Two weeks ago, we saw the greatest week in NFL passing history. For the entire week, the NFL averaged a passer rating of 102.6 and an ANY/A average of 6.99, both of which set new records.

Well, week 4 of the NFL season is likely going to finish as a more dominant week of passing. We still have Patrick Mahomes (and Case Keenum) to come tonight, but week 4 has been remarkable for efficiency but especially quantity. Washington and Carolina are on a bye, so there have been 28 teams to play this week. The average passer rating so far has been an outstanding 99.3, which would make it the second-best in NFL history. But what’s even more incredible are the other passing stats: the average ANY/A has been an insanely high 7.16! The big difference between passer rating and ANY/A is completion percentage, which is only reflected in the former statistic. An absurdly high completion percentage made the week 2 passer rating so high (69.4%), while teams have “only” completed 65.0% of passes so far this week. But while teams averaged 7.6 yards per attempt in week 2, they’ve averaged 7.9 yards/attempt so far this week.

Judging by ANY/A standards, this is the best week in passing history. But what about pure passing yards? Individual passers have averaged 304.5 passing yards per game (i.e., excluding sacks), and teams have averaged 286.3 passing yards per game (net of sacks). Yes, that means the average quarterback in week 4 has exceeded 300 passing yards, assuming one player throws all of his team’s passes. If every week was like this, we would expect a healthy quarterback on the average team to throw for nearly 4,900 passing yards and 34 TDs in a season! An average quarterback!

The best single week in terms of passing yards per game (excluding sacks) was week 6 of the 2015 season, when individual passers averaged 291.6 passing yards per game and 278.5 yards/game (net of sacks). In week 2 of 2018, those averages were 278.6 and 262.0, respectively. That makes the 304.5/286.3 really stand out: teams have never slung it around so often and so well before. Teams threw 36.7 passes per game in week 2, compared to 38.5 per game this week: in other words, the NFL may be figuring out that this passing thing makes sense.

Thought of another way, in the average game this week, each quarterback will throw for 300 passing yards and have a passer rating of 100. Remember, there have been 28 teams to play so far this week. Consider:

• 16 quarterbacks have thrown for 295+ yards
• Mitch Trubisky and Jared Goff both topped 16.0 ANY/A, while 20 quarterbacks averaged over 6.0 ANY/A; the average ANY/A in 2017 was 5.9. ^[1]Or how about the 17/17 club — 17 pass attempts, 17 AY/A? It’s happened three times already this season, with Fitzpatrick in week 1 joining Goff and Trubisky this week. Marino, Elway, and … Continue reading
• 14 quarterbacks have a passer rating of 99.0 or better.

In terms of both quantity and quality, this is the best passing week the NFL has ever seen. And that’s before Mahomes — or the Chiefs defense — hits the field.