NFL playoffs to miss Mahomes, Brady and Manning for first time since 1998 season

John Elway and Dan Marino were still starting quarterbacks, Tom Brady was a little-known college player at Michigan and at least six starting quarterbacks for potential 2025 playoffs teams weren't even alive the last time the NFL had a postseason like this.

With Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs officially eliminated from playoff contention, the upcoming playoffs will be the first since the 1998 season that don't feature at least one of Mahomes, Brady or Peyton Manning at quarterback.

Those three prolific passers have defined the past quarter-century of NFL football, especially when it comes to the postseason. Since Manning made his playoff debut in his second season in 1999, at least one of those quarterbacks has been on center stage almost every January.

In the past 26 seasons, that trio combined for 42 playoff berths, 96 postseason starts, 66 playoff wins and 12 Super Bowl titles with Brady winning seven, Mahomes three and Manning two.

At least one of the three made it to the conference championship weekend in 20 of the 26 postseasons — including either Brady or Mahomes in the last 15 — with 18 Super Bowls featuring at least one, including when Brady beat Mahomes in Super Bowl 55 following the 2020 season.

Brady and Mahomes stand on top of the leaderboard when it comes to several postseason quarterback stats, including wins (Brady 35, Mahomes 17) and TD passes (Brady 88, Mahomes 46).

The absence of Mahomes and the Chiefs could open the door for someone like Josh Allen or Lamar Jackson to make their first Super Bowl trip or even give an opportunity to a newer generation that features six quarterbacks whose teams are currently in playoff position who weren't born during the 1998 playoffs: Drake Maye, C.J. Stroud, Trevor Lawrence, Bo Nix, Caleb Williams and Brock Purdy.

Carolina's Bryce Young could be a seventh if the Panthers surpass Tampa Bay in the NFC South race.

The quarterbacks from that 1998 postseason featured five future Hall of Famers in Elway, Marino, Steve Young, Troy Aikman and Brett Favre; other longtime quarterbacks like Vinny Testaverde, Mark Brunell and Randall Cunningham; as well as Chris Chandler, Jake Plummer, Doug Flutie and Scott Zolak.

Elway finished that postseason run by winning his second straight Super Bowl for Denver over Chandler and the Atlanta Falcons. He retired after that game with Marino, Young and Aikman following in the next two years.

New England seemed ready to clinch the AFC East after racing out to a 21-0 lead over Buffalo on Sunday. The Patriots had won 72 straight games in the regular season and playoffs when leading by at least 21 points with the last loss coming back in 2011 against Buffalo.

Well, it happened again, as Josh Allen led the Bills back for a 35-31 win and their first comeback from 21 points down since that Week 3 game 14 years ago.

Buffalo improved to 6-149 in their history after trailing by at least 21 points with the most famous rally coming in the 1992 wild-card round when the Bills overcame a 35-3 deficit to beat Houston 41-38 in overtime.

But big comebacks have been prevalent this season with Week 15 marking the second time this season that six teams overcame double-digit deficits to win in the same week with it also happening in Week 5. There have been only five other weeks in NFL history with at least six double-digit comebacks with the last before this year coming in Week 13 of the 2013 season.

The other comeback winners this week featured Atlanta rallying from 14 points down on Thursday night to beat Tampa Bay, while the Chargers, Rams, Saints and Seahawks overcame 10 point deficits on Sunday.

There have been 30 double-digit comebacks in all this season, far short of the record of 50 set in 2022.

Cincinnati and Las Vegas combined to give the NFL a rare double-shutout week.

The Bengals lost 24-0 to Baltimore and the Raiders fell 31-0 to Philadelphia, marking the first time since Week 7 of the 2019 season that two teams were shut out on the same weekend.

There have only been seven shutouts all season, with the Raiders the victim of two of them, having also lost 31-0 in Week 7 at Kansas City. Those two bleak performances put Las Vegas in some rare company.

The Raiders are the 13th team in the Super Bowl era to get shut out by at least 31 points in the same season with the only other team to do it in the last 27 seasons being the 2021 Texans.

Las Vegas finished with 75 yards of offense on Sunday — the fewest in a game the past two seasons and second fewest in franchise history — after being held to 95 against the Chiefs. The last team to be held to fewer than 100 yards of offense twice in a season was Seattle in 1992. The Seahawks scored 140 points that season for the fewest ever in a season of at least 16 games.

The Bengals had a rarity of their own in their loss as they failed to score a point despite having the ball for 39:19. That's the highest time of possession since at least 1991 for a team when getting shut out, besting the 36:56 for the Raiders in a 52-0 loss to the Rams in 2014.

Inside the Numbers dives into NFL statistics, streaks and trends each week. For more Inside the Numbers, head here.

