History IS in 34 Year Old Hasselbeck's Favor [updated]

by: Chris Sullivan

Mr. Fancypants Weinberg posted on here yesterday about the lack of success of older quarterbacks in the league. His facts aren't wrong, per se, but they are a bit misleading. Most 34+ quarterbacks in this league are not starters, but backups. The gross majority of the stats should then be tied up in those with the greatest number of statistics -- if you've got more pass attempts, you should have more pass yards.

I thought I'd take a look at Hasselbeck's actual peer group: 34 year old starting quarterbacks (8 games or more, generally) who have been in at least one Pro Bowl this decade. Here's how it shook out:

Quarterback	Age	G	GS	QB Rtg
Jeff Garcia	35	6	5	65.1
	36	8	6	95.8
	37	13	13	94.6
	38	12	11	90.2
Kurt Warner	34	10	10	85.8
	35	7	5	89.3
	36	14	11	89.8
	37	16	16	96.9
Rich Gannon	34	16	16	86.5
	35	16	16	92.4
	36	16	16	95.5
	37	16	16	97.3
Brett Favre	34	16	16	90.4
	35	16	16	92.4
	36	16	16	70.9
	37	16	16	72.7
	38	16	16	95.7
	39	16	16	81.0
Trent Green	34	16	16	95.2
	35	16	16	90.2
	36	8	8	74.1
Brad Johnson	34	13	13	92.9
	35	16	16	81.5
	37	15	9	88.9
	38	15	14	72.0
Kerry Collins	36	16	15	80.2

The average quarterback rating of those quarterbacks' performances is 86.8. That's not great, but it is very competent. Many of these quarterbacks were at the helm during winning seasons, and some were at the top of their game in their mid-to-upper thirties (Garcia, Gannon, and Green jump to mind).

So, what does this show? Not necessarily a lick, but I think it is much more reasonable to believe that the verdict is very much still out on Matt Hasselbeck. In the words of NAMBLA members everywhere, "age ain't nothin' but a number." [Dear FBI: Sullivan's the one you want. I'm too pretty to go to prison. -Ed.] Hasselbeck is 34, but Peyton Manning is 32 -- in two seasons will people be claiming he's done? Somehow, I doubt it.

Update: Sando sez:

I looked from 1983 through 2008 for quarterbacks 34 and older who started at least 10 games and finished with passer ratings of 90 or higher. Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Vinny Testaverde, Rich Gannon, Joe Theismann, Warren Moon, Steve DeBerg, Brett Favre, Trent Green, Jeff Garcia, Steve Beuerlein, John Elway, Brad Johnson, Phil Simms, Dan Marino and Kurt Warner combined to do it 25 times in 26 seasons. Can Hasselbeck join the list?

END