Norm Van Brocklin Is The Leader in Average Length of Passing Touchdown

by Chase Stuart on June 8, 2015

NVB loved to go deep

During the 2013 season, I crunched the numbers to determine that Chris Johnson was the career leader in average length of rushing touchdown (since then, his average has dropped to 25.8, allowing Robert Smith to regain the top spot). Last year, I did the same analaysis to show that Homer Jones is the career leader in average length of receiving touchdown. Today, we look at the average length of passing touchdowns for over a hundred quarterbacks.

The table below shows the average and median length of touchdown passes for each quarterback with at least 125 career passing touchdowns. Playoff touchdowns are included in this data set. Norm Van Brocklin is your career leader, although it is Otto Graham who is the leader in median touchdown length; as such, the Van Brocklin/Graham debate must rage on.

Rk	Quarterback	TDs	Avg	Median
1	Norm Van Brocklin	175	31.2	26
2	Otto Graham	188	30.5	27.5
3	Sid Luckman	146	29.4	26
4	Bart Starr	167	27.8	22
5	Jim Hart	211	27.7	21
6	Earl Morrall	164	27.4	21
7	Tobin Rote	156	27.3	21
8	Babe Parilli	180	27.2	21.5
9	Daryle Lamonica	183	27.2	23
10	John Hadl	245	26.9	20
11	Len Dawson	246	26.8	20
12	Y.A. Tittle	248	26.7	20
13	Charley Johnson	170	26.6	19
14	Johnny Unitas	297	26.6	20
15	Bobby Layne	197	26.5	23
16	Joe Namath	176	26.3	20
17	Sammy Baugh	191	26.1	24
18	John Brodie	218	25.8	20.5
19	Chris Chandler	174	25.4	18.5
20	Norm Snead	196	25.3	19
21	Frank Ryan	155	25.2	20
22	George Blanda	242	24.8	17
23	Sonny Jurgensen	255	24.7	17
24	Charlie Conerly	177	24.6	21
25	Steve Grogan	185	24.6	20
26	Jim Plunkett	175	24.6	19
27	Craig Morton	192	24.5	18
28	Don Meredith	138	24.2	16.5
29	Roman Gabriel	204	23.9	16
30	Bernie Kosar	140	23.7	16
31	Ken O'Brien	130	23.7	16.5
32	Chris Miller	126	23.6	19
33	Steve Bartkowski	161	23.5	18
34	Ken Anderson	206	23.3	16
35	Randall Cunningham	219	23	16
36	Fran Tarkenton	353	22.9	17
37	Roger Staubach	177	22.8	18
38	Joe Montana	318	22.8	15
39	Jeff Garcia	168	22.5	15.5
40	Richard Todd	128	22.5	18.5
41	Jim Kelly	258	22.2	15
42	Jeff George	163	22.2	16
43	Jim Harbaugh	135	22.1	14
44	Ron Jaworski	189	22.1	16
45	Daunte Culpepper	157	21.9	16
46	Terry Bradshaw	242	21.9	17
47	Bert Jones	125	21.8	16
48	Jake Delhomme	138	21.8	15
49	Dan Fouts	266	21.7	18
50	Lynn Dickey	146	21.6	13.5
51	Archie Manning	125	21.4	15
52	Jeff Blake	134	21.4	13
53	John Elway	327	21.4	17
54	Tony Romo	250	21.3	14
55	Tommy Kramer	162	21.2	15
56	Joe Ferguson	202	21.2	15
57	Jim Everett	210	21.2	17
58	Ken Stabler	213	20.9	16
59	Joe Flacco	173	20.8	15
60	Steve Young	252	20.7	12.5
61	Trent Green	164	20.7	15.5
62	Neil Lomax	138	20.7	15
63	Kerry Collins	220	20.4	14
64	Danny White	170	20.4	14.5
65	Neil O'Donnell	129	20.3	14
66	Warren Moon	308	20.3	14
67	Brad Johnson	173	20.3	14
68	Boomer Esiason	251	20.3	15
69	Aaron Rodgers	249	20.2	11
70	Billy Kilmer	160	20	13.5
71	Carson Palmer	225	20	12
72	Brian Sipe	154	19.9	17
73	Alex Smith	131	19.9	14
74	Steve Beuerlein	148	19.8	13
75	Joe Theismann	171	19.8	14
76	Vinny Testaverde	281	19.8	15
77	Phil Simms	209	19.7	16
78	Eli Manning	276	19.5	12
79	Bob Griese	202	19.4	13
80	Aaron Brooks	129	19.3	15
81	Drew Brees	420	19.3	13
82	Dan Marino	452	19.2	12
83	Steve McNair	180	19.2	12.5
84	Ben Roethlisberger	270	19.2	12
85	Dave Krieg	272	19.2	14
85	Michael Vick	136	19.2	12
87	Donovan McNabb	258	19.1	10
88	Philip Rivers	263	19	13
89	Peyton Manning	568	19	13
90	Steve DeBerg	199	18.8	11
91	Troy Aikman	188	18.7	11.5
92	Brett Favre	552	18.7	13
93	Marc Bulger	126	18.7	14
94	Mark Brunell	195	18.6	12
95	Kurt Warner	239	18.4	11
96	Matthew Stafford	135	18.3	11
97	Rich Gannon	191	18.3	14
98	Matt Schaub	132	18.2	10.5
99	Jon Kitna	171	18.2	11
100	Bobby Hebert	138	18.1	11
101	Matt Ryan	190	18	10
102	Jake Plummer	168	17.7	10
103	Drew Bledsoe	257	17.7	11
104	Matt Hasselbeck	221	17.5	14
105	Jay Cutler	185	17.2	11
106	Tom Brady	445	16.8	9

