Factoid
We’re at the halfway point of the season, so a good time to check in with a state of the league. Passing production is up, but by how much? And does that mean that rushing is down? We got out the numbers from the last 10 years and took a look.
Scoring, for starters, is at a record level. Three of the four highest-scoring years in league history have come in the last four years. The guys at the league office like scoring.
The last increase is in passing yards. It used to be that 200 passing yards in a game meant something. Now the league average has zoomed up to around 245-250 yards per game. In rough terms, teams are averaging about 12 more passing yards per game than ever before. (For the passing yards shown before, those are NET yards; they include the 15ish yards per game teams are losing on sacks.
Rushing, in rough terms, hasn’t changed a whole bunch. It seems to be staying about the same. Yards and touchdowns via the run have remained largely the same. It’s just that teams are generating more offense with the pass. In rough terms, teams were calling pass plays on 51 percent of plays a few years ago; now thye’re going with the pass on 54 percent of plays.
SCORING (POINTS PER GAME) 2001-2011
Pts Year
19.6 2001
21.7 2002
20.8 2003
21.5 2004
20.6 2005
20.7 2006
21.7 2007
22.0 2008
21.5 2009
22.0 2010
22.3 2011
PASSING YARDS PER GAME, 2001-2011
(Net passing yards, including yards lost on sacks)
Yds Year
199 2001
212 2002
200 2003
211 2004
203 2005
205 2006
214 2007
211 2008
218 2009
222 2010
234 2011
RUSHING YARDS PER GAME, 2001-2011
Yds Year
108 2001
116 2002
118 2003
117 2004
112 2005
117 2006
111 2007
116 2008
117 2009
114 2010
115 2011
PASSING TOUCHDOWNS PER SEASON, 2001-2011
TDP Year
19.8 2001
21.7 2002
20.4 2003
22.9 2004
20.1 2005
20.3 2006
22.5 2007
20.2 2008
22.2 2009
23.5 2010
23.5 2011
RUSHING TOUCHDOWNS PER SEASON, 2001-2001
TDR Year
11.4 2001
14.4 2002
13.3 2003
13.0 2004
13.5 2005
13.3 2006
12.1 2007
14.9 2008
13.4 2009
12.5 2010
12.6 2011
PERCENTAGE PASS PLAYS, 2001-2011
Pct Year
52.1% 2001
53.1% 2002
51.4% 2003
51.1% 2004
51.4% 2005
51.2% 2006
53.0% 2007
52.2% 2008
52.9% 2009
53.4% 2010
54.3% 2011
—Ian Allan
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Posted by ANDY RICHARDSON | Nov. 10 at 04:39 PM
I hope Dan Marino takes this league-wide trend to heart when 4 guys break his record for passing yards.