Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Weeks 11 and 12
• Week 13
• Week 14
• Week 15

Was this the best game of Tom Brady‘s career? Blaspehmy, you say. Given the year and the opponent, that’s probably true. Against Miami in 2007, Brady had a game where he went 21 for 25 for 354 yards with 6 touchdowns and no interceptions and one sack, putting up a perfect 158.3 passer rating and averaging 17.85 ANY/A. That went down as the 17th highest single-game ANY/A performance since 1970. New England opened that game with touchdowns on each of their first four drives, and five out of their first six.

But this may have been, statistically speaking, Brady’s second most efficient performance ever, at least without any opponent or era adjustments. Against the Lions, Brady completed 22 of 27 passes for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns, with no interceptions and just one sack. One of about 100 games since 1970 where a quarterback averaged at least 15 ANY/A on 20+ passes. The Bucs scored a touchdown on 5 of their first 6 drives, picking up a whopping 405 yards. That was all in the first half, which was more than enough: Brady did not return to the game after halftime, with the Bucs ahead 34-0.

The full week 16 passing stats below.

Baker Mayfield was the worst passer of the week, but there’s a decently large asterisk there: the Browns were down two starters on the offensive line (including the team’s first round pick, left tackle Jedrick Wills), and the team’s top four wide receivers Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and KhaDarel Hodge — in addition to Odell Beckham. So for Mayfield, his top two wide receivers were Marvin Hall and Ja’Marcus Bradley, who both played nearly every snap in their first game ever in a Browns uniform. The results were not very good.

The other notable event of the week was Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs losing the passing efficiency battle and still winning, something that is very rare in Kansas City these days.  But sometimes it does come down to the kicking game, and for Kansas City, Harrison Butker  hit a 53-yarder in the 4th quarter while Younghoe Koo missed a 39-yard field goal in the final seconds that would have forced overtime. The Chiefs also had a decided advantage in the rushing game, picking up 9 first downs on 20 carries to Atlanta’s four on 21 attempts.

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Weeks 11 and 12
• Week 13
• Week 14

The entire NFL had a passer rating of 99.1 in week 15, while averaging 6.91 ANY/A; in other words, the average quarterback this weekend was better than the average performance by Steve Young. So let’s focus on a couple of the rare duds.

A few weeks ago, Ben Roethlisberger was enjoying the high life as the quarterback of the 11-0 Pittsburgh Steelers. But after dropping three straight games, the situation is now ugly in Pittsburgh, and Roethlisberger is a big part of the problem. He is averaging an anemic 5.18 yards per attempt and 8.44 yards per completion over the last month of the season. On Monday Night Football, the Steelers lost to the Bengals in one of the biggest upsets in franchise history. Roethlisberger produced the worst passing performance of week 15: he threw for only 6 first downs on 38 pass attempts (plus 1 sack), making it one of the most anemic Steelers passing attacks of the last two decades.

Meanwhile, in Washington, Dwayne Haskins threw 55 times and somehow still didn’t reach 300 passing yards. It was even uglier through three quarters: he was 25 of 36, but for just 192 yards with only 10 first downs, and 2 interceptions and a sack. And then, somehow, his week got even worse.

The full week 15 passing stats, below. [continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Weeks 11 and 12
• Week 13

[continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Weeks 11 and 12

[continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10

[continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9

[continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8

[continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7

[continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6

[continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5

Passing efficiency was way down in week 6. While passing stats were outstanding at the beginning of the season, the league-wide passer rating this week was just 85.4. There were only 46 touchdown passes and a whopping 28 interceptions along with 55 sacks, while completion percentage was just 61.3%. Nowhere was the efficiency drop more obvious than with Aaron Rodgers, who had arguably the worst game of his career. He averaged 0.72 ANY/A, the first time in his career he’s been under 1.0 ANY/A for a game since he became a starter. He and Joe Flacco battled it out for the worst performance of the week, with the Jets new starter only having the advantage of a higher number of below-average passing plays. Flacco also produced an unholy 15% passing first down rate, easily the worst mark of the week.

