Have you taken a look at a passing leaderboard lately? Here’s the PFR passing leaderboard sorted by ANY/A; as always, all columns are sortable.

Rk	QB	Tm	G	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds	TD	TD%	Int	Int%	Y/A	AY/A	Y/C	Sk	Yds	NY/A	ANY/A	Sk%
1	Peyton Manning	DEN	6	154	227	67.8	1808	14	6.2	4	1.8	8	8.4	11.7	10	63	7.4	7.8	4.2
2	Josh Freeman	TAM	6	104	187	55.6	1538	11	5.9	5	2.7	8.2	8.2	14.8	9	65	7.5	7.5	4.6
3	Eli Manning	NYG	7	169	265	63.8	2109	12	4.5	7	2.6	8	7.7	12.5	5	40	7.7	7.4	1.9
4	Robert Griffin III	WAS	7	133	189	70.4	1601	7	3.7	3	1.6	8.5	8.5	12	15	106	7.3	7.4	7.4
5	Drew Brees	NOR	6	166	273	60.8	2097	18	6.6	7	2.6	7.7	7.8	12.6	12	86	7.1	7.2	4.2
6	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	6	155	235	66	1765	11	4.7	3	1.3	7.5	7.9	11.4	13	72	6.8	7.2	5.2
7	Tom Brady	NWE	7	186	285	65.3	2104	12	4.2	3	1.1	7.4	7.8	11.3	14	96	6.7	7.1	4.7
8	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	7	183	262	69.8	1979	19	7.3	4	1.5	7.6	8.3	10.8	26	142	6.4	7.1	9
9	Matt Schaub	HOU	7	140	222	63.1	1650	10	4.5	4	1.8	7.4	7.5	11.8	8	59	6.9	7	3.5
10	Jake Locker	TEN	4	67	106	63.2	781	4	3.8	2	1.9	7.4	7.3	11.7	3	16	7	6.9	2.8
11	Matt Ryan	ATL	6	160	236	67.8	1756	14	5.9	6	2.5	7.4	7.5	11	13	107	6.6	6.7	5.2
12	Carson Palmer	OAK	6	148	241	61.4	1732	7	2.9	4	1.7	7.2	7	11.7	12	93	6.5	6.3	4.7
13	Alex Smith	SFO	7	127	190	66.8	1427	9	4.7	5	2.6	7.5	7.3	11.2	18	100	6.4	6.2	8.7
14	Joe Flacco	BAL	7	150	252	59.5	1837	9	3.6	6	2.4	7.3	6.9	12.2	18	110	6.4	6.1	6.7
15	Andy Dalton	CIN	7	156	243	64.2	1831	13	5.3	10	4.1	7.5	6.8	11.7	17	102	6.7	5.9	6.5
16	Cam Newton	CAR	6	101	173	58.4	1387	5	2.9	6	3.5	8	7	13.7	15	102	6.8	5.9	8
17	Tony Romo	DAL	6	150	221	67.9	1636	8	3.6	9	4.1	7.4	6.3	10.9	9	59	6.9	5.8	3.9
18	Ryan Fitzpatrick	BUF	7	133	218	61	1435	15	6.9	9	4.1	6.6	6.1	10.8	8	44	6.2	5.7	3.5
19	Christian Ponder	MIN	7	152	227	67	1492	9	4	6	2.6	6.6	6.2	9.8	16	68	5.9	5.5	6.6
20	Sam Bradford	STL	7	131	219	59.8	1592	7	3.2	6	2.7	7.3	6.7	12.2	21	131	6.1	5.5	8.8
21	Ryan Tannehill	MIA	6	118	198	59.6	1454	4	2	6	3	7.3	6.4	12.3	12	109	6.4	5.5	5.7
22	Matthew Stafford	DET	6	164	264	62.1	1754	5	1.9	6	2.3	6.6	6	10.7	12	86	6	5.4	4.3
23	Michael Vick	PHI	6	136	231	58.9	1632	8	3.5	8	3.5	7.1	6.2	12	17	90	6.2	5.4	6.9
24	Andrew Luck	IND	6	134	250	53.6	1674	7	2.8	7	2.8	6.7	6	12.5	16	99	5.9	5.3	6
25	Mark Sanchez	NYJ	7	116	218	53.2	1453	9	4.1	7	3.2	6.7	6	12.5	14	77	5.9	5.3	6
26	Jay Cutler	CHI	6	106	187	56.7	1359	8	4.3	7	3.7	7.3	6.4	12.8	19	121	6	5.3	9.2
27	Russell Wilson	SEA	7	104	175	59.4	1230	8	4.6	7	4	7	6.1	11.8	14	97	6	5.2	7.4
28	Brandon Weeden	CLE	7	154	272	56.6	1783	9	3.3	10	3.7	6.6	5.6	11.6	11	69	6.1	5.1	3.9
29	Philip Rivers	SDG	6	139	209	66.5	1492	10	4.8	9	4.3	7.1	6.2	10.7	18	118	6.1	5.1	7.9
30	Kevin Kolb	ARI	6	109	183	59.6	1169	8	4.4	3	1.6	6.4	6.5	10.7	27	159	4.8	4.9	12.9
31	Matt Hasselbeck	TEN	5	96	156	61.5	931	5	3.2	4	2.6	6	5.5	9.7	10	74	5.2	4.7	6
32	Blaine Gabbert	JAX	6	88	158	55.7	906	6	3.8	3	1.9	5.7	5.6	10.3	15	105	4.6	4.5	8.7
33	Matt Cassel	KAN	5	103	176	58.5	1150	5	2.8	9	5.1	6.5	4.8	11.2	13	74	5.7	4.1	6.9

Among qualified quarterbacks, Josh Freeman is second in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, Net Yards per Attempt, and Yards per Attempt (behind a different passer in each category). He’s first by a mile in yards per completion — Cam Newton is the only other quarterback within 2 yards — but he’s third from last in completion percentage. To be sure, the 95-yard completion the Vincent Jackson helped, but he’d rank in first yards per completion even if that pass was never thrown. Additionally, despite the deep throwing and the low completion percentage, he’s actually sporting an above-average interception rate (POPIP potential regression alert!).

According to Pro-Football-Reference.com’s Player Season Finder, there’s only one quarterback who has been so far above average in yards per attempt, while being so far below average in completion percentage, and above average in interception rate — all era adjusted, of course — New England’s Steve Grogan in 1979. If we relax the criteria a little bit, we bring in Donovan McNabb, Mike Tomczak, Jay Schroeder, and Doug Williams, along with a few others. In 1978, New England set the still-standing team record for rushing yards in a season; the next year, Grogan’s response was apparently throw it deep whenever he got the chance.

According to Advanced NFL Stats, Josh Freeman is tied for the lead league with Eli Manning in Air Yards per pass Attempt this season. That may not be that surprising: Tampa Bay’s offensive coordinator is Mike Sullivan, who had been a position coach with the Giants for the past 8 years, working with the quarterbacks and wide receivers.