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ShareThisFun QBs
Do you know who holds the modern record for yards per completion in a season? It's Jack Kemp, the former Buffalo Bills QB and United States Congressman. In 1964, Kemp averaged 19.20 yards per completion, easily the most for any QB since 1960 with at least 200 pass attempts. Here's a list of the top 20 QBs:
19.20 Jack Kemp 1964 buf 18.59 Tom Flores 1963 rai 17.87 Johnny Unitas 1964 clt 17.83 Craig Morton 1970 dal 17.81 George Blanda 1961 oti 17.75 Ed Brown 1963 pit 17.61 Bobby Layne 1960 pit 17.47 Tom Flores 1966 rai 17.39 Norm Snead 1963 was 17.38 Joe Namath 1972 nyj 17.13 Don Meredith 1965 dal 16.99 Terry Bradshaw 1970 pit 16.84 Eric Hipple 1981 det 16.83 Joe Namath 1968 nyj 16.70 John Hadl 1968 sdg 16.70 John Brodie 1961 sfo 16.64 Sonny Jurgensen 1962 phi 16.61 Cotton Davidson 1962 rai 16.60 Chris Chandler 1998 atl 16.45 Greg Landry 1971 det 16.45 Ed Brown 1964 pit 16.42 Jim Ninowski 1961 det 16.31 Johnny Unitas 1960 clt 16.28 Jack Kemp 1961 sdg 16.27 Jay Schroeder 1988 raiAnd the bottom 25 QBs:
8.43 Bobby Hoying 1998 phi 8.94 Donovan McNabb 1999 phi 8.95 Doug Pederson 2000 cle 9.12 Mark Rypien 1993 was 9.15 Kordell Stewart 1999 pit 9.16 David Carr 2006 htx 9.31 Kelly Holcomb 2003 cle 9.32 Joey Harrington 2003 det 9.38 Bruce Gradkowski2006 tam 9.50 Gary Huff 1975 chi 9.56 Joe Namath 1976 nyj 9.62 Dan Pastorini 1973 oti 9.65 Anthony Wright 2005 rav 9.67 Roman Gabriel 1974 phi 9.70 Hugh Millen 1992 nwe 9.72 David Carr 2005 htx 9.74 Kelly Holcomb 2005 buf 9.74 Charlie Frye 2006 cle 9.77 Boomer Esiason 1992 cin 9.84 Kyle Orton 2005 chi 9.84 Jim McMahon 1993 min 9.85 Shane Matthews 1999 chi 9.85 Patrick Ramsey 2004 was 9.89 Mike Livingston 1978 kan 9.91 A.J. Feeley 2004 miaCertainly, Kemp's 1964 season is interesting because of his high yards per completion rate. But there are some other peculiar notes about his stat line. Kemp completed an abysmal 44.2 percent of his passes, converting 119 of 269 passes. There have been 1280 quarterbacks to throw 200 passes in a season since 1960: Kemp ranks as the 27th worst on the list. In Mike Shanahan's only full season with the Raiders, both his QBs completed 44.1% of his passes. No wonder he didn't stay in California for very long. Here's a list of the worst 30:
35.3% Gary Marangi 1976 buf 36.1% Dick Wood 1966 mia 37.1% Cotton Davidson 1962 rai 38.1% Terry Bradshaw 1970 pit 39.0% Johnny Green 1960 buf 39.8% Tom Sherman 1968 nwe 40.3% Steve Tensi 1967 den 40.4% Bobby Douglass 1971 chi 40.6% Babe Parilli 1965 nwe 40.7% John McCormick 1965 den 41.0% Pete Beathard 1967 oti 41.2% John Hadl 1962 sdg 41.2% Rusty Hilger 1988 det 41.4% Jim Zorn 1977 sea 41.8% Doug Williams 1979 tam 42.1% George Blanda 1965 oti 42.7% Jack Kemp 1966 buf 42.7% Joe Pisarcik 1977 nyg 42.8% Dan Darragh 1968 buf 43.5% Bob Avellini 1976 chi 43.6% Jack Kemp 1967 buf 43.7% Randy Johnson 1966 atl 44.1% George Herring 1961 den 44.1% Steve Beuerlein 1988 rai 44.1% Jay Schroeder 1988 rai 44.2% Akili Smith 2000 cin 44.2% Jack Kemp 1964 buf 44.3% Jim Hart 1968 crd 44.5% Ed Brown 1964 pit 44.7% Vince Evans 1981 chiAnd the best 30:
70.6% Ken Anderson 1982 cin 70.3% Steve Young 1994 sfo 70.2% Joe Montana 1989 sfo 69.3% Brian Griese 2004 tam 69.2% Chad Pennington 2002 nyj 69.2% Daunte Culpepper2004 min 69.1% Troy Aikman 1993 dal 68.7% Kurt Warner 2001 ram 68.3% David Carr 2006 htx 68.0% Steve Young 1993 sfo 67.8% Carson Palmer 2005 cin 67.7% Kurt Warner 2000 ram 67.7% Steve Young 1996 sfo 67.7% Steve Young 1997 sfo 67.6% Rich Gannon 2002 rai 67.6% Peyton Manning 2004 clt 67.4% Kelly Holcomb 2005 buf 67.3% Peyton Manning 2005 clt 67.3% Steve Bartkowski1984 atl 67.0% Peyton Manning 2003 clt 66.9% Marc Bulger 2005 ram 66.9% Steve Young 1995 sfo 66.8% Joe Montana 1987 sfo 66.7% Brian Griese 2002 den 66.7% Ken Stabler 1976 rai 66.7% Ken Anderson 1983 cin 66.7% Steve Young 1992 sfo 66.4% Ben Roethlisberger2004 pit 66.4% Trent Green 2004 kan 66.3% Peyton Manning 2002 clt
Those large data dumps are just the background for this post. Because Kemp's season gets even more interesting. Kemp threw 13 TDs against 26 INTs in 1964, which is pretty incredible considering he only had 269 pass attempts. His 9.67 INTs per 100 pass attempts ranks as the 5th worst of those 1280 QBs. Here are the top and bottom 10 INT rates:
11.1 Eddie LeBaron 1960 dal
11.0 Terry Bradshaw 1970 pit
10.4 George Herring 1961 den
10.0 George Blanda 1962 oti
9.7 Jack Kemp 1964 buf
9.4 Norm Snead 1973 nyg
9.2 John Hadl 1962 sdg
8.9 Dennis Shaw 1971 buf
8.6 Joe Namath 1975 nyj
8.5 Ralph Guglielmi 1960 was
0.4 Damon Huard 2006 kan
0.9 Steve Deberg 1990 kan
1.2 Steve Bartkowski1983 atl
1.2 Neil O'Donnell 1998 cin
1.2 Brian Griese 2000 den
1.2 Bart Starr 1966 gnb
1.3 Phil Simms 1990 nyg
1.3 Jim Harbaugh 1997 clt
1.3 Doug Flutie 2000 buf
1.3 Brad Johnson 2002 tam
That's right, Damon Huard last season had the lowest INT rate of the 1,280 QBs since 1960 to throw 200 passes in a season.
So roughly, every 20 times Jack Kemp threw a pass, he would have nine 20-yard completions, with one of those going for a TD, two INTs, and nine incompletions. Maybe it's the AFL'er in me, but that sounds pretty exciting to watch. So I've decided to come up with a fun index, centered around Mr. Kemp. Without putting too much thought into this (since this is, after all, filed under 'totally useless'), here's the formula:
[ ((Interceptions + Touchdowns) X 25) + Passing Yards ] / Completions
It's basically yards per completion, with a bonus for "big plays." Since both passing TDs and INTs are big plays, I weighed them the same. Both are fun to see.