Matt Ryan, Deshaun Watson, and Jimmy Garoppolo were the top passers in a down week. Each averaged over 13.0 Adjusted Yards per Dropback, and Garoppolo in particular had a huge turnaround from his disastrous week five performance. The 49ers had the best passing first down rate of the week at 48%; San Francisco has been all over the map this season in terms of passing first down rate, including a 50% rate in week 3 and a 20% rate in week 5. Ryan was brilliant and had his 8th game with 4 TDs and 0 INTs; perhaps the most remarkable thing about that stat is this was just his fifth win in those games. As for Watson, more on him in a moment.

Below are the week 6 passing stats. [continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4

In 2015, Ryan Fitzpatrick had a breakout year for the Jets at the age of 33; not only did he post the first winning season of his career, but he set a career high in both yards and touchdowns. In 2016, Fitzpatrick and the Jets had a contract dispute that lasted nearly the entire offseason; he struggled in ’16, and looked to be finished.

Since then? He’s been a backup in Tampa Bay, posted league-leading efficiency numbers in Tampa Bay, been a backup in Miami, played well in Miami, been a mentor to a rookie in Miami, produced a two-incompletion game with the Dolphins, and … at almost 38 years old, just posted the top passing performance of week five of the 2020 season.

On the road in San Francisco, Fitzpatrick had 30 dropbacks and gained 342 yards, with 3 TDs and no interceptions. He also scrambled once, for a 17-yard first down. That gave him 13 first downs on 31 dropbacks, but his day was marked mostly by big plays: there was a 70-yard completion to Mike Gesicki, 47- and 32-yard deep passes to Preston Williams, a screen to Matt Breida that went for 31 yards (all YAC), and two deep passes to DeVante Parker for 28 and 22 yards.

The second-best passing performance of week five belongs to another former Jets quarterback: Teddy Bridgewater. The former Vikings star was signed by New York in 2018, but traded before ever playing a game with the Jets. Bridgewater’s raw stats were pleasing enough to the eye — 313 yards, 2 TDs, no interceptions or sacks — but it was the first down rate that set him apart. He picked up a first down on 18 of 37 dropbacks, and five of Carolina’s eight drives ended in scores. That was the second-highest first down rate of the week, slightly behind Ryan Tannehill’s 50% rate.

The full week 5 passing stats, below. [continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2
• Week 3

Pick a random week since 2012, and you wouldn’t be surprised to see Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, and Tom Brady as the top 3 quarterbacks, would you? Add in another great game from Drew Brees, and it was an excellent week for the quartet of future Hall of Famers. Perhaps the four best quarterbacks of the last decade combined to throw for 1,302 yards and 13 touchdowns in week 4, with three interceptions and five sacks on 143 dropbacks. They picked up 69 first downs, for a whopping 48.2% passing first down rate. Meanwhile, in the city that never sleeps, the two quarterbacks selected early in the first round in the 2018 and 2019 Drafts were the two worst passers of the week.

The full week 4 passing data below: [continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats
• Week 2

There are only a handful of games a year where a quarterback throws 35+ passes and still picks up a first down on half his dropbacks. NFL fans were treated to two of them this week.

On Sunday, 49ers backup Nick Mullens had an outstanding performance despite playing with a depleted roster. The 49ers did not punt or turn the ball over and scored 36 points. The 49ers were just the 14th team since 1970 to pull off that hat trick, and Mullens was a big reason why. Mullens averaged nearly ten yards per attempt, and of his 25 completions, 19 went for first downs. PFR’s passing first down data only goes back to 1999, but this was the most pass attempts in a game by San Francisco in a game where the team picked up a first down on
at least half of their dropbacks (including sacks).

Of course, the next night, Patrick Mahomes had to one up him. Mahomes had 42 pass attempts and did not take a sack; he threw for a first down on 22 of his pass attempts as the Chiefs punted just one time. Mahomes also scrambled four times and picked up two more first downs, including a touchdown. The final tally for Mahomes: 46 plays, 24 first downs, 5 TDs.

