Week 17 And Year-End Passing Stats: Mahomes Dominates In Historic Fashion

by Chase Stuart on December 31, 2018

Let’s start with the obvious: Patrick Mahomes was never bad. He had 7 games this season where he averaged at least 10.0 AY/A, 11 games where he averaged at least 9.0 AY/A, and 15 games where he averaged at least 7.0 AY/A. His worst statistical game of the season came against a good Jaguars defense in a game that got out of hand in Kansas City’s favor early.

The Chiefs also became the first team in history to score at least 26 points in every game; the 1998 Minnesota Vikings had been the previous champion in this category, having scored at least 24 points in every game.

Mahomes finished with 50 touchdown passes, 11 more than every other quarterback in the league. He averaged 8.13 Net Yards per Pass Attempt, a half-yard better than every other full-time starter in the league (Ryan Fitzpatrick has a way of mucking up these stats), and threw for over 5,000 passing yards. Mahomes led the league with a remarkable 8.89 ANY/A average, the 6th best in modern history.

The table below shows the final passing leaders for the 33 quarterbacks who threw enough pass attempts to qualify for the passing crown. That’s all 32 teams plus both quarterbacks for Tampa Bay. The league average ANY/A this season was a remarkable 6.32, which tops 2015 (6.26) for the most efficient passing season in NFL history. Mahomes, with an 8.89 AY/A average over 606 dropbacks, meaning he provided 1,554 Adjusted Net Yards of value over average. That easily led the league:

Rk	Quarterback	Tm	Age	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Sk	Yds	ANY/A	Value
1	Patrick Mahomes*	KAN	23	580	5097	50	12	26	171	8.89	1554
2	Drew Brees*	NOR	39	489	3992	32	5	17	121	8.47	1087
3	Matt Ryan	ATL	33	608	4924	35	7	42	296	7.71	903
4	Jared Goff*	LAR	24	561	4688	32	12	33	223	7.69	809
5	Philip Rivers*	LAC	37	508	4308	32	12	32	204	7.79	790
6	Tom Brady*	NWE	41	570	4355	29	11	21	147	7.26	556
7	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	36	675	5129	34	16	24	166	7.04	503
8	Russell Wilson	SEA	30	427	3448	35	7	51	355	7.28	456
9	Ryan Fitzpatrick	TAM	36	246	2366	17	12	14	76	8.04	446
10	Aaron Rodgers*	GNB	35	597	4442	25	2	49	353	6.96	414
11	Andrew Luck	IND	29	639	4593	39	15	18	134	6.95	410
12	Deshaun Watson	HOU	23	505	4165	26	9	62	384	6.87	311
13	Carson Wentz	PHI	26	401	3074	21	7	31	202	6.89	245
14	Baker Mayfield	CLE	23	486	3725	27	14	25	173	6.77	231
15	Mitchell Trubisky	CHI	24	434	3223	24	12	24	143	6.59	124
16	Nick Mullens	SFO	23	274	2277	13	10	17	127	6.74	120
17	Kirk Cousins	MIN	30	606	4298	30	10	40	262	6.48	101
18	Jameis Winston	TAM	24	378	2992	19	14	27	157	6.38	24
19	Dak Prescott	DAL	25	526	3885	22	8	56	347	6.22	-62
20	Eli Manning	NYG	37	576	4299	21	11	47	358	6.21	-73
21	Cam Newton	CAR	29	471	3395	24	13	29	213	6.15	-85
22	Andy Dalton	CIN	31	365	2566	21	11	21	157	6.05	-107
23	Derek Carr	OAK	27	553	4049	19	10	51	299	6.09	-139
24	Joe Flacco	BAL	33	379	2465	12	6	16	79	5.96	-142
25	Alex Smith	WAS	34	328	2180	10	5	22	121	5.81	-179
26	Marcus Mariota	TEN	25	331	2528	11	8	42	243	5.75	-214
27	Matthew Stafford	DET	30	555	3777	21	11	40	255	5.79	-315
28	Ryan Tannehill	MIA	30	274	1979	17	9	35	279	5.29	-319
29	Blake Bortles	JAX	26	403	2718	13	11	31	173	5.32	-434
30	Sam Darnold	NYJ	21	414	2865	17	15	30	204	5.24	-481
31	Case Keenum	DEN	30	586	3890	18	15	34	235	5.39	-580
32	Josh Allen	BUF	22	320	2074	10	12	28	213	4.37	-679
33	Josh Rosen	ARI	21	393	2278	11	14	45	320	3.53	-1222

Meanwhile, the rookies Josh (Allen and Rosen) were the two worst fulltime quarterbacks this season. ^[1]Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, Josh McCown, Cody Kessler, and Nathan Peterman were very bad in small doses this year, among others. Before the season, I noted that there were 16 teams paying “franchise QB money” to their starting quarterback, and another 12 teams who had a potential star quarterback on a rookie contract. That left 4 teams in no-man’s land, with veteran quarterbacks who were not stars.