Kemp had a fun score of 27.39, the highest in the modern era. He had 13 TDs, 26 INTs, 2285 passing yards and 119 completions. I think this "fun score" formula approximates what we're trying to get at, and since Kemp topped the list, I'm happy. Here are the top 30 most fun seasons to watch since 1960:
Fun Player Year Team Cmp Yard TD INT
27.39 Jack Kemp 1964 buf 119 2285 13 26
26.02 Terry Bradshaw 1970 pit 83 1410 6 24
25.89 Tom Flores 1963 rai 113 2101 20 13
25.56 George Blanda 1961 oti 187 3330 36 22
24.89 Bobby Layne 1960 pit 103 1814 13 17
24.63 Jim Zorn 1977 sea 104 1687 16 19
23.85 Ed Brown 1963 pit 168 2982 21 20
23.79 John Hadl 1968 sdg 208 3473 27 32
23.76 Tom Flores 1966 rai 151 2638 24 14
23.56 Joe Namath 1972 nyj 162 2816 19 21
23.33 Don Meredith 1965 dal 141 2415 22 13
23.23 Craig Morton 1970 dal 102 1819 15 7
23.10 Norm Snead 1963 was 175 3043 13 27
22.92 Cotton Davidson 1962 rai 119 1977 7 23
22.85 Ed Brown 1964 pit 121 1990 12 19
22.85 Norm VanBrocklin1960 phi 153 2471 24 17
22.81 Cotton Davidson 1961 kan 151 2445 17 23
22.76 Sonny Jurgensen 1962 phi 196 3261 22 26
22.76 Johnny Unitas 1960 clt 190 3099 25 24
22.75 Y.A. Tittle 1962 nyg 200 3224 33 20
22.56 Cotton Davidson 1964 rai 155 2497 21 19
22.54 Bill Wade 1961 chi 139 2258 22 13
22.27 Charley Johnson 1962 crd 150 2440 16 20
22.03 Jay Schroeder 1988 rai 113 1839 13 13
22.02 Eric Hipple 1981 det 140 2358 14 15
21.99 Matt Robinson 1978 nyj 124 2002 13 16
21.97 John Hadl 1965 sdg 174 2798 20 21
21.89 Earl Morrall 1968 clt 182 2909 26 17
21.88 Jack Kemp 1961 sdg 165 2686 15 22
21.83 Johnny Unitas 1964 clt 158 2824 19 6
Of note: two pre-1960 QBs even beat mighty Jack. In 1943, Sid Luckman (29.04) had 110 completions (on 202 attempts), 2,194 passing yards, 28 TDs and 12 INTs. But if you lower the bar to 100 attempts, no one could match Joe Geri: despite completing just 41 of 113 passes (36.3%), he passed for 866 yards (21.12 yards per completion). Throw in 15 INTs and 6 TDs, and he has a fun score of 33.93.