Below are the week 3 passing stats. [continue reading…]

Previously:

• Week 1 Passing Stats

Kirk Cousins had a very bad day on Sunday. He averaged -1.38 ANY/A against the Colts, an unspeakably bad performance from an above-average quarterback most weeks. Since 2010, there have been just 22 other times where a quarterback finished with below -1.00 ANY/A, and most of those quarterbacks were very bad.

It was bad on all fronts. He threw 3 interceptions and took 3 sacks, so there were plenty of negative plays. He also threw for only five first downs. His completion percentage was bad, too, and he only averaged 10 yards per completion. The passing offense gained just 95 net yards, and obviously negative adjusted net yards.

How bad was it? Carson Wentz was a disaster on Sunday, throwing for only 242 yards on 43 pass attempts, with 0 TDs, 2 INTs, and only 13 first downs. But in terms of passing value added relative to average, Cousins’s performance was twice as bad as Wentz’s was.

How bad was it? The Vikings finished with a passer rating of 13.0. The last time a team won with a passer rating under 15.0 and their opponent did not have a passer rating under 15.0, was way back in 2008, when the Panthers and Jake Delhomme threw 4 INTs but still beat the Andrew Walter-led Oakland Raiders. If you are wondering why that previous sentence had to be so clunky, it’s because yes there was in fact a game where both teams had passer ratings under 15.0 in recent memory: a 2010 disaster of a game featuring Todd Collins, Matt Moore, and Jimmy Clausen.

On the plus side, we have Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who had the best passing game of his career in week two. The 2018 first round pick finally had his first 300-yard game in week 1 of the 2020 season, and promptly followed that up with his first 400-yard game on Sunday. The 2020 season represents just 6.7% of Allen’s career games played to date, but 12.3% of his career passing yards. Allen became just the 20th player to throw for 400+ yards and have a passer rating of 145.0+ in NFL history; of course, just one of those games came before 1984, with the majority coming in the last ten years.

Below are the full week 2 passing stats. As a reminder, the new formula to calculate Adjusted Yards per Dropback is (Passing Yards + 9 * Pass 1st Downs + 11 * Pass TDs – 45 * INTs – 50 * Fumbles Lost) divided by (Pass Attempts + Sacks). In week 2, the average was 9.37, slightly up from 9.20 in week 1. So for each passer, we multiply his number of dropbacks by the difference between his AdjYd/DB average and 9.37 to create a passing value.
[continue reading…]

In week 1 of the 2019 season, Lamar Jackson had a breakout performance that foreshadowed his MVP season. And while his performance in week 1 of the 2020 season wasn’t quite as dominant, it still was the most effective passing performance — at least, statistically — of any quarterback in week one.

I like to post the weekly passing numbers and analyze which quarterbacks had the most valuable stat lines. I am going to tweak the formula a bit this year. The normal formula is based on Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, which is (Passing Yards + 20*Passing TDs – 45*INTs – Sack Yards Lost) divided by (Pass Attempts + Sacks). But this year, I will make a couple of changes. I will incorporate a first down bonus of 9 yards, and since all touchdowns are also first downs, that means the multiplier on touchdowns will be 11 instead of 20. In addition, I am going to include a penalty of 50 yards for fumbles. So the new formula is (Passing Yards + 9 * Pass 1st Downs + 11 * Pass TDs – 45 * INTs – 50 * Fumbles Lost) divided by (Pass Attempts + Sacks).

Baltimore’s third-year quarterback went 20/25 for 275 yards with 3 TDs and 0 INTs against the Browns, while taking 2 sack and losing 14 yards. That means Jackson had 429 Adjusted Yards on 27 dropbacks, or 15.89 Adjusted Yards per Dropback. Overall, passers in week 1 averaged 9.20 Adjusted Yards per Dropback. To calculate passing value, we multiply that difference (15.89 – 9.20) by Jackson’s 27 dropbacks. Therefore, Jackson added 181 adjusted yards over average this week, the best of any passer. The way this formula works, all passers will sum to zero value over the week, since we are measuring value compared to average.

