Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

In the Packers-Falcons NFC Championship, Matt Ryan became only the fourth NFL quarterback to throw for four touchdowns and run for another in a playoff game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The others: Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Tobin Rote.

Thought this was an interesting bit of trivia. I think Rote's performance is the most impressive because it occurred in a title game. Rote is also one of three QBs to win titles with two different teams, although I don't think he is 'officially' recognized for this because one of his titles is with the AFL Chargers.

Bryan wrote:In the Packers-Falcons NFC Championship, Matt Ryan became only the fourth NFL quarterback to throw for four touchdowns and run for another in a playoff game, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. The others: Rodgers, Peyton Manning and Tobin Rote.

Thought this was an interesting bit of trivia. I think Rote's performance is the most impressive because it occurred in a title game. Rote is also one of three QBs to win titles with two different teams, although I don't think he is 'officially' recognized for this because one of his titles is with the AFL Chargers.

And the only QB to win championships in both the NFL and the AFL.

Tobin Rote is one of a handful of QBs to win multiple championships and not be in the HoF. As far as I can tell, the others are Tommy Thompson, Jack Kemp, and Jim Plunkett. Wouldn't enshrine any of them, myself.

bachslunch wrote:Tobin Rote is one of a handful of QBs to win multiple championships and not be in the HoF. As far as I can tell, the others are Tommy Thompson, Jack Kemp, and Jim Plunkett. Wouldn't enshrine any of them, myself.

I think Rote's ability to run the football, in a day when QB's didnt do that (he used to hold all the QB rushing and TD records in the NFL) and his success throwing it for the bad Green Bay teams he played for, plus his championship performances for Detroit and San Diego (and he led the AFL in passing rating in 1963, as he did for GB in 1952) were enough to warrant being in the HOF. He certainly wouldn't embarrass it any by his presence, especially in today's era when whether or not a QB won a title (Super Bowl, now) seems to be the thing he has to have to get in.

This will probably hold no weight with anyone here, but nonetheless he had a then record smashing season for the Toronto Argonauts in the CFL in 1960 and played there 2 more years as well, QB-ing 2 playoff teams and 1 Division champion. I can only guess it was "money" that caused him to play in CFL for 3 seasons rather than the NFL or AFL. (To be fair, his last 2 seasons with Detroit were not good. It may be he had no choice.)

Rote had a superb season with Toronto in 1960...it's hard to understand why he wasn't selected as the all-star QB instead of Sam Etcheverry. However, he, and the Argos, tailed off in 1961 and then bottomed out in 1962. That 1960 Toronto team finished first in the East with a 10-4 record and had a good shot at winning the Grey Cup except that they couldn't handle Ottawa, who won 5 out of 6 meetings including both ends of the two game total point Eastern Final.