Guys, you can put the "eyesight test" aside and look at the raw numbers....
I went to ESPN's split-stats page and looked up PASSES THROWN. Again, it's an air yards stat that measures the distance of the pass. So anyway, you can see it for yourself. However, I noticed that the mere attempts for "41+ yards" or even "31-40" are so small (often times you'll see 0 completions or just 1 or 2 attempts) that I simply decided to combine them. Really, if a QB can merely crack double-digits in completion for an entire season, it's like, utterly elite; that's how barren the stat-lines are here. So my stat box down below is "31+ yards." I simply added-up the "31-40" and the "41+" on espn's stat sheet to make the numbers less barren.
I compared Brady to a bunch of active QBs with enough years behind them (the stat didn't start until '02). The results? Brady is a little weaker. But! My biggest observation, by far, is that these stats rise/fall based on who the QB is throwing too. Brady's stats trump anyone's once Moss came in '07. Peyton Manning? His stats were utterly dominant....until Marvin Harrison left Indy after 07, then they became pretty 'meh'. How about Eli? His numbers were great when he had Plax and Toomer in '06. Toomer got hurt in 07 and Plax went to jail the following year and Eli's stats fell off. Drew Bress? He was the most eye-opening. His stats in San Diego were awful; I guess that's what no WRs and Marty Ball will bring you, lol. Anyway, from the very first season in New Orleans Drew Brees has been utterly astounding. Like, total turnaround.
So, yeah, I really do think this stat has more to do with the QB's weapons rather than the QB himself (assuming he's good), because the stats seem to fluctuate too much.
Code:Passes Thrown 31+ yards Player Yr: Comp/Att Yrd TD INT Brady '02: 03/22 117 0 1 '03: 12/31 566 5 3 '04: 12/38 507 3 3 '05: 06/27 164 3 1 '06: 07/25 314 3 3 '07: 13/30 622 8 2 '09: 06/30 284 4 4 [COLOR="Red"]'10: 05/19 225 3 2 '11: 01/15 046 0 0 '12: 06/21 256 3 1 AVG for these years 4/18.3 175.7 2 tds and 1 int[/COLOR] PManning '02: 08/30 322 3 4 '03: 11/31 449 6 0 '04: 11/22 400 8 1 '05: 09/26 355 7 2 '06: 13/31 560 3 0 '07: 10/27 452 6 2 '08: 07/28 363 3 4 '09: 07/27 327 3 2 '10: 08/25 347 3 1 '12: 7/19 256 3 1 Roethlisberger: '04: 09/25 361 3 3 '05: 07/13 315 1 1 '06: 03/19 336 2 6 '07: 09/18 378 6 2 '08: 07/24 306 3 2 '09: 10/24 455 5 2 '10: 09/19 377 4 1 '11: 07/27 385 4 2 '12: 05/19 279 4 0 Vick '02: 06/30 298 3 1 '03: 03/08 131 1 1 '04: 04/22 180 2 1 '05: 06/27 274 1 3 '06: 06/38 298 0 1 '10: 08/20 427 3 1 '11: 07/21 335 2 4 '12: 04/21 204 1 2 Rivers: '06: 07/30 289 3 0 '07: 04/21 164 1 2 '08: 10/24 465 4 1 '09: 11/35 520 1 2 '10: 08/21 407 5 3 '11: 09/31 370 6 4 '12: 05/28 198 2 2 Rodgers: '09: 09/31 437 2 2 '10: 08/24 381 4 4 '11: 11/20 526 6 0 '12: 06/16 268 3 1 Flacco: '08: 08/31 409 4 3 '09: 07/28 300 4 4 '10: 08/23 385 3 0 '11: 07/33 289 3 1 '12: 10/42 407 3 0 Eli '05: 05/30 221 0 3 '06: 10/25 414 5 4 '07: 06/29 252 3 2 '08: 05/20 186 3 1 '09: 08/22 335 2 1 '10: 07/29 328 6 2 '11: 11/35 624 3 1 '12: 10/27 459 5 1 Brees '02: 5/24 217 2 3 '03: 3/16 96 2 3 '04: 2/15 197 3 0 '05: 7/17 284 1 2 '06: 11/19 553 7 2 '07: 7/20 286 3 1 '08: 14/32 741 6 2 '09: 9/25 335 7 2 '10: 8/26 372 3 4 '11: 10/21 442 6 1 '12: 13/33 584 4 3
18.3 attemps in that range is too low. The personnel at WR was likely the reason we took so few attempts. This off season we have upgrade speed and size at the WR position while sacrificing experience. It may take some time but I think by the playoffs our offense will look a lot different than it did to end last season. Really nice Dobson or Boyce to hit though.
