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A couple of years ago on the July 4th holiday, I looked at each team’s franchise nemesis in a number of statistics. Let’s revisit that, beginning today with passing yards and passing touchdowns.

You won’t be surprised to know that John Elway has thrown for more yards against the Chiefs, Chargers, Raiders, and Seahawks — his four division rivals — than any other player has gained against those four teams. Similarly, Dan Marino has thrown for more yards against the Bills, Jets, Patriots, and Colts than any other quarterback. Brett Favre threw for more yards than anyone else against the Lions, Bears, and Vikings (but not the Bucs), and Peyton Manning is the top nemesis for the Oilers/Titans franchise, the Jaguars, and the Texans.

Drew Brees is the big enemy of the Bucs, Panthers, and Falcons, while Ben Roethlisberger is the top passer against the Ravens, Bengals, and Browns. Perhaps more surprising is that Eli Manning has already thrown for more yards against Philadelphia, Washington, and Dallas than any other quarterback: that’s particularly surprising since he wasn’t #1 against any of those teams two years ago.

One that always kind of surprises me is seeing Johnny Unitas as number 1 against the 49ers, but it does make some sense. My guess is you could win quite a few bar bets with that one. Here’s the full list, which includes all passing yards thrown by each quarterback against each of the 32 teams (and includes playoff games):

TeamQuarterbackYardsG
DETBrett Favre942037
BUFDan Marino880134
NYJDan Marino865130
CHIBrett Favre860636
NWEDan Marino777132
MINBrett Favre759532
INDDan Marino753733
SEAJohn Elway713631
KANJohn Elway677630
SDGJohn Elway654831
OAKJohn Elway615329
STLJoe Montana606924
HOUPeyton Manning585220
MIATom Brady584226
ATLDrew Brees578619
PHIEli Manning563924
DALEli Manning563022
DENDan Fouts561222
JAXPeyton Manning553820
TAMDrew Brees536719
CINBen Roethlisberger525923
TENPeyton Manning518320
CARDrew Brees517318
GNBFran Tarkenton497828
PITWarren Moon491922
WASEli Manning480421
CLEBen Roethlisberger459520
BALBen Roethlisberger450119
NYGTony Romo448420
ARITroy Aikman445121
SFOJohnny Unitas409619
NORJoe Montana401918

If we switch to passing touchdowns, there are ten changes: Tom Brady replaces Marino as top dog against the Bills, while Peyton Manning replaces Marino as public enemy number one of the Patriots. John Hadl (Denver), Steve Young (Atlanta), Warren Moon (Cincinnati), Terry Bradshaw (Cleveland), Joe Theismann (!!!) (Arizona), Philip Rivers (Kansas City), and Jim Hart (Washington) are the others:

TeamQuarterbackTDsG
NYJDan Marino7230
DETBrett Favre6137
CHIBrett Favre6036
BUFTom Brady5826
MINBrett Favre5532
INDDan Marino5433
HOUPeyton Manning4820
NWEPeyton Manning4723
DALEli Manning4622
MIATom Brady4526
SEAJohn Elway4431
DENJohn Hadl4323
TAMDrew Brees4119
JAXPeyton Manning4020
STLJoe Montana3924
PHIEli Manning3924
NYGTony Romo3920
SDGJohn Elway3831
OAKJohn Elway3829
ATLSteve Young3820
CINWarren Moon3720
TENPeyton Manning3520
GNBFran Tarkenton3328
CLETerry Bradshaw3322
NORJoe Montana3318
CARDrew Brees3118
BALBen Roethlisberger3119
ARIJoe Theismann3118
SFOJohnny Unitas3019
KANPhilip Rivers2919
PITWarren Moon2722
WASJim Hart2726

Happy 4th of July, and leave your thoughts in the comments!

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