That means some quarterbacks will have to fare poorly, and nobody did worse than Carson Wentz. The Eagles passer went 24/42 for 270 passing yards, with 2 TDs, but that’s where the good stats end. Wentz threw 2 INTs and lost a fumble, and was sacked a whopping 8 times and lost 62 yards, and only picked up 13 first downs on his 50 dropbacks. Wentz averaged 4.14 Adjusted Yards per Dropback, which means he produced -253 Adjusted Yards relative to league average.

The full week 1, 2020, passing stats below: [continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11
• Week 12
• Week 13
• Week 14
• Week 15

Daniel Jones, Ryan Tannehill, and Ryan Fitzpatrick all began the season on the bench. But in week 16, these three threw for over 1,000 yards and 12 touchdowns.

On the other hand, a pair of third string quarterbacks were truly ugly on Sunday. Will Grier, who began the season as Carolina’s third option at quarterback, was the worst passer of the week. In his first NFL start he had 3 interceptions, 5 sacks, and zero touchdowns. Meanwhile, Pittsburgh — already down its first two options at quarterback this year — saw their playoff hopes dwindle after an ugly performance by Devlin Hodges against the Jets.

It was a weird week of NFL passing. Aaron Rodgers and Deshaun Watson were both bad: they combined to throw 0 touchdowns with 2 interceptions and 8 sacks. And yet both quarterbacks won, as Jameis Winston and Kirk Cousins were even worse.

The table below shows the week 16 passing stats. [continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11
• Week 12
• Week 13
• Week 14

It finally happened: last night, Drew Brees threw 4 touchdown passes, to pass Peyton Manning and to move into first place on the all-time passing touchdowns list. A few years ago, Bryan Frye detailed the history of the passing TD crown, from Benny Friedman to Manning.  Manning held the record for a little over 5 years, while Brees may not hold the record for very long at all if Tom Brady gets his way.  The shortest reign belongs to Bobby Layne, who held it for just over a year.

Oh, and Brees also set a record for the best completion in NFL history by a quarterback with more than 10 passes (trivia note: Kurt Warner holds the record, at 10, for most passes in a game without an incompletion).  Brees completed 29 of 30 passes, and he did that without taking a sack, either (Warner took two in his 10/10 game).  In the list of games with just one incompletion, everyone with more than 18 pass attempts had at least four sacks.  To complete 29 passes on 30 dropbacks is remarkable.  Only Steve Young (here)  and Warner (here) have had a game with 20+ attempts and less than three combined sacks and incomplete passes.

The table below shows the week 15 passing stats. The top passers of the week were Jameis Winston, Drew Brees, Lamar Jackson, and Russell Wilson, which is hardly surprising… but Dwayne Haskins also cracked the top group, along with Dak Prescott and Patrick Mahomes. The full week 15 passing stats below. [continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11
• Week 12
• Week 13

Patience is a virtue best served cold for Dolphins fans. It took six failed breakout seasons, but eventually, Dr. Kevorkian finally came for the Ryan Tannehill era in Miami. Maybe all Tannehill needed for his breakout season to be realized was to change teams?

On Sunday, Tannehill had yet another career game, completing 21 of 27 passes for 391 yards, with 3 TDs and one tipped interception. Shockingly, he didn’t take a single sack, for just the 7th time in his career. He threw for 15 first downs. In Tannehill’s last game with the Dolphins, he was seen throwing for just 8 first downs on 35 dropbacks (31 attempts, 4 sacks). His success in Tennessee is unsustainable — he’s not going to average 13.4 yards per completion or complete 73% of his passes — but he’s been legitimately great over the last two months. Nobody ever knows how the Ryan Tannehill Experience will change week to week, but it’s been a fun ride for a player who never could put it together for long with the Dolphins.

