Since the advent of the Super Bowl, 23 collegiate quarterbacks have won the Heisman Trophy.
When the Carolina Panthers and the Arizona Cardinals meet in Sunday night’s NFC Championship Game in Charlotte, North Carolina, it will be the first time two Heisman-winning starting quarterbacks will meet in the NFL playoffs, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Cardinals’ quarterback Carson Palmer, 36, won the award in 2002 after his senior season at Southern California. Eight years later, Caronia quarterback Cam Newton, 26, won at Auburn while leading the Tigers to a national title.
Overall, 24 Heisman-winning quarterbacks have been on NFL rosters since the Super Bowl began, but few of them have had an impact on their teams and even fewer have had actual playoff success as a member of the active roster.
Heading into the 2015 season there were only seven Heisman-winning quarterbacks on active NFL rosters, including Sam Bradford, Marcus Mariota, Jameis Winston, Johnny Manziel and Robert Griffin III. All of these players were drafted by franchises that were downtrodden and hoping that their new quarterback could be the savior. Of these quarterbacks, Griffin III is the only one that has participated on the playoffs.
Palmer and Newton have combined for seven playoff games. Newton earned his first postseason win (in four attempts) last season against the Cardinals in the wild-card game, but Palmer didn’t play because of a torn ACL in his left knee. Palmer’s first playoff win (in three attempts) came Saturday night against the Green Bay Packers. Both Palmer and Newton are playing in their first conference championship game.
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Graham Watson is the editor of Dr. Saturday on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at dr.saturday@ymail.com or follow her on Twitter! Follow @YahooDrSaturday
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