Pass-happy NFL QBs shift into hyperdrive
Forget ground gains, this game’s all about throwing the ball now
Turn on a National Football League game at random. Watch one play. Was it a pass? Yeah, we thought so.
The days of short, “three yards and a cloud of dust” gains are long over. And it has become even more of a pass-happy league this season. (All statistics here are through Sunday’s games.)
Quarterbacks have passed for 400 yards in a game 12 times already. With only four weeks in the books, Kirk Cousins of the Minnesota Vikings has done it twice. Ryan Fitzpatrick — Ryan Fitzpatrick! — of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers has done it three times.
At this point last season, it had happened only once. And by the end of the season it happened only eight times, never more than once by the same quarterback.
Coming into this season, over a 133-game NFL career, Fitzpatrick had thrown just once for 400 yards: to be precise, 402 yards in a game in 2013.
Jared Goff of the Los Angeles Rams has this season’s biggest game with 465 yards against the Vikings on Thursday night. That exceeded his previous career high by more than 100 yards. Andrew Luck of the Indianapolis Colts nearly matched him, throwing for 464 against the Houston Texans on Sunday. That was his career high as well.
The league is averaging 256 yards passing per game. Last season it was 224, more than 30 yards fewer. Ten years ago it was 211. Twenty years ago it was 205.
In a typical game this season, teams threw 36 times and ran 25 times, a 59 per cent passing rate. Last season it was
56 per cent. Ten years ago it was 54 per cent. Twenty years ago it was 53 per cent.
Four times quarterbacks have thrown for five or more touchdowns in a game. Goff and Matt Ryan of the Atlanta Falcons have games with five touchdowns. Mitch Trubisky of the Chicago Bears and Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs have games with six touchdowns. Last season only Tom Brady of the New England Patriots and Deshaun Watson of the Texans threw five touchdowns in a game, once each. No one threw six.
Trubisky’s previous career high was two touchdowns in Week 2 this season. His career high coming into the season was one. Coming into this season Mahomes had played only one game, with no touchdowns.
Eleven quarterbacks are averaging 300 yards a game. Last season none did. Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers has 354 yards per game after having 283 last season. His career high is 328.
It’s quality, not just quantity. What if we take into account how many passes quarterbacks throw and penalize them for their interceptions? It turns out they’re still great this season.
Mahomes, Goff and Fitzpatrick all have an adjusted yards per attempt figure over 10. Last year, the highest figure among regular starters was Alex Smith’s 8.59. Only six players have finished a season over 10 in NFL history. Two of those, Sid Luckman and Otto Graham, played in the ’40s.
But not every quarterback can be Sid Luckman. Rookie Josh Allen is averaging 167 yards a game for the Buffalo Bills, and Tyrod Taylor of the Cleveland Browns is at 154. Before being benched in Arizona, Sam Bradford of the Cardinals was averaging 133.
And no matter how many great passers there are these days, there is always someone to bring down the average.
Nathan Peterman only made it through 2½ quarters in Game 1 for the Bills before being benched, presumably permanently. He threw 18 times. Those passes gained 24 yards.