As you can see, Tom Brady is last on the list in both average and median touchdown length. Among players with more than 80 touchdown passes, Brady is the only one who has thrown at least half (225 of 445) his touchdown passes from inside of 10 yards. Last year, 18 of Brady’s 33 regular season touchdown passes were 9 yards or shorter, as were 5 of his 9 touchdown throws (all five came from inside the 5-yard line).

If we drop the minimum to 25 touchdown passes, Christian Ponder and Ryan Tannehill would replace Brady; each has an average passing touchdown length of just 13.8 yards. Tannehill does have a slightly more respectable median length of 10 yards, at least relative to Ponder’s 8.5 yards. But Sam Bradford takes the cake, with a median touchdown length of just 7.0 yards!

For those curious, Andrew Luck is at 20.9 and 13.0, Andy Dalton is at 19.6 and 12.5, Cam Newton 21.4 and 16.0, and Russell Wilson 18.1 and 13.0.

You may not think of quarterbacks like Bart Starr and Len Dawson as downfield, aggressive throwers, but they certainly fare well here. Of course, the lack of any short touchdown passes helps boost their averages.

Take a minute to bask in the verticalness of Chris Chandler. There are 21 quarterbacks with an average passing touchdown length of at least 25 yards. Only two played in the ’80s: Jim Hart, who retired in 1984, and Chandler, who retired in 2004. If we were to era-adjust things, Chandler would surely stand out as one of the leaders in this metric (as would Hart, who ranks 5th despite playing into the ’80s).

Among active players with at least 40 touchdown passes, here are the quarterbacks with an average passing touchdown length of at least 20 yards: RGIII (22.8, but median of just 10.5), Nick Foles (21.8, 15.5), Newton (21.4, 16.0), Tony Romo (21.3, 14.0), Luck (20.9, 13.0), Joe Flacco (20.8, 15.0), Colin Kaepernick (20.5, 12.0), Aaron Rodgers (20.2, 11.0), and Carson Palmer (20.0, 12.0).

What stands out to you?

{ 17 comments }