How Shohei Ohtani’s Nlcs Heroics Stack Up Against Tom Brady’s Super Bowl Li Comeback

This station is portion of a larger database looking astatine immoderate of nan apical individual performances successful each of sports history. Check retired nan afloat database here.

When two-way awesome Shohei Ohtani turned his slugging slump into nan top crippled successful shot history successful Game 4 of nan National League Championship Series, it started a chat successful nan Sports Illustrated newsroom: What are immoderate of nan different apical individual performances successful sports? And really do they comparison to Ohtani’s 10 strikeouts and 3 location runs?

When it comes to nan NFL, look nary further than Tom Brady for a nonstop comparison betwixt 2 of nan top to ever do it astatine their positions successful their respective sports. But does what nan Patriots backmost did successful nan infamous 28–3 Super Bowl LI comeback stack up statistically to Ohtani’s two-way masterclass?

During nan Patriots’ rally backmost from 28–3, Brady was 26-of-33 pinch 284 yards and 2 touchdowns. / Al Tielemans/Sports Illustrated

I thought astir getting tiny pinch this, and going pinch Larry Fitzgerald’s chaotic 2008 postseason that astir resulted successful nan Cardinals upsetting nan Steelers successful Super Bowl XLIII, aliases what Aaron Donald did successful Super Bowl LVI, aliases moreover Doug Williams’s 2nd 4th successful Super Bowl XXII. But nan easy reply present is nan correct one—Tom Brady becoming nan first backmost ever to triumph 5 Super Bowls by starring nan Patriots backmost from a seemingly-insurmountable 28–3 shortage against nan Falcons successful 2017. The Falcons took that lead pinch 8:31 near successful nan 3rd quarter, and Brady had to beryllium conscionable astir cleanable from that constituent guardant for New England to moreover person a chance. He was. In nan Super Bowl, against a defense that looked excessively accelerated for nan Patriots complete nan first two-and-a-half quarters, and successful a business wherever nan Falcons knew New England had to throw, Brady was 26-of-33 for 284 yards, 2 scores and a 122.73 passer rating. There’s nothing, rather simply, successful NFL history that compares to it. 

Greater than Ohtani? Is it nan balanced of Ohtani's 10-strikeout, three-homer game? Ehhhh ... I deliberation you’d person to find a two-way subordinate from nan past to spell there, and I’m not judge there’s a singular capacity by immoderate yesteryear Travis Hunter to lucifer up pinch that. —Albert Breer

In a pre-fantasy shot era, Gale Sayers wowed pinch six touchdowns astatine Wrigley Field against nan 49ers. / Bettmann Archive

Gale Sayers’s six touchdowns vs. nan 49ers

While this wasn’t a both-sides-of-the-ball performance, it did consciousness for illustration Bears rookie Gale Sayers was transcending thing erstwhile he fundamentally levitated complete a sloppy and disgusting Wrigley Field to people six touchdowns against nan 7–6 49ers backmost successful 1965. Sayers scored connected an 80-yard pass, 21-yard rush, 7-yard rush, 1-yard unreserved and 85-yard punt return. Today we often—consciously aliases not—judge performances done a imagination lens, which tends to adversely impact nan measurement we look astatine humanities games that included outlier statistical performances. In this case, Sayers was not only ascendant successful nan passing game, rushing crippled and connected typical teams, but was overcoming plays successful which he was fundamentally dormant to authorities successful nan backfield, hurdling defenders spilling into his path. He was besides throwing immoderate crushing blocks connected nan punt return. Remarkably, he was not nan only Bears subordinate returning punts. Today, we’d beryllium capable to person this capacity quantified not only arsenic a imagination player, but by immoderate metric that encompassed his blocking ability, nan magnitude of yards aft first interaction and nan number of defenders he displaced successful nan passing game. At immoderate point, possibly nan only useful usability for AI tin beryllium to revisit and explanation those performances nether nan aforesaid metric, truthful Sayers gets immoderate much-deserved love.

Greater than Ohtani? While Sayers’s six-touchdown capacity is incredible, I still consciousness challenged to comparison it to what occurred successful nan NLCS. Ohtani’s ascendant pitching capacity was Ruth-ian, successful an era wherever each athletes are optimized, not drunk aliases heavy smoking and are dialed into nan athletics twelvemonth round. —Conor Orr

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