You might notice that there aren't any QBs on the fun score list since 1990. Here are the top 25 most fun seasons since then:
Fun Player Year Team Cmp Yard TD INT
21.47 Chris Chandler 1998 atl 190 3154 25 12
19.50 Jay Schroeder 1990 rai 182 2849 19 9
19.32 Jeff George 1999 min 191 2816 23 12
19.10 Chris Miller 1991 atl 220 3103 26 18
18.81 Jake Plummer 1997 crd 157 2203 15 15
18.74 Kurt Warner 2000 ram 235 3429 21 18
18.67 Boomer Esiason 1990 cin 224 3031 24 22
18.55 Randall Cunningham 1998 min 259 3704 34 10
18.40 Heath Shuler 1994 was 120 1658 10 12
18.25 Vinny Testaverde 1993 cle 130 1797 14 9
18.23 Mark Rypien 1991 was 249 3564 28 11
18.19 Vinny Testaverde 1990 tam 203 2818 17 18
18.07 Ben Roethlisberger 2005 pit 168 2385 17 9
18.04 Donovan McNabb 2006 phi 180 2647 18 6
17.95 Peyton Manning 2004 clt 336 4557 49 10
17.92 Billy Joe Tolliver 1999 nor 139 1916 7 16
17.85 Trent Green 2000 ram 145 2063 16 5
17.81 Donald Hollas 1998 rai 135 1754 10 16
17.66 Jay Schroeder 1991 rai 189 2562 15 16
17.60 Rodney Peete 1990 det 142 1974 13 8
17.55 Kurt Warner 1999 ram 325 4353 41 13
17.50 Rodney Peete 1992 det 123 1702 9 9
17.49 Jeff Blake 1994 cin 156 2154 14 9
17.46 Steve Young 1991 sfo 180 2517 17 8
17.38 Daunte Culpepper 2000 min 297 3937 33 16
I think it's safe to say that Jay Schroeder was a pretty darn fun QB to watch: he's on this list twice, and his 1988 season even cracked the original list. Whatever happened, it sure wasn't boring. And don't be too surprised to see Chandler at the top of this list. The 1998 Falcons had Tony Martin and Terance Mathis catch 130 balls for 2,317 yards, 17.8 yards per catch. Chandler was incredible that season, leading Atlanta to the Super Bowl. A few of the players on here -- Jeff George, Vinny Testaverde, Jeff Blake -- were physical talents with rocket arms and exciting games, but will never be remembered as winners. And check out the 2000 Rams, with two QBs on this list. That was the Rams team that saw 1,011 points scored in their games, easily the most in league history.
How about the reverse? Here are the 25 most boring QB seasons since 1990.
Fun Player Year Team Cmp Yard TD INT
10.40 Bobby Hoying 1998 phi 114 961 0 9
11.07 David Carr 2006 htx 302 2767 11 12
11.09 Doug Pederson 2000 cle 117 1047 2 8
11.23 Mark Rypien 1993 was 166 1514 4 10
11.65 Kordell Stewart 1999 pit 160 1464 6 10
11.78 Brad Johnson 2001 tam 340 3406 13 11
11.85 Jeff George 1991 clt 292 2910 10 12
11.93 Bruce Gradkowski 2006 tam 177 1661 9 9
11.93 Anthony Wright 2005 rav 164 1582 6 9
11.97 Jim McMahon 1993 min 200 1968 9 8
12.15 Steve Walsh 1994 chi 208 2078 10 8
12.16 David Klingler 1993 cin 190 1935 6 9
12.16 David Carr 2005 htx 256 2488 14 11
12.16 Kelly Holcomb 2003 cle 193 1797 10 12
12.19 Rich Gannon 2003 rai 125 1274 6 4
12.24 Kyle Boller 2004 rav 258 2559 13 11
12.25 Shane Matthews 1999 chi 167 1645 10 6
12.26 Jim Harbaugh 1993 chi 200 2002 7 11
12.29 Jeff George 1993 clt 234 2526 8 6
12.37 Kurt Warner 2002 ram 144 1431 3 11
12.40 Rich Gannon 1991 min 211 2166 12 6
12.41 Brad Johnson 2006 min 270 2750 9 15
12.42 Charlie Frye 2006 cle 252 2454 10 17
12.42 Brad Johnson 2005 min 184 1885 12 4
12.48 Joey Harrington 2003 det 309 2880 17 22
Bobby Hoying was just awful: he had a 45.6 QB rating for the season. But the 2006 version of David Carr embodies exactly what the formula was intended to find -- really boring QBs. He was everything that Jack Kemp was not. You might remember that Carr tied the NFL single game record for consecutive completions against the Bills last season (sorry, Bill M.). While impressive, note that Carr threw for exactly 202 yards during that stretch. That ugly 9.18 yards per completion average barely topped his season average of 9.16 YPC. There was nothing interesting about the Texans' passing game last year, as Carr completed a ton of short passes for not very many yards. Eleven TDs on 442 passes isn't very exciting to watch. Maybe if Houston had drafted Reggie Bush, they would have been just a bit more fun.
