Remember when 300 passing yards was considered a good day?

[Hyped]

Not a long time ago the league was in a drought of good QB playing, you had 5 or 6 decent QB's including the HOF's. Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Ben, Brees, some other guy in a good year. All the other guys were garbage.

That started to change with Luck, Wilson and RG3 draft, even though only Wilson can be considered a winner from this group.

Anyway, there was a revolving door of QB's around the league and that resulted in some aberrations like Mike Glennon getting a top contract, that former Packers backup QB also got a good contract from the Seahawks and got outplayed by the rookie Wilson in training camp.

In these days that seem to be in the past, almost all teams have a potential franchise QB either developing or already in place. Almost all these guys at least can make a decent pass, they still need development in other aspects of QBing but they can pass, in these past that I was mentioning there was guys playing in primetime sometimes that couldn't make a 20 yard pass. That among the rules is what is making the games look like College Football.

I think it ebbs and flows....we just had a glut of good QB's drafted over the last few years...in the first round of the last 3 drafts: Goff, Wentz, Trubisky, Mahomes, Mayfield, Darnold, Allen, Rosen, and L. Jackson.

That's 25% of the starters in the league RIGHT NOW....and Lamar Jackson will be a starter some day, IMO.

 

[Hyped]

Not a fan of Marino...but I wish we could see him play in today's NFL. I mean he tossed 48 TD passes over 30 years ago when defenses were allowed to decapitate QB's and WR's...

 

[ForThoseAboutToRock]

4,000 yard passing seasons by decade:

(None before 1967)
1960's: 1
1970's: 1
1980's: 14
1990's: 22
2000's: 46
2010's: 79 (so far)

# of games featuring a QB with a 400+ yards passing performance.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

That game only had 456 passing yards, 145 by the team that scored 72.
72 included 2 defensive scores and a punt return td and 6 TDs of 45 yards or more.
Skins score 72 points with only 341 yards of total offense and 16 first downs. But 6 takeaways on defense.

Yes, but what I was quoting was this statement you made:

"To me it’s not the passing yards but the points that are increasing rapidly."

So, which is it? The passing yards, or the points?

 

[Ring 6]

Yes, but what I was quoting was this statement you made:

"To me it’s not the passing yards but the points that are increasing rapidly."

So, which is it? The passing yards, or the points?

Not sure what you are asking and why a game from 1966 is meaningful to it?
I am saying there has been a big increase in scoring in the last few years.

 

[WaterfallJumper]

Not sure what you are asking and why a game from 1966 is meaningful to it?
I am saying there has been a big increase in scoring in the last few years.

I was just making a joke, but my execution was poor. No worries.

 

[Ring 6]

I was just making a joke, but my execution was poor. No worries.

That would have been a fun game to see though.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

# of games featuring a QB with a 400+ yards passing performance.

I'd like to see that normalized by the total number of team-games played in a season. As the number of games in the season and the number of teams in the league have both increased, that has increased the number of total team-games and so the number of opportunities for a QB to have 400yd game.

For example, in 1974 there was a 14 game season and there were 26 teams, so 364 team-games. There are now 16 games and 32 teams, so 512 team-games. In other words, there are 40.7% more raw opportunities now to get a 400yd game than there were in 1974, i.e. even if offenses and defenses were no different now than in 1974 we would expect 40.7% more 400yd games now than in 1974.

Instead of number of 400yd games on the y-axis, divide each year's 400yd game count by the number of team-games that season and express it as a percentage.

Don't get me wrong -- I'm sure the prevalence has gone up and gone up significantly, but this isn't quite an apples-to-apples chart.

 

[Biffins]

Not a long time ago the league was in a drought of good QB playing, you had 5 or 6 decent QB's including the HOF's. Brady, Manning, Rodgers, Ben, Brees, some other guy in a good year. All the other guys were garbage.

That started to change with Luck, Wilson and RG3 draft, even though only Wilson can be considered a winner from this group.

Anyway, there was a revolving door of QB's around the league and that resulted in some aberrations like Mike Glennon getting a top contract, that former Packers backup QB also got a good contract from the Seahawks and got outplayed by the rookie Wilson in training camp.

