Which Quarterbacks Have Passed The Most: Individual Games

by Chase Stuart on July 12, 2015

in History, Passing, Quarterbacks, Statgeekery

Let’s take a look at the league average dropbacks (pass attempts + sacks) per game for each year from 1950 to 2014.

Obviously there has been a significant amount of variation, with the passing game being on life support in 1956 and peaking in recent times. As a result, we must adjust for era when figuring out which have been the most “pass-happy” quarterbacks.

I looked at all regular season games since 1950, and compared the number of pass attempts by each team, in every game, to league average for that year. ^[1]I have treated the AFL and NFL as one league for these purposes. Let’s use this Jets-Colts game from 1970, even if it’s a distant third in terms of famous Jets/Colts games from that era. In this 1970 matchup, Joe Namath dropped back an incredible 65 times! Part of the reason may have been self-induced: Namath threw two pick sixes, which had the effect of both keeping the Colts offense off the field and forcing the Jets to play catch up.

Now, by today’s standards, dropping back 65 times might not seem crazy. Joe Flacco, in fact, did that in week 1 against the Bengals last year. But the league average in 2014 was 37.3 dropbacks, that means the Ravens that day had 174% as many dropbacks as the average 2014 team. But, for perspective, consider that in 1970, the league average was 29.3 dropbacks per game. As a result, the Jets in that game against the Colts had 222% as many dropbacks as the average team, making that the most pass-happy game since 1950.

The table below shows the most pass-happy games since 1970. Here’s how to read it. The most pass-happy game was the Jets against Baltimore in week 5 of the 1970 season (click the link for the boxscore). The Jets lost the game by the score of 29-22. The starting quarterback was Namath, and the team (not necessarily just Namath) had 65 dropbacks. The league average was 29.3 dropbacks in 1970. For reference, I’ve included both the difference between each team’s dropbacks and league average (35.7) and the ratio of the two numbers (221.8%). The table is sorted by the percentage, but I know people would have asked for the other, so I included both numbers.

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Rk	Tm	Opp	Year	Wk	Boxscore	WLT	PF	PA	Starting QB	DB	Lg Avg	Diff	Ratio
1	NYJ	BAL	1970	5	Boxscore	L	22	29	Joe Namath	65	29.3	35.7	221.8%
2	WAS	DET	1990	9	Boxscore	W	41	38	Stan Humphries	69	32.6	36.4	212%
3	PHI	SFO	1973	12	Boxscore	L	28	38	Roman Gabriel	56	26.7	29.3	210%
4	HOU	BUF	1964	8	Boxscore	L	10	24	George Blanda	68	32.7	35.3	207.9%
5	WAS	RAI	1989	8	Boxscore	L	24	37	Mark Rypien	70	34.5	35.5	203.1%
6	GNB	RAM	1951	12	Boxscore	L	14	42	Tobin Rote	58	28.7	29.3	202.2%
7	NOR	NWE	1972	13	Boxscore	L	10	17	Archie Manning	54	26.8	27.2	201.1%
8	DEN	BOS	1962	3	Boxscore	L	16	41	Frank Tripucka	62	30.9	31.1	200.7%
9	OAK	KAN	1980	5	Boxscore	L	17	31	Dan Pastorini	66	32.9	33.1	200.7%
10	RAI	CLE	1992	3	Boxscore	L	16	28	Todd Marinovich	65	32.5	32.5	200.2%
11	CIN	PIT	2001	16	Boxscore	W	26	23	Jon Kitna	70	35	35	199.8%
12	BAL	KAN	1970	2	Boxscore	L	24	44	Johnny Unitas	58	29.3	28.7	197.9%
13	MIN	NWE	1979	16	Boxscore	L	23	27	Tommy Kramer	62	31.3	30.7	197.9%
14	CHI	NYJ	1997	12	Boxscore	L	15	23	Erik Kramer	70	35.4	34.6	197.9%
15	NYJ	BAL	2000	17	Boxscore	L	20	34	Vinny Testaverde	70	35.4	34.6	197.8%
16	HOU	OAK	1965	8	Boxscore	L	21	33	George Blanda	63	31.9	31.1	197.8%
17	MIA	BUF	2005	13	Boxscore	W	24	23	Gus Frerotte	68	34.5	33.5	197.3%
18	SFO	NYG	1956	1	Boxscore	L	21	38	Y.A. Tittle	48	24.3	23.7	197.3%
19	NYG	CIN	1985	6	Boxscore	L	30	35	Phil Simms	69	35.1	33.9	196.5%
20	NWE	MIN	1994	11	Boxscore	W	26	20	Drew Bledsoe	70	35.7	34.3	196.1%
21	TAM	CHI	2008	3	Boxscore	W	27	24	Brian Griese	67	34.3	32.7	195.3%
22	MIN	PHI	1978	14	Boxscore	W	28	27	Fran Tarkenton	56	28.7	27.3	195.2%
23	MIN	NWE	1991	8	Boxscore	L	23	26	Rich Gannon	65	33.4	31.6	194.9%
24	NYJ	SFO	1980	3	Boxscore	L	27	37	Richard Todd	64	32.9	31.1	194.6%
25	ATL	DET	1989	16	Boxscore	L	24	31	Chris Miller	67	34.5	32.5	194.4%

Showing 1 to 25 of 300 entries

That Baltimore game was an outlier, of course, but Namath leads the way with a whopping NINE games in the top 300. The Jets were not always a very good team during his time, but they were always a team that relied on Namath.