Brad Johnson (2001 - Tampa, 2005-2006 - Minnesota) hasn't been very fun to watch, either. Thankfully him and Carr aren't starting anymore. But here's something interesting: Jeff George (twice), Kurt Warner and Mark Rypien all appear on the boring list, despite also appearing on the fun list! George was incredibly boring as a Colt in 1991, but eight years later he had the third most fun season since 1990 with the Vikings. That should finally settle the debate that Bill Brooks and Jessie Hester were no Randy Moss and Cris Carter. Warner was really fun with the Rams in 1999 and 2000, but by 2002 he had become boring. Throwing 11 INTs was the only thing he did that was exciting -- he had just 3 TD passes in 220 attempts that season. Similarly, Rypien was great and fun to watch in 1991, but two years later, he ran a boring and incompetent 'Skins offense. Amazingly, he had only 4 TDs in 319 attempts that year.
As you might imagine, there aren't very many boring QBs from before 1990. Only five QBs had scores below 13.00, and none were below 12.00. Gary Huff (1975, Chicago) was the most boring, followed by Roman Gabriel (1974, Philadelphia), Greg Landry (1977, Detroit), Eric Hipple (1986, Detroit) and Mike Livingston (1978, Kansas City).
Tomorrow, we'll switch from a seasons view to a careers view, and see how the QBs stack up.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 6th, 2007 at 6:04 am and is filed under Totally Useless. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Honorable mention to Joe Ferguson, who threw just 1 INT in 1976, out of a possible 151.
Wow - kinda says a lot about how the passing game significantly changed in the 80s. Thank you, Bill Walsh.
This is pretty interesting, because conventional wisdom says that passing is a bigger part of the offense now than it was prior to 1978. But these number say that the passing game is more conservative now than it was before 1978.
For the record, Greg Cook in 1969 had 197 ATT, so he just misses Chase's cutoff. If included, he'd rank 8th with 17.49 ypc and 11th in "fun score" with 23.62. The Bengals' other QB that year was Sam Wyche, 15.52 ypc and 20.61 fun score. Combined, they had 16.83 ypc and a fun score of 22.61.
I know its obvious how effecient Steve Young was, but wow he made the highest % list 6 times, wow!!
3: Conventional wisdom is correct, in that teams pass a lot more now than they used to. But when they pass, they pass shorter. That's why it amused me when they were discussing Dick LeBeau's high interception totals as a player with the Lions. They pointed out that teams passed less in LeBeau's era than they do today, conveniently ignoring that teams actually threw MORE interceptions then. In 2006, NFL teams averaged 1.016 INTs per game. In 1966, when LeBeau made the Pro Bowl, NFL teams averaged 1.519 INTs per game.
I was expecting to see Joe Montana all over the boring lists.
Enjoyed this list a lot and looking forward to tomorrow.
One note--even if a modern QB has a shorter yds/completion average, he may have had just as many deep passes as some of the old-school QBs. He might just have more short passes in more total attempts.
I'm surprised not to see every Ravens QB since Testaverde on the boring list.
Here's a radical thought....
Consider the following scenarios.
(A) The play starts at the 50 yard line. The quarterback hits the wide receiver at the 42 and he runs all the way for a touchdown.
(B) The play starts at the 50 yard line. The quarterback hits the wide receiver at the 5 yard line and he goes into the end zone for a touchdown.
The way it's always been, the quarterback gets credit for an attempt, a completion, 50 passing yards, and a touchdown pass. The WR gets credit for a reception, 50 receiving yards, and a touchdown.
--
What if everything prior to the ball being caught was credited to the QB, and everything from the catch onward was credited to the guy who did it, the WR?
