Max Scherzer and Joe Flacco don't play the same position, or the same sport.
But they both know the spotlight. Being a starting pitcher means every play starts with the ball in your hands. Being a starting quarterback means the same thing. There's an inherent center-of-attention-ness that comes with both spots.
And on Thursday night, both earned every right to have all eyes on them.
Scherzer pitched the Toronto Blue Jays past the Seattle Mariners to even the ALCS at two games apiece.
Flacco was magnificent in leading the Cincinnati Bengals to a 33-31 win over the Pittsburgh Steelers on Thursday Night Football.
In the process, they made a unique bit of history.
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OptaStats shared this gem on X:
"Thursday marked the first time ever a 40+ year old starting pitcher (Max Scherzer) won in the MLB postseason and a 40+ year old starting QB (Joe Flacco) won in the NFL on the same day."
Scherzer, 41, and Flacco, 40, can do a bit of an old-man handshake from afar.
The crazy part of this is that as long as Scherzer won and the NFL game avoided a tie, this would've been true on the flip side of proceedings, too, given that Steelers QB Aaron Rodgers is older than Flacco.
Athletes in this modern era have hung on longer thanks to advances in nutrition and medicine and training. But it's still not easy.
Scherzer and Flacco have been doing this a long, long time.
And maybe they aren't as good as they once were. But each of them is still as good once as he ever was.
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