A Small Look at Game Winning Drive Statistics

So.... I am not saying that Tebow will always win when his team trails in the 4th quarter, and I am not saying he will be the best late-game quarterback that ever lived. However, I thought it might be fun to take a quick look at Tebow's comebacks versus some of the best ever.

Since data about who had the most game-winning drives the fastest is hard to find, we decided, here at Fact-Based Football, to take a quick peak at the QB's considered to be the #1 and #4 Game-Winning Drive QB's of all time (as compiled by Pro-Football-Reference (PFR), see:  NFL Career Game-Winning Drives Leaders). Those 2 QB's are Dan Marino and John Elway. According to PFR, Marino had 47 career game-winning drives, Elway had 40 and Tebow has 3 in 8 career starts.

So what is the point??

How many starts did it take for these 2 great QB's to get their first 3 game-winning drives? For Elway, he got his 3rd game-winning drive in his 23rd game, a 16-13 win against the Chargers on 12/9/84.  Marino got his 3rd game-winning drive in his 19th game start, a 31-17 win against (ironically) the Jets on 11/4/84. Stats on the the first 3 game-winning drives for the QB's are listed below.

Now I am not saying that Tebow will reach or surpass these two Hall-of-Famers in game-winning drives. What I am saying is that after only 8 starts, he certainly has a head-start.

Tebow's first 3 games with Game-Winning Drives:

								Passing									Rushing
Year	G#	Date	Age	Tm		Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rate	Y/A	AY/A	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	Notes
2010	15	2010-12-26	23-134	DEN		HOU	W 24-23	16	29	55.2%	308	1	1	89.4	10.62	9.76	10	27	2.70	1	4QC / GWD
								Passing									Rushing
Year	G#	Date	Age	Tm		Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rate	Y/A	AY/A	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	Notes
2011	6	2011-10-23	24-070	DEN	@	MIA	W 18-15	13	27	48.1%	161	2	0	91.7	5.96	7.44	9	59	6.56	0	4QC / GWD
2011	10	2011-11-17	24-095	DEN		NYJ	W 17-13	9	20	45.0%	104	0	0	61.2	5.20	5.20	8	68	8.50	1	4QC / GWD

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/18/2011.

Elway's first 3 games with Game-Winning Drives:

								Passing									Rushing
Year	G#	Date	Age	Tm		Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rate	Y/A	AY/A	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	Notes
1983	15	1983-12-11	23-166	DEN		BAL	W 21-19	23	44	52.3%	345	3	0	101.0	7.84	9.20	3	23	7.67	0	4QC / GWD
Year	G#	Date	Age	Tm		Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rate	Y/A	AY/A	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	Notes
1984	11	1984-11-11	24-136	DEN	@	SDG	W 16-13	19	35	54.3%	188	0	0	69.7	5.37	5.37	6	25	4.17	0	4QC / GWD
1984	15	1984-12-09	24-164	DEN		SDG	W 16-13	18	31	58.1%	193	0	1	63.0	6.23	4.77	7	23	3.29	0	GWD

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/18/2011.

Marino's first 3 games with Game-Winning Drives:

								Passing									Rushing
Year	G#	Date	Age	Tm		Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rate	Y/A	AY/A	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	Notes
1983	10	1983-11-06	22-052	MIA	@	SFO	W 20-17	15	29	51.7%	194	2	0	96.0	6.69	8.07	5	10	2.00	0	GWD
1983	14	1983-12-04	22-080	MIA	@	HOU	W 24-17	17	26	65.4%	195	1	1	84.6	7.50	6.54	1	4	4.00	0	4QC / GWD
								Passing									Rushing
Year	G#	Date	Age	Tm		Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	Int	Rate	Y/A	AY/A	Att	Yds	Y/A	TD	Notes
1984	10	1984-11-04	23-050	MIA	@	NYJ	W 31-17	23	42	54.8%	422	2	2	85.6	10.05	8.86	4	4	1.00	0	4QC / GWD

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table
Generated 11/18/2011.