--
With this change, the stats would be affected as follows:
In scenario A: the QB would get credit for a pass attempt, a completion, and 8 yards. The receiver would get credit for a reception, 42 yards with the ball, and a touchdown. It's not the QB's fault he was able to take it 42 yards, so why credit him with it?
In scenario B: the QB would get credit for a pass attempt, a completion, and 45 passing yards (he was, alas, the gentleman who propelled the ball 45 yards). The WR would get credit for a reception, 5 yards, and a touchdown.
--
Running backs (and everybody else) actually need to have the ball to get credit for yardage gained, so why not the same standard for receivers? I also like WR's getting pegged for attempted receptions. If they catch 10 passes, that's great, but what if 15 were thrown to them??
--
Also, TD passes are kinda bogus. 9 times out of 10, the receiver has to run into the end zone with the ball. Why is it to the QB's credit if he breaks 17 tackles and scores? If a runningback rushes for a TD, the QB isn't credited with a TD handoff.
To further emphasize my point, if a WR catches a ball 14 yards downfield and gets tackled immediately, right where he caught it, why is he credited for any yardage? What he did was made a reception, which is a great thing to do, but it is the QB who provided the impetus for the ball to go 14 yards. Sure the receiver worked his way downfield 14 yards to catch the ball, but he went to where the ball was... he didn't take the ball there. He validated the QB's pass, but he didn't gain any yardage. The WR is responsible for catching it, but the QB is responsible for the yardage. The way it is now, there is no statistical difference between a 30 yard pass play with no "RAC" and a screen pass in the backfield in which the receiver is tackled 30 yards beyond the line of scrimmage.
Much of what I like about sports is imagining how things could be done differently.
So if a WR catches a pass behind the line of scrimmage and gets tackled right away he gets a reception and 0 yards. If he beats his man downfield and catches a 45 yard pass but gets tackled right away (by the safety) he gets the same stats? Thats a problem. The WR gets the yardage because he was able to get open and catch the ball. Generally speaking the longer the pass the more the WR has to do to catch it (get open, get to the ball, catch it). The throws are less accurate the further they are and so the WR has to be able to do more to still make the reception.
I'm SLIGHTLY sympathetic to that reasoning, Mo. Nowadays, commentators allude to "RAC", but it is an unofficial stat. To deal with the problem you mentioned, I propose the unofficial stat called "DOC", which stands for distance of catch.
I really don't care about a receiver's heroics before the reception is made. I agree there is something to it, but I don't see it as that important that the current system is obviously the only one that makes any sense.
The reality is that the current system is stupid.
How about a compromise: Here could be a receiver's stat categories:
Receptions made
Receptions attempted
Distance of catches
Yards with ball
Interceptions caused (drops, tips that are intercepted)
Touchdowns
BTW, Mo, nice use of extreme circumstances to prove a point. Never mind the merits of my idea. Just come up with an obscure example where the idea is slightly less than perfect.
Kinda like proving the United States is the best place in the world by comparing it with some 3rd world country in a constant state of oppression and depravity.
"Yeah, the existing football methods are the best possible because if some guy gets tackled behind the line, that's worse than a long pass with no gain." Come on..... see it for what it is.
Then again, most sports fans are sufficiently steeped in custom and tradition that any alternative has got to be worse.
Baseball fans are the kings of that kind of thinking. I suggested that it'd be neat if they tried running in the opposite direction for a given game, and you'd've thought I was out of my mind by the reaction of everybody in earshot.