In these days that seem to be in the past, almost all teams have a potential franchise QB either developing or already in place. Almost all these guys at least can make a decent pass, they still need development in other aspects of QBing but they can pass, in these past that I was mentioning there was guys playing in primetime sometimes that couldn't make a 20 yard pass. That among the rules is what is making the games look like College Football.

I agree, QB across the league has improved. Although rules have also been slackened to improve QB play (penalties on hits, pass interference etc). Hard to determine one independent of the other.

 

[Ring 6]

I agree, QB across the league has improved. Although rules have also been slackened to improve QB play (penalties on hits, pass interference etc). Hard to determine one independent of the other.

I think it’s heavily related to rule changes.
There have been tons of successful college QBs in the past who could make every throwing against air but struggle with getting hit, reading defenses, and tight windows.
The rule changes move the hand closer and closer to 7 on 7 in shorts.

 

[captain stone]

My all time favorite Patriots play: Pats 4th and inches at mid field, Grogan runs a naked boot leg....To The House

And wasn't there a game at Sh!tsdirt during the 1976 season wherein Grogan play-actioned on 4th/1 and threw to Russ Francis for like a game-clinching 1st down or something? So powerful was the Pats run game that the Stealers completely sold out trying to stop it.

 

[DarrylS]

Was listening to Bert Breer and Zolak today discussing about how NFL passing is off the charts right now.. this year there are 228 TD's through the first four games, up from the previous record of 205 that occurred in 2017.

Interesting they were discussing how many close games there have been as well.. despite the amount of offense. Bert Breer is going to have a column in MMQB tomorrow.. coincidentally the NFL ratings are going off the charts, apparently this is what the fans want.

Total passing TDs through 4 weeks smashes record

 

[mosi]

Dude, I remember when 300 yards passing by a QB was a GREAT day. Really. Now, not throwing for 300 yards is a bad day.

 

[Pessimistic Pete]

I ****ing HATE what the NFL has become.

I mean it's been getting really bad since around 2011 but this year has just gone full arena football/college football and it will forever taint the record books.

A 400 yard game used to be epic, now it's a weekly occurrence. The slobbering of all the new QBs is really something I'm not embracing either as they're all doing in flag football/easy mode. As great as Mahomes looks, would he look this good in say, even 2008? Trubisky, who I think sucks, just threw for 6 ****ing TDs last week like it was nothing.

Putting up these type of numbers used to be a reflection of a truly special QB, now it's just the new normal.

I do not "love" these 48-30 games at all. Those kind of shootouts were cool when they were a rare thing. It's like watching a damn NBA game at this point...scoring is pretty much guaranteed.

 

[brdmaverick]

I do not "love" these 48-30 games at all. Those kind of shootouts were cool when they were a rare thing. It's like watching a damn NBA game at this point...scoring is pretty much guaranteed.

Right, we don't want it to become more like arena football and soccer penalty kicks in which scoring is not celebrated (it's the expectation). It's when someone actually makes a defensive play/stand where the real celebration comes into play in arena football and soccer pks.

 

[brdmaverick]

This thread really puts the Pats regular season advantage into better perspective for me.

We all agree it's a quarterback's league, and all of the Pats divisional opponents' QBs are EASILY in the bottom fourth of the league.

 

[lurker1965]

Long ago I swore if the NFL becomes arena league football I leave when Brady retires. I might stay a season or two to see the new guy, but I think this is it.

 

[Bobsyouruncle]

Not a fan of Marino...but I wish we could see him play in today's NFL. I mean he tossed 48 TD passes over 30 years ago when defenses were allowed to decapitate QB's and WR's...

Marino’s record season came after a major change to help passing. It’s still an impressive feat but the 1980-2004 rules were about the same. Bradshaw era and before was a different game. I don’t think the NFL defenses were ready for the new era of passing and Marino chewed them up.

 

[Betterthanmost]

Speaking of 300 yds games, check this stat out from a kid whose stocks is rising so fast that I dont think we are in the running to land him anymore.
10-13, 334 YDS, 4 TD

 

[Bonzo]

I ****ing HATE what the NFL has become.

Agree. I plan to ride the Brady/Belichick train to its final stop, but then I'll need to think hard about how much of my time/money/emotion I want to continue investing in this product.