The table below shows the week 14 passing stats. [continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11
• Week 12

It has been a rough year for California quarterbacks Jared Goff and Aaron Rodgers. Prior to week 13, Goff’s last 16 regular season games had produced just 17 passing touchdowns against 18 interceptions, along with 16 fumbles. Rodgers has had an up-and-down year, and the murmurs are continuing to grow about whether his best days are behind him.

In week 13, however, the two Golden Bears had outstanding games. Goff threw for 424 yards and 2 TDs on 43 passes, with only one sack and no interceptions or fumbles in a blowout win over the Cardinals. It’s probably worth noting that 66% of Goff’s yards came after the catch, as his receivers finished with a whopping 282 YAC on Sunday. As for Rodgers, he threw 4 TDs and didn’t take a sack or throw an interception in a blowout win in the snow against the Giants.

The table below shows the week 13 stats.
[continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• Week 11

The story of week 12 was the dominance of the 2018 quarterback class, which is now headlined by Lamar Jackson. The Ravens sensation had his second game with 4 or more passing TDs and at least 75 rushing yards in 8 days; there had only been six of those games in the NFL from 1950 until two weeks ago.

Sam Darnold had the best game of his career in a blowout over the Raiders. The Jets young quarterback averaged a career high 10.86 yards per attempt, threw two touchdowns and ran for a third, and took just one sack.

Baker Mayfield also had a dominant performance, putting together a 327-yard, 3-TD game while completing 71% of his passes. Yes, his opponent was the Dolphins, but it continued the second half trend that Darnold and Mayfield seem to be exhibiting.

Josh Allen had the weakest game of the bunch, but was still efficient in a Bills victory. He averaged 6.73 ANY/A as a passer, but also rushed 8 times for 57 yards (excluding kneels), picking up 4 first downs, including 3 on third down.

The table below shows the week 12 passing stats. In general, this was a pretty rough week for passing, other than the 2018 class and the annual “Ryan Tannehill did what?” week of the year. In particular, Jeff Driskel, Brandon Allen, and yes, Aaron Rodgers, had miserable games. [continue reading…]

Which quarterbacks have provided the most passing value above average so far this season? The league is averaging 6.23 ANY/A so far this season, and passing value is calculated as simply ANY/A minus league average, with that difference multiplied by the number of dropbacks for each passer.

I am short on time today, so I’ll leave the commentary to you guys.

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10

In week 16 of the 1983 season, Lynn Dickey, Ron Jaworski, Joe Theismann, and a rookie John Elway each threw 4 interceptions. Four quarterbacks throwing four interceptions apiece in a single week was unusual even for the early ’80s, and it is downright unheard of now.

Well, I should say *was* unheard of in modern times. Because in week 11, for the first time in 36 years, four quarterbacks threw at least four interceptions. It started on Thursday Night Football, when Mason Rudolph threw four interceptions against the Browns. On Sunday, Jameis Winston had a casual 4-INT game, and Kyle Allen’s recent downward spiral resulted in an ugly 0-TD, 5 sack, 4-INT game against the suddenly dominant Atlanta Falcons defense. Rudolph and Allen were the worst two quarteracks of the week. Finally, last night, Philip Rivers threw four in a loss to the Chiefs, with Daniel Sorensen making a great grab to seal the game and capture the final interception of the week.

It was only two weeks ago when passing offenses had the best interception week ever: teams threw just 12 interceptions on 952 passes, a 1.26% interception rate. This week, there were 29 interceptions thrown on 1038 passes, a 2.79% interception rate.

The full week 11 passing stats below: [continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9

Lamar Jackson has rushed 92 times for 716 yards, a 7.8 yards per carry average (excluding his 14 kneels for -14 yards). Jackson has rushed for 37 first downs, which is more than Leonard Fournette, Nick Chubb, or Christian McCaffrey. He is a remarkably effective runner, on the level of Michael Vick if not better, while also being an exceptionally efficient passer.