I attempted to make my own "fun-meter"... Results:
+-----------+-----------+------+----------+
| firstname | lastname | year | fun |
+-----------+-----------+------+----------+
| Dan | Marino | 1984 | 291.1917 |
| Kurt | Warner | 2000 | 281.2445 |
| Joe | Namath | 1967 | 272.8471 |
| Lynn | Dickey | 1983 | 270.2208 |
| Sonny | Jurgensen | 1961 | 268.5909 |
| Dan | Fouts | 1982 | 268.2348 |
| Johnny | Unitas | 1960 | 265.8153 |
| George | Blanda | 1961 | 264.5220 |
| John | Hadl | 1968 | 263.4860 |
| Dan | Marino | 1986 | 262.3431 |
| Dan | Fouts | 1983 | 261.8721 |
| Kurt | Warner | 2001 | 260.6927 |
| Peyton | Manning | 2004 | 259.7762 |
| Dan | Fouts | 1980 | 251.3465 |
| Babe | Parilli | 1964 | 250.5977 |
| Warren | Moon | 1990 | 249.7264 |
| Dan | Fouts | 1981 | 246.3634 |
| Daryle | Lamonica | 1969 | 245.7605 |
| Kurt | Warner | 1999 | 241.3103 |
| Y.A. | Tittle | 1962 | 241.1314 |
| Daunte | Culpepper | 2004 | 240.3766 |
| Y.A. | Tittle | 1963 | 239.8225 |
| Dan | Fouts | 1985 | 238.1234 |
| Sonny | Jurgensen | 1962 | 236.9357 |
| Norm | Snead | 1967 | 234.8388 |
| Steve | Young | 1998 | 234.0381 |
| George | Blanda | 1962 | 233.4030 |
| Neil | Lomax | 1984 | 232.5273 |
| Steve | Beuerlein | 1999 | 231.4232 |
| Daryle | Lamonica | 1968 | 231.3023 |
+-----------+-----------+------+----------+
Doh, no preview or edit! and no pre tags!
The thing that I didn't like about the formula you used for fun was that dividing by completions. I don't quite know how to phrase it, but it just seems wonky. Interceptions are in the numerator but not the denominator since they don't count as completions. And it ignores how many pass attempts there are per game. 5 exciting passes is good, but 10 is better. Anyway, my own attempt to calculate "fun" was something like this:
Deep passes are fun.
More deep passes/game = more fun.
Deep downfield incompletions are somewhat fun
The QB throwing away the ball is negative fun
So I counted half the incompletions as "real" and half as "throwaway". No real reason, it seemed like a good idea at the time. I gave .2*YPC for each "real attempt" and -5 points per "throwaway". interceptions are counted as 100% real attempts... And I calculated the fun number per game rather than per completion. This is all assuming I didn't make some mathematical blunder in the formula, of course.
#for every "real pass attempt"
(passyd/comp * (att-((att-comp-interceptions)*.5))*.2
+
#for real completions
passyd*.8
+
#for interceptions
interceptions*25
+
#for touchdowns
passtd*25
-
#for throwaways
5*(att-((att-comp-interceptions)*.5)))
#for fun per game
/games
It seems to have a nice mix of old and new, and I think the results match my definition of fun a bit more... It's really hard for me to tell with the old timers since I never watched any pre-joe-montana football.
Dan Marino's 48 TD, 5084 yard season tops the list. Warren Moon and his chuck-n-duck offense made the list which made me happy. I loved watching the run and shoot craziness. Peyton's exciting 49 TD season is also in there, as well as George Blanda's record setting 42 interception season...
Gary Huff's 1975 season chinched the most boring spot, with 114 for 205 with 1083 pass yards, 3 TDs, and 9 INTs in 14 games (a whopping 77 yards/game). That's probably due to my use of "per game" though since it looks like he was sharing time with Bob Avellini.
Seeing Kordell on a "boring" list seems wrong. Maybe you need to add a factor for QB runs; in Stewart's case, it was usually more fun to see him pull the ball down and run than to watch him throw.
This list just validates my belief that the NFL's move toward a pass-first game has not made the sport more exciting. The passing game was more fun when it was a bit of a surprise, and riskier than the five-yard dump off.
This is pretty interesting, because conventional wisdom says that passing is a bigger part of the offense now than it was prior to 1978. But these number say that the passing game is more conservative now than it was before 1978.