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Unlike most sports writers, I don’t know a lot about what will happen this season. But there’s one thing I do know: the Denver Broncos aren’t going to rank 32nd again in pass attempts again. The Tebow Broncos, an offense with an inexperienced quarterback and a confused offensive coordinator, completed just 217 passes last season. That was the lowest in the league, and the lowest since the ’09 Jets, a team that boasted the number one rushing attack and defense in the league — and Mark Sanchez.

Setting aside those years where the league scheduled more games in the following season, the table below shows the teams with the largest increase in completions from one year (that’s the year listed in the table) to the next:

Year	Tm	Cmp N	Cmp N+1	Difference	QB Year N	QB Year N+1	HC Year N	HC Year N+1
1978	SFO	190	361	171	Steve DeBerg	Steve DeBerg	Pete McCulley [1]In 1978, the 49ers fired McCulley after 9 games and Fred O'Connor coached the rest of the season.	Bill Walsh
2000	TAM	237	362	125	Shaun King	Brad Johnson	Tony Dungy	Tony Dungy
2004	ARI	299	419	120	Josh McCown	Kurt Warner	Dennis Green	Dennis Green
1998	CHI	284	404	120	Erik Kramer	Shane Matthews	Dave Wannstedt	Dick Jauron
1993	NWE	289	405	116	Drew Bledsoe	Drew Bledsoe	Bill Parcells	Bill Parcells
2000	CIN	207	322	115	Akili Smith	Jon Kitna	Dick LeBeau [2]In 2000, Bruce Coslet was the Bengals coach to start the season, but he resigned after three straight blowouts to begin the year.	Dick LeBeau
1957	PHI	99	214	115	Bobby Thomason	Norm Van Brocklin	Hugh Devore	Buck Shaw
2006	ATL	222	336	114	Michael Vick	Joey Harrington	Jim Mora	Bobby Petrino
1983	MIA	254	367	113	Dan Marino	Dan Marino	Don Shula	Don Shula
1994	DET	250	362	112	Dave Krieg	Scott Mitchell	Wayne Fontes	Wayne Fontes
1978	BAL	202	313	111	Bill Troup	Greg Landry	Ted Marchibroda	Ted Marchibroda
2008	MIN	267	377	110	Gus Frerotte	Brett Favre	Brad Childress	Brad Childress
2008	SEA	262	372	110	Seneca Wallace	Matt Hasselbeck	Mike Holmgren	Jim Mora
1989	HOU	295	399	104	Warren Moon	Warren Moon	Jerry Glanville	Jack Pardee
2001	SEA	258	361	103	Matt Hasselbeck	Matt Hasselbeck	Mike Holmgren	Mike Holmgren
1988	NWE	199	302	103	Doug Flutie	Steve Grogan	Raymond Berry	Raymond Berry
1979	HOU	195	296	101	Dan Pastorini	Ken Stabler	Bum Phillips	Bum Phillips
1996	SEA	261	359	98	Rick Mirer	Warren Moon	Dennis Erickson	Dennis Erickson
1999	PHI	235	331	96	Doug Pederson	Donovan McNabb	Andy Reid	Andy Reid
1993	MIN	315	409	94	Jim McMahon	Warren Moon	Dennis Green	Dennis Green
1985	CLE	222	315	93	Bernie Kosar	Bernie Kosar	Marty Schottenheimer	Marty Schottenheimer
1993	NOR	274	366	92	Wade Wilson	Jim Everett	Jim Mora	Jim Mora
1992	DEN	258	350	92	John Elway	John Elway	Dan Reeves	Wade Phillips
1972	PHI	184	275	91	John Reaves	Roman Gabriel	Ed Khayat	Mike McCormack
1950	GNB	140	231	91	Tobin Rote	Bobby Thomason	Gene Ronzani	Gene Ronzani
2011	DEN	217	–	–	Tim Tebow	Peyton Manning	John Fox	John Fox

The 1978 49ers ranked 24th out of 28 teams in completions; the next year, they led the league. As discussed in this post on expansion teams, Walsh spent eight years in Cincinnati as one of the game’s brightest offensive minds, but was snubbed for the head coaching job with the Bengals. He spent a year as the offensive coordinator in San Diego and two as the head coach of Stanford before returning to the NFL with the 49ers in 1979. Walsh didn’t waste any time in getting his West Coast offense implemented: in addition to overseeing the team that led the league in completions, his second draft pick with the team was Joe Montana. After turning the team over to Montana in 1980, the 49ers led the league in completion percentage in ’80 and ’81, winning the Super Bowl in Walsh’s third season in San Francisco.

The Broncos will need 389 completions this season to break the record. Assuming good health, that’s not an unattainable goal. Manning has topped that number three times all by himself, including in 2009 and 2010. There are few ways to improve your passing quality and quantity like going from Pete McCulley and Fred O’Connor to Bill Walsh, but I think going from Tim Tebow to (a healthy) Peyton Manning may be one of them.