This week at the New York Times, I look at what offensive records may be set this season.
Peyton Manning remains on schedule to break the single-season touchdown and passing records. With 41 touchdowns in 12 games, he needs 10 in his final four games to break Tom Brady’s single-season record of 50 passing touchdowns. The tougher record will be the yardage mark, set by Drew Brees in 2011 with 5,476 yards. Manning is on a pace for 5,500, leaving little margin for regression.
But we have come to expect superlative performances from Manning. Much more surprising is that Philadelphia’s Nick Foles has several records in his sights:
■ Foles, the Eagles’ backup quarterback to begin the season, has thrown for 19 touchdowns with no interceptions. The record for most touchdowns to start a season without an interception is 20, set by Manning this year.
■ Foles has thrown for a touchdown on 9.7 percent of his passes, the highest rate in the league. Since 1970, only three quarterbacks — Brady in 2010, Steve Young in 1992 and Ken Anderson in 1981 — have led the league in both touchdown rate and interception rate in the same season.
■ The highest touchdown rate in a season was produced by Sid Luckman of the Bears in 1943 (13.9 percent). Foles will not be able to get to that record, but he could set a post-World War II record (10.0 percent, set by another Eagle, Adrian Burk, in 1954) or a postmerger record (9.9 percent, by Manning in 2004).
■ The single-season passer rating record was set by Aaron Rodgers in 2011 at 122.5; Foles, remarkably, has a 125.2 rating with four games remaining.
■ The record for most pass attempts without an interception is 127, set by the Colts’ Paul Justin in 1996. Even if Foles throws one interception, he can set the record for interception rate among qualifying passers as long as he throws 245 or more passes. That record is held by Damon Huard, who threw one interception on 244 passes in 2006 (0.4 percent).
One other quarterback has a possible record in view: San Diego’s Philip Rivers has completed 70 percent of his passes this season. He would need a strong finish to break the record of 71.2 percent set by Brees in 2011. Even if he falls short of Brees, if Rivers continues to complete 70 percent of his passes, he will join Brees, Ken Anderson, Steve Young, Joe Montana and Sammy Baugh as the only quarterbacks to complete such a high percentage in a season.
You can read the full article here.