Those four were all in the AFC: Ryan Tannehill, Case Keenum, Blake Bortles, and Andy Dalton. Tannehill, Keenum, and Bortles all finished in the bottom 6 of passing value this year, joined by three rookie quarterbacks. Dalton finished 22nd.

Finally, here are the results from week 17. Dak Prescott, Jameis Winston, and Mahomes were your top three passers, while Tannehill was your least valuable quarterback of the week.

Rk	Quarterback	Tm	Opp	Result	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Sk	Yds	ANY/A	VALUE
1	Dak Prescott	DAL	NYG	W 36-35	44	387	4	0	4	19	9.33	167
2	Jameis Winston	TAM	ATL	L 32-34	35	345	4	1	1	4	10.44	165
3	Patrick Mahomes	KAN	OAK	W 35-3	24	281	2	1	0	0	11.5	136
4	Jared Goff	LAR	SFO	W 48-32	26	199	4	0	0	0	10.73	127
5	Tom Brady	NWE	NYJ	W 38-3	33	250	4	0	1	6	9.53	125
6	Matthew Stafford	DET	GNB	W 31-0	32	266	2	0	1	2	9.21	111
7	Kyle Allen	CAR	NOR	W 33-14	27	228	2	0	0	0	9.93	110
8	Matt Ryan	ATL	TAM	W 34-32	44	378	2	1	1	3	8.22	107
9	Andrew Luck	IND	TEN	W 33-17	35	285	3	1	1	7	8.14	82
10	Josh Allen	BUF	MIA	W 42-17	26	224	3	1	1	9	8.52	72
11	Baker Mayfield	CLE	BAL	L 24-26	42	376	3	3	0	0	7.17	55
12	Eli Manning	NYG	DAL	L 35-36	41	301	2	1	1	3	6.98	47
13	Nate Sudfeld	PHI	WAS	W 24-0	1	22	1	0	0	0	42	36
14	Matt Prater	DET	GNB	W 31-0	1	8	1	0	0	0	28	22
15	Mohamed Sanu	ATL	TAM	W 34-32	1	5	1	0	0	0	25	19
16	Kenny Stills	MIA	BUF	L 17-42	1	3	1	0	0	0	23	17
17	Lamar Jackson	BAL	CLE	W 26-24	24	179	0	0	2	12	6.42	15
18	Garrett Gilbert	CAR	NOR	W 33-14	3	40	0	0	1	5	8.75	12
19	Chad Henne	KAN	OAK	W 35-3	3	29	0	0	0	0	9.67	11
20	Mitchell Trubisky	CHI	MIN	W 24-10	26	163	0	0	0	0	6.27	11
21	Sean Mannion	LAR	SFO	W 48-32	3	23	0	0	0	0	7.67	5
22	Tress Way	WAS	PHI	L 0-24	1	7	0	0	0	0	7	1
23	Nick Foles	PHI	WAS	W 24-0	33	221	2	1	3	12	5.67	-7
24	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	KC	W 16-13	45	287	1	1	1	9	5.5	-16
25	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	DET	L 0-31	5	26	0	0	1	12	2.33	-21
26	Nick Mullens	SFO	LAR	L 32-48	33	282	3	3	3	18	5.25	-22
27	Case Keenum	DEN	LAC	L 9-23	48	292	1	1	1	4	5.37	-24
28	Deshaun Watson	HOU	JAX	W 20-3	35	234	0	0	6	26	5.07	-32
29	Philip Rivers	LAC	DEN	W 23-9	24	176	1	2	0	0	4.42	-34
30	Sam Darnold	NYJ	NWE	L 3-38	28	167	0	0	4	32	4.22	-52
31	Teddy Bridgewater	NOR	CAR	L 14-33	22	118	1	1	2	8	3.54	-55
32	Russell Wilson	SEA	ARI	W 27-24	21	152	1	1	6	43	3.11	-74
33	Blaine Gabbert	TEN	IND	L 17-33	29	165	1	2	0	0	3.28	-75
34	Jeff Driskel	CIN	PIT	L 13-16	24	95	0	0	4	24	2.54	-93
35	Kirk Cousins	MIN	LAR	L 10-24	33	132	1	0	4	31	3.27	-95
36	Josh Rosen	ARI	SEA	L 24-27	34	149	1	0	6	36	3.33	-101
37	Derek Carr	OAK	KAN	L 3-35	33	185	0	2	3	20	2.08	-136
38	Blake Bortles	JAX	HOU	L 3-20	28	107	0	1	3	18	1.42	-137
39	DeShone Kizer	GNB	DET	L 0-31	35	132	0	1	2	17	1.89	-146
40	Josh Johnson	WAS	PHI	L 0-24	27	91	0	1	4	30	0.52	-165
41	Ryan Tannehill	MIA	BUF	L 17-42	31	147	0	2	4	24	0.94	-172
	Total				1041	7157	52	28	71	434	5.85

What stands out to you?

References[+]

References
↑1	Mark Sanchez, Sam Bradford, Josh McCown, Cody Kessler, and Nathan Peterman were very bad in small doses this year, among others.

Tagged as: Weekly ANY/A

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