Not breaking new ground here. Not a surprise. This is all stuff I've mentioned before in the last few years. But teams continue to have more and more success through the air. That's just the way the game is played now.
Now that every team has played half its game, I thought it would be a good time to take the temperature of the game -- look at the average production for each year.
As wide open as the game seemed to be in 2012, quarterbacks are having even more success this year. Looks like teams will average about a touchdown more, if their pace remains similar in the final eight weeks.
Passing yards are a little down, but it looks like they'll finish above 240 (per game) for the third year in a row. For most of the last 20 years, teams have averaged about 225 yards per game.
Overall, passing production is up about 19 percent over the last 20 years. That's using 1993 as the baseline year, and using the scoring system of 1 point for every 20 yards passing, and 4 points for TD passes.
On the chart below, yards are shown are per-game numbers, while touchdowns are shown as season-long averages.
| PASSING PRODUCTION, 1993-2013 | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Yards | TD | Imp |
| 1993 | 215 | 18.5 | 100% |
| 1994 | 227 | 20.8 | 108% |
| 1995 | 236 | 22.1 | 112% |
| 1996 | 222 | 20.9 | 106% |
| 1997 | 219 | 20.6 | 105% |
| 1998 | 221 | 21.9 | 107% |
| 1999 | 228 | 21.5 | 109% |
| 2000 | 222 | 20.5 | 105% |
| 2001 | 221 | 20.5 | 105% |
| 2002 | 227 | 21.7 | 109% |
| 2003 | 214 | 20.4 | 103% |
| 2004 | 225 | 22.9 | 110% |
| 2005 | 218 | 20.1 | 104% |
| 2006 | 219 | 20.3 | 104% |
| 2007 | 228 | 22.5 | 111% |
| 2008 | 224 | 20.2 | 106% |
| 2009 | 232 | 22.2 | 111% |
| 2010 | 236 | 23.5 | 115% |
| 2011 | 245 | 23.3 | 117% |
| 2012 | 246 | 23.7 | 118% |
| 2013 | 242 | 24.7 | 119% |
--Ian Allan