For the second time this season, Jackson posted a perfect passer rating. He’s in the top 10 on the season in both passer rating and ANY/A, and if anything, that probably underrates him. He’s also scrambled 28 times for 285 yards, which probably should be included in his passing numbers and would increase his ANY/A by over 0.2 yards per passing play.

The other notable thing from week 10 was that Patrick Mahomes and Dak Prescott continued to produce at an MVP level but lost. In the case of Mahomes, a lot of things had to go wrong: running back Damien Williams had a fumble returned for a touchdown, Tyreek Hill and Sammy Watkins had huge drops, the game-tying field goal was blocked, an earlier field goal attempt was aborted due to a botched snap, and the Chiefs defense was shredded by Derrick Henry.  Not to mention Andy Reid getting overly conservative and kicking three field goals on 4th-and-2 or 4th-and-3.  That’s how the Chiefs lost despite yet another brilliant game from Mahomes, who had exactly one drive end in a punt or a Mahomes turnover.

As for Prescott, the blame for the Cowboys loss can be equally shared among Ezekiel Elliott and the Dallas defense.  Elliott and Kalen Ballage (Dolphins) both had nearly identical stat lines in week 10: each back rushed 20 times and picked up 0 first downs, the most carries by any running back in 2019 in a game without a first down (Ballage rushed for 43 yards; Elliott 47).   Meanwhile, the Dallas defense allowed 28 points on the first 7 drives of the game, with the average drive beginning on Minnesota’s 24-yard line.

The table below shows the week 10 passing stats. [continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8

There were no truly awful passing performances in week 9 of this NFL season. The 28 teams combined for a 98.8 passer rating and averaged 6.72 ANY/A, but one of the benefits of doing this each week is that you tend to notice weekly outliers. And this week, there were no *awful* passing performances. In 5 of the first 8 weeks of the 2019 season, at least one team had a negative ANY/A. In two others, at least one team had an ANY/A below 1.00. Week 1 of the 2019 season was an outstanding passing week, as you may recall, and the Bucs had the lowest ANY/A of the week at 1.51.

Daniel Jones was bad on Monday Night Football, but not abnormally bad. He averaged only 3.7 net yards per pass, which is of course terrible, but he had 1 TD and 1 INT. It was the sort of bad game that nobody will remember, and it was the worst passing performance of the week.

By traditional passing stats, Gardner Minshew probably ranks last, since he threw 0 TDs and 2 INTs. But Minshew threw for 309 yards and averaged 6.0 net yards per attempt. An ugly game, sure, but not a completely inept one. Here’s the crazy part: other than Minshew, Ryan Tannehill (who had a mediocre but not bad game) was the only other player to throw more INTs than TDs in week 9! That’s because the entire NFL — yes, the entire NFL — had a 1.26% interception rate in week 9! This week broke the single-week NFL record for INT%, previously set in week 8 of 2016 (1.27%). This week also smashed the record for TD/INT ratio, at a whopping 3.91. The previous high was 3.54, also set in week 8 of 2016.

But while it was a very good passing week, but it also was one without a superstar performance, either (Russell Wilson fans, please don’t @ me; he was excellent, but he averaged “only” 7.5 net yards per attempt, which brings down his ANY/A). This was the first week all year where no team averaged 11.0 ANY/A; the 49ers led the way at 10.26 ANY/A, which normally could never lead the league. So things were bunched in week 9, which was probably an outlier, but still merits watching going forward. And keep in mind this happened with Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, and Jared Goff (along with the Bengals) all on their bye weeks.

Below are the week 9 passing stats: [continue reading…]

Previous Passing Stats:

• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7

Jared Goff was the star of week 8, with a strong tip of the hat to Cooper Kupp: playing in London, Goff threw 31 passes and gained 372 yards with 2 TDs and no interceptions and no sacks.

Meanwhile, Sam Darnold and Kyle Allen were the worst passers of the week. The second-year quarterbacks combined for 15 sacks and 6 interceptions, while combining for just 19 passing first downs on 82 dropbacks (23%).

