With every successive decade, passing in the N.F.L. gets better and better.
With every successive decade, passing in the N.F.L. gets better and better.
N.F.L. Decade in Review
From Baugh to Brees, There Is No Slowing the N.F.L. Passing Game
ByVictor MatherandJoe WardDec. 31, 2019
As the 2010s come to an end, there is one unmistakable N.F.L. trend: Quarterbacks are a lot more proficient than in decades past.
But the funny thing is that 10 years ago an article recapping the decade could have begun with the same statement. A steady improvement of quarterback statistics has been a theme going back to the early days of the N.F.L.’s forward-pass era. With each successive decade, numbers that seem formidable are inevitably surpassed in the 10 years that follow.
Pro football has been fundamentally a passing game for many years, a trend that may well be accelerating.
Comparing the Decades
Passing numbers were up across the board again this decade. Quarterbacks completed21.6 passesa game, up from 19.5 last decade. They threw for234 yardsa game, up from 209. They passed for1.6 touchdownsa game, up from 1.3.
A look at the quarterbacks who threw for the most yards in each decade since the 1940s illustrates how passing has increasingly dominated the sport.
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
2010sDREW BREES
46,770
2000sPEYTON MANNING
42,254
1990sDAN MARINO
33,508
1980sJOE MONTANA
30,958
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
23,863
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
26,548
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
20,539
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
17,002
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
YARDS PER GAME
2010sDREW BREES
306
2000sPEYTON MANNING
264
1990sDAN MARINO
241
1980sJOE MONTANA
229
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
199
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
212
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
171
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
160
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
YDS PER GAME
2010sDREW BREES
306
2000sPEYTON MANNING
264
1990sDAN MARINO
241
1980sJOE MONTANA
229
1970sFRAN TARKENTON
199
1960sJOHNNY UNITAS
212
1950sNORM VAN BROCKLIN
171
1940sSAMMY BAUGH
160
PASSING YARDS A GAME
LEAGUE AVG.
2010s
234
2000s
209
1990s
205
1980s
204
1970s
156
1960s
179
1950s
167
1940s
144
DECADE LEADER IN PASSING YARDS
LEAGUE AVG
2010s
234
2000s
209
1990s
205
1980s
204
1970s
156
1960s
179
1950s
167
1940s
144
Drew Brees threw for more yards than any quarterback in the 2010s, far outpacing the passing leader in any previous decade.
In fact, four players — Brees, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers and Tom Brady — have all thrown more yards this decade than Peyton Manning did in the 2000s.
Of the decade leaders, only Fran Tarkenton failed to surpass the previous decade’s total, which was amassed by Johnny Unitas.
Of course, teams didn’t always play 16-game schedules, so recent players have had more chances to accumulate yards.
But for these passing leaders, the trend also holds true for average passing yards a game, with improvements every decade except in the 1970s.
And it’s not just these elite quarterbacks, either. Here is the league average in each decade for passing yards a game.
Almost all of the top seasons by quarterbacks have come in recent years. Entering this decade, Dan Fouts held the record for passing yards a game over a season at 320.3, playing for the legendary Air Coryell Chargers team in 1982. That record was surpassed this decade nine times — five by Drew Brees alone.
More Yards, More Accuracy
Quarterbacks are not only passing more, they are passing better. Completion percentages and interception rates have improved every decade. The completion percentage for this decade was62.2 percent, up from 59.8 percent in the 2000s. And interceptions are down as well, with just2.6 percentof passes picked off in this decade, down from 3.2 percent.
2010s
2000s
1990s
1980s
1970s
1960s
1950s
1940s
62.2
59.8
57.2
55.6
52.1
51.7
48.6
45.0
Completion pct.
2.6
3.2
3.4
4.2
5.3
5.6
7.0
9.3
Interception pct.
’10s
’00s
’90s
’80s
’70s
’60s
’50s
’40s
62.2
59.8
57.2
55.6
52.1
51.7
48.6
45.0
Cmp. pct.
2.6
3.2
3.4
4.2
5.3
5.6
7.0
9.3
Int. pct.
The top five marks for completion percentage in a season with at least 250 attempts were set this decade (four by Brees). Eight of the 10 best interception percentages came this decade, as well as eight of the 10 best quarterback ratings.
The N.F.L. average quarterback rating this decade was88, about eight points higher than it was just a decade ago.
AVERAGE QUARTERBACK RATING BY DECADE
87.9
80.7
77.0
74.3
69.7
65.3
59.2
47.6
1940s
1950s
1960s
1970s
1980s
1990s
2000s
2010s
AVERAGE QUARTERBACK RATING BY DECADE
87.9
80.7
77.0
74.3
69.7
65.3
59.2
47.6
’40s
’50s
’60s
’70s
’80s
’90s
’00s
’10s
Perhaps the best way to understand the quality of the modern passer is to look at some of the weakest ones. This season’s worst completion percentage for a quarterback with at least 250 attempts was Josh Allen’s58.8 percent. That would have been the best in the league as recently as 1967, when Johnny Unitas’s rate was also58.8 percent.
The Ever-Changing Game
It was barely the same sport in the 1930s. Statistics are a little more unreliable from that decade, but the top passer of that era, Arnie Herber, put up only 6,189 passing yards on a 40.4 percent completion rate and threw an interception 9 percent of the time. Those numbers, which today would get a player laughed out of training camp, got Herber into the Hall of Fame.
Given the size and speed of today’s athletes, it is not surprising that players are better. But the quarterbacks’ rate of improvement has soared above that of other positions. Rule changes favoring quarterbacks and receivers as well as better designed offenses based on data analytics have been major contributors to that.
Even so, quarterbacks are throwing for more yards, and doing so more effectively, despite massively bigger defensive linemen and faster secondaries. And they are completing those passes despite getting sacked at about the same rate, or even a little more than in decades past.
Take a mediocre quarterback of today, and simply add a time machine, and he could rewrite the record books.
Source: Pro Football Reference
Photographs by Barton Silverman/The New York Times (Manning); Associated Press (Baugh, Marino, Montana); Chris Graythen/Getty Images (Brees); Bettmann, via Getty Images (Van Brocklin); Scott Cunningham/ALLSPORT (Tarkenton)