The Brock Osweiler Index: Young Quarterbacks Who Just "Knew How to Win"

Brock Osweiler spent most of last Sunday being lambasted in real-time for his continued poor play in Houston. Rodney Harrison called him a terrible football player at halftime. Then, Osweiler made some nice throws late, and the Texans came back and won in overtime.

That result means that, despite not doing anything particularly well statistically (Osweiler is across the board below average in yards per attempt, completion percentage, touchdown rate, interception rate, and sack rate), Osweiler’s teams are now 9-4 in games he has started in his career.

He just knows how to win.

So in honor of Osweiler, here is your Osweiler Index of quarterbacks with at least 10 starts. These are the quarterbacks who had the highest winning percentage through age 26, while posting below average passing stats (all players on this list had a Adjusted Net Yards per Pass Index below 95, where a score of 100 is average and lower scores are worse).

Osweiler is currently atop the list, just ahead of Vince Young. He also has the worst passing stats of anyone on this list. It’s mostly not a great list for future prospects. Terry Bradshaw and Randall Cunningham are easily the two best here, and they also had the most starts, and started at a young age. Cunningham was very raw and struggled his first two seasons, before putting up pro bowl seasons at ages 25 and 26, rushing for a lot of yards, and leading the Eagles to the playoffs. Bradshaw started right away as the first overall pick, and was 8-13 as a starter before the Steelers then became a powerhouse.