Getty Images
The NFC playoffs give us the NFL’s oldest quarterback game ever this weekend. In the AFC, it’s a different story.
All four of the starting quarters whose teams advanced to the AFC playoffs are 25 or younger. This is the first time ever that all four starting quarters in the playoffs division in one conference were 25 or younger.
On Saturday, Lamar Jackson, who has just turned 24, takes on Ravens’ full-back Josh Allen, who is 24 and 9 months old. On Sunday, 25-year-old Chiefs full-back Patrick Mahomes takes on 25-year-old Browns full-back Baker Mayfield.
Mayfield, Allen and Jackson were all the first rounds in the NFL draft in 2018, and it’s also the first time three quarters of the same first round have played out in the same conference’s divisions.
Jackson vs. Allen is only the fourth division round between the backs of 24 or younger in the Super Bowl era. The three previous cases were Dan Marino against Bernie Kosar after the 1985 season, Daunte Culpepper against Aaron Brooks after the 2000 season and Mahomes against Deshaun Watson last year.