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Philadelphia Eagles linebacker Jalyx Hunt (58) grabs Las Vegas Raiders quarterback Kenny Pickett (15) during the second half of an NFL football game Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

A Cincinnati Bengals fan wears a paper bag over their head after a loss to the Baltimore Ravens in an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Jeff Dean)

Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen (17) runs against New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez (0) and safety Jaylinn Hawkins (21) during the second half of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) passes as Buffalo Bills defensive end Greg Rousseau (50) applies pressure during the second half of an NFL football game in Foxborough, Mass., Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes (15) gets rid of the ball during the second half of an NFL football game against the Los Angeles Chargers Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Kansas City, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

TORONTO (AP) — After a short and unsuccessful stint in the major leagues, Cody Ponce was pitching in Asia and still trying to find a mental approach that worked for him on the mound.

So he started emulating his brother-in-law, NFL star George Kittle. That led to a huge turnaround for Ponce and a $30 million, three-year contract with the AL champion Toronto Blue Jays this offseason.

“He helped me bring out my inner child again,” Ponce said Tuesday night on a video call with reporters. “And that was something that I felt like I was lacking for the two years prior while I was in Japan.”

A journeyman career changed dramatically in 2025 as Ponce went 17-1 over 29 starts with the Hanwha Eagles in South Korea. He had 252 strikeouts and a 1.89 ERA, helping him win the MVP award in the KBO.

Ponce gave credit to his wife, family, teammates — and Kittle, the spirited San Francisco 49ers tight end. Ponce is married to Kittle’s older sister, Emma, and he noticed how her not-so-little brother keeps things playful on the gridiron at times despite the sport’s obvious physicality and intensity.

“I saw the way he was playing the game of football and was not in awe, but (more) in this view of, wow, you can play such an angry game and be having fun at the same time. But yet still have this type of tenacity, this type of drive, this type of competitiveness, and be doing it all at the same time.

“I was like, that is something that I want to try to figure out."

Ponce said he's adjusted his approach so he feels more like a Little Leaguer again. He has made it a point to watch “Star Wars” — sometimes the movies, sometimes the TV series — before every start.

The 6-foot-6, 255-pound right-hander, who signed with the Blue Jays last week, is also focused on his body, putting in three to four hours a day of recovery work, activation, alignment and training.

On the mound, he credited former teammate — and former Blue Jays pitcher — Hyun Jin Ryu with helping him expand his arsenal by not relying on one type of off-speed pitch.

“Two types of cutters, two types of curveballs, two types of changeups,” said Ponce, who also throws a splitter and a mid-90s (mph) fastball. “Creating different pitches, and just the pitchability.”

Kevin Gausman and Dylan Cease, who recently signed a $210 million, seven-year contract with the Blue Jays, will anchor a Toronto rotation that appears to be one of the deepest in baseball.

Ponce joins a mix of starters that also includes Shane Bieber, Trey Yesavage and José Berríos. Bowden Francis, Eric Lauer and others could also factor in.

“I want to win baseball games,” Ponce said. “I want to win a World Series. So anything that I can do to be the best help that I can to this team, that’s what I’m going to do.”

The 31-year-old native of Pomona, California, said he got a chance to watch some of the Blue Jays’ playoff run last October. Toronto made it to the World Series before losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers in seven games.

“The competitive nature of the team, the atmosphere that you can see on the bench during games — everybody was very lighthearted, but everybody was still very dedicated to wanting to win a ballgame each and every single night,” he said.

Ponce was selected by the Milwaukee Brewers in the second round of the 2015 amateur draft. He made his big league debut with Pittsburgh in 2020 and went 1-7 with a 5.86 ERA over parts of two seasons with the Pirates.

Ponce split time in Japan between the Nippon Ham Fighters and Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2022-24. He was 15-24 with a 4.54 ERA over three seasons.

He also spent several months in Japan’s minor leagues before his breakout season in South Korea.

“I just wanted to go out there and perform the best I could and try to (create) a possibility of coming back with at least one offer,” he said. “And then this kind of all happened.”

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/mlb

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle jumps to touch the goalpost before an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) breaks a tackle by Tennessee Titans safety Kendell Brooks, left, during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) celebrates his touchdown with center Jake Brendel (64) during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) celebrates a first down catch during the first half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

San Francisco 49ers tight end George Kittle (85) celebrates a first down during the second half of an NFL football game against the Tennessee Titans, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025, in Santa Clara, Calif. (AP Photo/Jed Jacobsohn)

FILE - Pittsburgh Pirates relief pitcher Cody Ponce throws to a Washington Nationals batter during the third inning of a baseball game, Sept. 10, 2021, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic, File)