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There aren’t many shared birthdays among NFL starting quarterbacks. Teddy Bridgewater and Drew Lock were born four years apart on November 10th, making them the only shared birthday among players with 1,000 passing yards last season. The March 2nd birthday has been held by Ben Roethlisberger alone for a long time, but Tua Tagovailoa — both on the same date 16 years later — arrives just in time to carry that date’s mantle. And watch out: the next decade of the NFL could be defined by Kyler Murray (born August 7th, 1997) and Jalen Hurts (born August 7th, 1998). As for the presumptive number one pick in the 2020 Draft?  Well, Joe Burrow may wind up being the career leader in passing yards by a player born on December 10th by the end of his rookie season.

But when it comes to NFL birthdays, there’s no date that can compare to today.  Drew Bledsoe — born on Valentine’s Day, 1972 — ranks 16th on the all-time passing yards list, and he’s only the third best quarterback born on this date.  Hall of Famer Jim Kelly was born a dozen years before Bledsoe, and Steve McNair was born February 14th, 1973.  There are only 47 quarterbacks with 30,000 passing yards, and three of them were born today.  David Garrard ranks 142nd on the all-time passing yardage list with over 16,000, which is pretty darn good for the 4th best quarterback born on a calendar date.  In fact, no other calendar date has four passers of note (May 17th is the only other day to give us four quarterbacks who hit even 7,500 yards).

And Patrick Ramsey, who ranks as the 5th best February 14th passer, has more yards than any other player who ranks fifth on his birthday’s passing list. The same is true of Anthony Wright at #6, although that’s where the fun stops. With Christian Hackenberg — yes, he celebrating his 25th birthday today — failing to gain any traction in the NFL, May 11th remains the only birthday with seven 1,000-yard passers.

The graph below shows the career passing yards for each birthday for all of NFL history. With over 137,000 passing yards, February 14th is easily the leader: [continue reading…]

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Passing Yardage Will Always Be For Lovers

Passing is for lovers

There have been 44 quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for at least 30,000 yards. Given enough time, you could probably guess that Drew Bledsoe, Jim Kelly, and Steve McNair are three of them. All three have something else in common: they were all born on February 14th.

If we drop the cut-off to 16,000 yards, we jump to 137 quarterbacks but get to include David Garrard, another Valentine’s Day baby. But wait, there’s more: If we drop the threshold to 3,500 passing yards, we get to include Patrick Ramsey and Anthony Wright. Those guys may not impress you, but consider that only 334 players have thrown for 3,500 yards. That means dozens of days have zero quarterbacks with 3,500 yards — including New Year’s Day, Cinco De Mayo, Halloween, and Christmas Eve — so slotting in Ramsey and Wright as QB5 and QB6 on your birthday dream team is pretty damn good. [continue reading…]

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There have been 35 quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for at least 30,000 yards. Given enough time, you could probably guess that Drew Bledsoe, Jim Kelly, and Steve McNair are three of them. All three have something else in common: they were all born on February 14th.

If we drop the cut-off to 16,000 yards, we jump to 130 quarterbacks but get to include David Garrard, another Valentine’s Day baby. But wait, there’s more: If we drop the threshold to 3,500 passing yards, we get to include Patrick Ramsey and Anthony Wright. Those guys may not impress you, but consider that only 322 players have thrown for 3,500 yards. That means dozens of days have zero quarterbacks with 3,500 yards, so slotting in Ramsey and Wright as QB5 and QB6 on your birthday dream team is pretty damn good.

By now, regular readers will have picked up on the fact that this post is a blatant ripoff of Doug’s original post back in 2008, which I updated two years ago. In terms of total career passing yards through the entire history of the league, today has an enormous lead on the second-best birthday, March 24, which consists entirely of Peyton Manning, Aaron Brooks, and Scott Brunner.  Put simply, passing yardage is for lovers, with maybe an exception or two for a certain linebacker or running back.

If you’re looking to give birth to an NFL quarterback, let me give you a word of comfort: one need not be so precise with their delivery dates. That’s because tomorrow, February 15th, is another outstanding day for quarterbacks, ranking in the top five for passing yards. It’s the birthday of Football Perspective love icon John Hadl, a (perhaps) one-day-Hall-of-Famer in Ken Anderson, and former Raider Marc Wilson. So my parenting advice to you is to circle May 14 and May 15 on your calendars, to give yourself a little wiggle room.

Oh, and happy 22nd birthday to one man who is most certainly not a lover of quarterbacks: Jadeveon Clowney.

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There have been 35 quarterbacks in NFL history to throw for at least 30,000 yards. Given enough time, you could probably guess that Drew Bledsoe, Jim Kelly, and Steve McNair are three of them. All three have something else in common: they were all born on February 14th.

If we drop the cut-off to 16,000 yards, we jump to 125 quarterbacks but get to include David Garrard, another Valentine’s Day baby. With 366 possible birthdays, it’s pretty incredible that four out of a random group of 125 people would have the same birthday. Consider that no one born on any the following seven days — January 30th, March 4th and 30th, April 9th and 13th, and June 12th and 21st — has ever gained a single passing yard in NFL history. [1]Even February 29th has a couple of representatives, led by Dick Wood and his 7,153 passing yards.

But wait, there’s more: If we drop the threshold to 3,500 passing yards, we get to include Patrick Ramsey and Anthony Wright. Those guys may not impress you, but consider that only 310 players have thrown for 3,500 yards. That means dozens of days have zero quarterbacks with 3,500 yards, so slotting in Ramsey and Wright as QB5 and QB6 on your birthday dream team is pretty damn good. February 13th, for example, has Jim Youel as its top passer, and he only collected 849 yards. Yesterday’s number two slot goes to the greatest receiver of all-time to ever play with Aaron Brooks (106 yards), outpacing Drew Henson and his 98 career yards. Clearly, passing yardage is for lovers. [2]Long-time readers will recognize that this post is a blatant ripoff of Doug’s classic Passing Yardage is for Lovers, published five years ago to the day.
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References

References
1 Even February 29th has a couple of representatives, led by Dick Wood and his 7,153 passing yards.
2 Long-time readers will recognize that this post is a blatant ripoff of Doug’s classic Passing Yardage is for Lovers, published five years ago to the day.
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