Bobby Layne ranks second with eight top-300 games. After him comes George Blanda with seven, and then Fran Tarkenton, Dan Marino, and Frank Tripucka each have six such games. Blanda, with the #4 and #16 games on the list, is the only quarterback with two top-25 performances.

What about the least pass-happy game? Well, old-time fans (and listeners of the PFR podcast!) know about this game. In an effort to prove that the Browns weren’t just playing basketball on cleats, Paul Brown called nothing but runs in Cleveland’s 13-7 win over Philadelphia. Obviously Cleveland gets a 0% in the passing column for that game. Ironically, the second-least pass-happy game came against the Namath-era Jets:

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Rk	Tm	Opp	Year	Wk	Boxscore	WLT	PF	PA	Starting QB	DB	Lg Avg	Diff	Ratio
1	CLE	PHI	1950	11	Boxscore	W	13	7	Otto Graham	0	28.4	-28.4	0%
2	BUF	NYJ	1974	3	Boxscore	W	16	12	Joe Ferguson	2	28.6	-26.6	7%
3	KAN	OAK	1968	7	Boxscore	W	24	10	Len Dawson	3	30	-27	10%
4	NOR	SFO	1978	7	Boxscore	W	14	7	Archie Manning	4	28.7	-24.7	13.9%
5	NYG	PHI	1950	10	Boxscore	W	7	3	Travis Tidwell	4	28.4	-24.4	14.1%
6	NWE	MIA	1982	6	Boxscore	W	3	0	Steve Grogan	5	34.2	-29.2	14.6%
7	CHI	DET	1967	5	Boxscore	W	14	3	Jack Concannon	5	32	-27	15.6%
8	BUF	NYJ	1973	14	Boxscore	W	34	14	Joe Ferguson	5	26.7	-21.7	18.8%
9	SDG	CLE	2004	15	Boxscore	W	21	0	Drew Brees	7	34.3	-27.3	20.4%
10	CLE	GNB	1956	6	Boxscore	W	24	7	Babe Parilli	5	24.3	-19.3	20.5%
11	HOU	CIN	1981	5	Boxscore	W	17	10	Ken Stabler	7	33.9	-26.9	20.6%
12	GNB	DET	1971	7	Boxscore	T	14	14	Scott Hunter	6	28	-22	21.5%
13	CLE	NYG	1953	5	Boxscore	W	7	0	Otto Graham	7	31.8	-24.8	22%
14	DEN	KAN	2011	10	Boxscore	W	17	10	Tim Tebow	8	36.3	-28.3	22%
15	CLE	DET	1954	12	Boxscore	L	10	14	Otto Graham	7	31.5	-24.5	22.2%
16	BUF	CLE	1974	11	Boxscore	W	15	10	Joe Ferguson	7	28.6	-21.6	24.4%
17	WAS	NYG	1960	11	Boxscore	L	3	17	Ralph Guglielmi	8	31.5	-23.5	25.4%
18	DET	SDG	1977	8	Boxscore	W	20	0	Greg Landry	7	27.4	-20.4	25.5%
19	CLE	CIN	1985	12	Boxscore	W	24	6	Gary Danielson	9	35.1	-26.1	25.6%
20	NWE	BUF	2008	17	Boxscore	W	13	0	Matt Cassel	9	34.3	-25.3	26.2%
21	CIN	CLE	2008	16	Boxscore	W	14	0	Ryan Fitzpatrick	9	34.3	-25.3	26.2%
22	CIN	NYJ	1968	13	Boxscore	L	14	27	Dewey Warren	8	30	-22	26.7%
23	CHI	DET	1980	7	Boxscore	W	24	7	Vince Evans	9	32.9	-23.9	27.4%
24	WAS	CRD	1951	4	Boxscore	W	7	3	Sammy Baugh	8	28.7	-20.7	27.9%
25	CHI	TAM	1978	13	Boxscore	W	14	3	Bob Avellini	8	28.7	-20.7	27.9%

Showing 1 to 25 of 300 entries

Buffalo’s Joe Ferguson has a whopping 11 games in the top 300 here. Obviously playing with O.J. Simpson was a big factor in Ferguson’s attempts being relatively low. In fact, an incredible five of his games from 1973 make this list, the year Simpson was responsible for 48% of the Bills offense.

Miami’s Bob Griese is next with seven top-300 games, followed by Chicago’s quarterback during the beginning of the Walter Payton era, Bob Avellini, Charlie Conerly, Len Dawson, Otto Graham, and Milt Plum (six each).

As always, leave your thoughts in the comments.

References[+]

References
↑1	I have treated the AFL and NFL as one league for these purposes.

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