Tom Brady Had The Best Passing Performance In Super Bowl In History

by Chase Stuart on February 5, 2018

Brady flexed his passing muscles in Super Bowl LII

Tom Brady had a Super Bowl performance for the ages. He completed 28 of 48 passes for 505 yards, with 3 TDs and 0 INTs, while taking only one sack (which, of course, was a strip-sack that ultimately decided the game). That translates to 560 Adjusted Net Yards (giving 20 yards for a touchdown and removing sack yards), which over 49 dropbacks, is 11.43 Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt.

In the regular season, the Eagles defense allowed just 5.10 Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt to opposing quarterbacks. Therefore, Brady was a whopping 6.32 ANY/A above expectation; over the course of 49 dropbacks, it means Brady produced 310 Adjusted Net Yards above expectation.

The beauty of this formula is that it inherently adjusts for both schedule and era. Below are the best passing performances in Super Bowl history. Nobody can match the efficiency over such a high number of passing plays as what Brady did last night:

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Rk	Player	Year	Tm	Opp	Result	ANY/A	Opp ANY/A	DrpBk	Diff
1	Tom Brady	2017	NWE	PHI	L 33-41	11.43	5.10	49	310
2	Joe Montana*	1989	SFO	DEN	W 55-10	13.23	3.89	30	280
3	Doug Williams	1987	WAS	DEN	W 42-10	12.17	3.77	30	252
4	Kurt Warner*	2008	ARI	PIT	L 23-27	8.64	3.17	45	246
5	Jim Plunkett	1980	OAK	PHI	W 27-10	14.55	3.44	22	244
6	Jake Delhomme	2003	CAR	NWE	L 29-32	9.59	3.26	37	234
7	Joe Montana*	1984	SFO	MIA	W 38-16	10.72	4.43	36	227
8	Terry Bradshaw*	1978	PIT	DAL	W 35-31	9.59	3.01	34	224
9	Steve Young*	1994	SFO	SDG	W 49-26	11.03	5.31	39	223
10	Troy Aikman*	1992	DAL	BUF	W 52-17	11.32	4.53	31	211
11	Joe Montana*	1988	SFO	CIN	W 20-16	9.53	4.46	40	203
12	Phil Simms	1986	NYG	DEN	W 39-20	12.42	4.89	26	196
13	Kurt Warner*	1999	STL	TEN	W 23-16	9.51	5.72	47	178
14	Jim McMahon	1985	CHI	NWE	W 46-10	12.05	4.00	21	169
15	Aaron Rodgers	2010	GNB	PIT	W 31-25	8.29	4.34	42	166
16	Terry Bradshaw*	1975	PIT	DAL	W 21-17	10.95	3.13	21	164
17	Joe Flacco	2012	BAL	SFO	W 34-31	9.54	4.88	35	163
18	John Elway*	1998	DEN	ATL	W 34-19	10.72	5.29	29	157
19	Bart Starr*	1966	GNB	KAN	W 35-10	8.65	2.86	26	150
20	Tom Brady	2003	NWE	CAR	W 32-29	7.69	4.74	48	142

Showing 1 to 20 of 135 entries

And what Nick Foles did last night was pretty darn good, too. He finished at +168, which would have been +213 if not for the tipped interception he threw last night. Foles was brilliant last night, but in a losing effort, Brady was even better — except on one play. Brady also set a record for most passing attempts in a playoff game while averaging over 10 yards per attempt.

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