and could be a really great QB in his prime years. Whether they win a Super Bowl is another story, Reed & Lewis are old but they still have Suggs. Also he has terrific weapons in Boldin and Torrey Smith. Both still have some years left and as long as they're around, Flacco will be solid.
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