The full week 8 passing stats below:

[continue reading…]

Aaron Rodgers had the best game of his career – by pure ANY/A standards – in week 7. Meanwhile, Sam Darnold had the worst game of his short career, an embarassing performance where the entire Jets team looked outmatched.

I’m short on time today, so here are the full passing results from week 7.

Like most weeks, the team with the passing edge won the game; if anything, this was a more extreme week in that regard.

This was another rough week for passers, at least by 2019 standards. The most remarkable stat was the TD/INT ratio, which was just 35/32 in week six. The graph below shows the TD/INT ratio for each week since the start of the 2014 season; other than week 14 of 2016 (38 TDs, 36 INTs), this was the worst week of this period:

And if you weren’t watching the Falcons/Cardinals game, you probably thought week 6 was really ugly. Outside of that game, NFL teams threw for just 28 touchdowns across 26 teams, but the story of the week was in Arizona. Because once again, Matt Ryan in a losing effort is becoming a thing. Since the start of the 2018 season, Ryan has lost while averaging over 12.0 ANY/A and throwing for over 350 yards, lost while averaging over 11.0 ANY/A and throwing for over 400 yards, and now lost while averaging over 11.0 ANY/A and throwing for over 350 yards. Since the start of the 2018 season, there have been just 17 times when a quarterback has hit the 11.00 ANY/A and 350-yard thresholds; Ryan is 0-3 in these games, while the rest of the NFL is 14-0.

The reason Ryan lost, of course, was his defense, but some (much?) of the credit must go to Kyler Murray and the Cardinals, too (and some of the rest of the blame should go on the missed extra point at the end of the game). The number one overall pick had the best game of his young career on Sunday, and finished with the third best passing performance of the week. The full week 6 passing stats are below: [continue reading…]

Houston Texans quarterback Deshaun Watson is pretty darn good when he isn’t being sacked. On Sunday against the Falcons, for just the second time in his career, Watson played a game without being sacked. And now both times, he has thrown 5 TDs in those games. He also has a 3-sack, 5 TD game, meaning he’s played more games where he’s thrown 5 TDs than he’s avoided any sacks.

Against Atlanta, the Texans punted on their opening drive. After that, Houston scored on its other 8 drives in the game, discarding end of half/game drives. And most of those drives were touchdowns, with all of them covering at least 59 yards. Houston went 10/13 on third down conversions, averaged nearly 9 yards per play, and looked dominant against an overmatched Falcons pass defense.

Watson stood out as by far the best passer of week 5, overshadowing strong performances from Russell Wilson and Teddy Bridgewater. On the other side of things, Luke Falk and Baker Mayfield turned in two of the sorriest performances you’ll witness this season. Both finished with negative ANY/A, and the Jets and Browns combined for only 11 passing first downs.

The full week 5 passing numbers below:

As usual, the teams that won the passing battle won the game. But there were three notable outliers in week 5: the Steelers pass defense was great, but Pittsburgh still lost in overtime to Baltimore. Jacksonville won the passing battle against Carolina, but didn’t have Christian McCaffrey. And the Colts had a run-heavy and very efficient offense against the Chiefs, shutting down Kansas City enough times to steal the win.

What stands out to you?

It was a rough week for a lot of passers in week 4: there were just 39 touchdown passes by the 30 teams, and the league averaged only 5.82 ANY/A. There were a pair of 16-10 victories (NE/BUF, CAR/HOU) where all quarterbacks played poorly, a 16-6 victory that was pretty ugly (CHI/MIN), and a 12-10 matchup on Sunday Night (NO/DAL) that was equally hard to watch.

NFL teams have gotten very conservative in the passing game, and I’d suggest that they are far too conservative. Kirk Cousins did not throw an interception, but that’s because he showed no sign of aggressiveness. Take a look at his passing chart, and keep in mind that this does not show the six times he took a sack: [continue reading…]