Most courageous performance by a QB?

[Veeshik_ya]

Who is your vote for the most courageous performance by a quarterback?

A few qualifications:
1) Preference given to performances you've seen, not read about. If the written account is still palpable enough to include, please do, but note that.
2) Should be courageous in some way, i.e., not just statistically or athletically impressive.
3) Not limited to winning efforts.

My vote is Brett Favre, Minnesota Vikings, 2009 NFC Championship vs. New Orleans.

By this point in Favre's career, the big game choker label haunted him. The interceptions were piling up, and he couldn't shake the rep as a careless gunslinger who would lose a game as easily as win one. In his first year with the Vikings, he did an about face, answering his critics with 33 TDs against only 7 INTs. Entering the NFC title game against New Orleans, he was writing the final chapters in a storybook ending to a distinguished career. Moving down the field at the end of regulation, inching ever closer to winning field goal position, he thew the crushing pick to Porter that killed the game.

He came so close, but like all of us, he couldn't escape who he was.

The Saints beat the hell out of him that game. I can't recall seeing a player take that much abuse, and he kept getting up. Later, when the sordid details of the Saints program came out, he refused to blame them. That's a man.

Who do you vote for?

[Reaser]

Favre has a bunch of these: broken thumb, concussion but comes in and throws TD anyways, numerous injuries he played through, then of course the Raiders MNF game, etc.

Rivers playing with a torn ACL stands out, as well.

[Citizen]

It might not compare with the physical beating Favre often took (let's not forget him vomiting blood at midfield before leading the Packers over the Super Bowl-bound Steelers), but in terms of a QB literally getting up off the turf again and again, it's hard to discount Dave Krieg drilling Paul Skansi for the winning score in Kansas City after being sacked nine times.

[oldecapecod11]

John Unitas - Super Bowl III
Obviously in pain, Unitas came off the bench in Super Bowl III - a desperation move in an attempt vs. the AFL Jets.
He engineered the Colts' only score, a touchdown late in the game. Despite not playing until late in the third quarter,
Unitas finished with more passing yards than starter, Earl Morrall.
After an off-season of rehabilitation on his elbow, Unitas rebounded in 1969, passing for 2342 yards and twelve touchdowns
but the Colts were a disappointing 8-5-1 and missed the playoffs.

[Bryan]

Bobby Douglass throwing 4 TDs against the Bills in 1970...three of them after breaking the wrist on his throwing arm/hand. His long TD pass to Jim Seymour is the greatest thrown pass I have ever seen.

[Veeshik_ya]

Favre has a bunch of these: broken thumb, concussion but comes in and throws TD anyways, numerous injuries he played through, then of course the Raiders MNF game, etc.

Rivers playing with a torn ACL stands out, as well.

The Raiders MNF game is an example of mental courage, and certainly qualifies. After the death of a parent, it's akin to Buster Douglas defeating Tyson after the death of his mother. Although, that one certainly qualifies as physical courage as well.

Sticking to football, yeah, I forgot about Rivers. Great example. Most QBs would have opted to sit that one out. My opinion of Rivers changed after that.

[Veeshik_ya]

Bobby Douglass throwing 4 TDs against the Bills in 1970...three of them after breaking the wrist on his throwing arm/hand. His long TD pass to Jim Seymour is the greatest thrown pass I have ever seen.

That's pretty impressive.

[Evan]

In addition to those mentioned, some that come to mind off the bat:

- Steve DeBerg playing with a pin sticking out of his finger (I remember the closeup on TV nearly forced me to hurl)
- Just about every game Namath played, according to his teammates, who watched the huge syringes of fluid drained from his knee regularly and the beating he took throughout many contests, particularly the ones with the Raiders (Ike Lassiter, Davidson, etc.)
- Pastorini's first game with the flak jacket, how sure was he that thing would protect him?
- Matthew Stafford's TD pass with a ... was it a dislocated shoulder that he threw with?
- Aaron Rodgers "calf game" in this year's playoffs was pretty epic
- Kurt Warner, Billy Kilmer and Roger Staubach all have highlights in my mind of taking brutal beatings and coming back for more.

But with due respect to all those others, for me the most courageous performance by a QB is clear, decisive and utterly unanimous among the voices in my head. In fact, I'm not sure it can ever really be topped. That performance was:

Doug Williams, Super Bowl

Among the reasons I would say that are:

- Williams wasn't really very good and hadn't really shown he was capable of a masterful performance.
- He really had not been good at all in the playoffs, so the recent history was against him.
- He was playing against a good team that had just been to the Super Bowl the year before, and his counterpart was QB earmarked for the HOF.
- He had no RB that anyone ever heard of.
- He fell behind 10-0.
- He twists his knee in an excruciating looking play.
- Oh, and by the way, he's playing with all the weight on his shoulders of all of those who booed Jackie Robinson, hated Hank Aaron, terrorized Bill Russell, thought like Al Campanis, and wanted nothing more than to see him fail so they could keep on spouting all of their hateful rhetoric that makes decent people cringe at being considered part of their species.
And how did Mr. Williams respond? A performance that passed (no pun intended) every conceivable metric - the eye test (the passes were perfect), the stats test (the numbers were epic), and the drama test (the biggest performance on the biggest stage in the biggest moment of his life). To me, that's courage, and I'm proud to have witnessed it.

[Veeshik_ya]

To me, that's courage, and I'm proud to have witnessed it.

Great stuff on Williams. It had "overwhelmed by the moment" written all over it and he didn't flinch.

[BD Sullivan]

In addition to those mentioned, some that come to mind off the bat:

- Steve DeBerg playing with a pin sticking out of his finger (I remember the closeup on TV nearly forced me to hurl)
- Just about every game Namath played, according to his teammates, who watched the huge syringes of fluid drained from his knee regularly and the beating he took throughout many contests, particularly the ones with the Raiders (Ike Lassiter, Davidson, etc.)
- Pastorini's first game with the flak jacket, how sure was he that thing would protect him?
- Matthew Stafford's TD pass with a ... was it a dislocated shoulder that he threw with?
- Aaron Rodgers "calf game" in this year's playoffs was pretty epic
- Kurt Warner, Billy Kilmer and Roger Staubach all have highlights in my mind of taking brutal beatings and coming back for more.

But with due respect to all those others, for me the most courageous performance by a QB is clear, decisive and utterly unanimous among the voices in my head. In fact, I'm not sure it can ever really be topped. That performance was:

Doug Williams, Super Bowl

Among the reasons I would say that are:

- Williams wasn't really very good and hadn't really shown he was capable of a masterful performance.
- He really had not been good at all in the playoffs, so the recent history was against him.
- He was playing against a good team that had just been to the Super Bowl the year before, and his counterpart was QB earmarked for the HOF.
- He had no RB that anyone ever heard of.
- He fell behind 10-0.
- He twists his knee in an excruciating looking play.
- Oh, and by the way, he's playing with all the weight on his shoulders of all of those who booed Jackie Robinson, hated Hank Aaron, terrorized Bill Russell, thought like Al Campanis, and wanted nothing more than to see him fail so they could keep on spouting all of their hateful rhetoric that makes decent people cringe at being considered part of their species.
And how did Mr. Williams respond? A performance that passed (no pun intended) every conceivable metric - the eye test (the passes were perfect), the stats test (the numbers were epic), and the drama test (the biggest performance on the biggest stage in the biggest moment of his life). To me, that's courage, and I'm proud to have witnessed it.

Didn't he also just undergo a root canal a few days earlier?