Eli Manning and Philip Rivers have been great quarterbacks for a lot of years. Just maybe not quite as great as you might think.
Manning, believe it or not, has never ranked in the top 5 in touchdowns per game. That’s total touchdowns (he doesn’t run much), and that’s per-game production. (Manning doesn’t miss games, which is one of his selling points, but he’s not rewarded for that in this kind of a look.)
Similarly, Rivers has ranked in the top 5 in touchdowns per game only once, and it occurred back in 2008 (when he threw 34 touchdowns). As with Manning, Rivers doesn’t miss games and doesn’t run for touchdowns – just 3 in his career.
On the charts below, I’m comparing Rivers and Manning each year against other quarterbacks who started at least half of the games . Each season there are about 32 such quarterbacks.
In general, Rivers and Manning tend to finish above-average but don’t separate from the good quarterbacks by tossing a whole bunch of touchdowns.
Rivers and Manning also tend to finish above-average in passing yards, but those aren’t listed here.
It’s weird. These quarterbacks are both really good – they might both wind up in the Hall of Fame (I consider them to both be better than some quarterbacks who are already enshrined). But neither has been a truly great touchdown thrower.
| RIVERS: TOUCHDOWNS PER START | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | St | Pass | Run | Avg | Rnk |
| 2006 | 16 | 22 | 0 | 1.38 | 12T |
| 2007 | 16 | 21 | 1 | 1.38 | 13T |
| 2008 | 16 | 34 | 0 | 2.13 | 1T |
| 2009 | 16 | 28 | 1 | 1.81 | 6T |
| 2010 | 16 | 30 | 0 | 1.88 | 8 |
| 2011 | 16 | 27 | 1 | 1.75 | 10 |
| 2012 | 16 | 26 | 0 | 1.63 | 14T |
| 2013 | 16 | 32 | 0 | 2.00 | 6 |
| 2014 | 16 | 31 | 0 | 1.94 | 9T |
| 2015 | 16 | 29 | 0 | 1.81 | 15 |
| 2016 | 16 | 33 | 0 | 2.06 | 7 |
For Manning, no ranking for his rookie season because he wasn’t a starter for at least half of that season.
| MANNING: TOUCHDOWNS PER START | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | St | Pass | Run | Avg | Rnk |
| 2004 | 7 | 6 | 0 | .86 | --- |
| 2005 | 16 | 24 | 1 | 1.56 | 7T |
| 2006 | 16 | 24 | 0 | 1.50 | 6T |
| 2007 | 16 | 23 | 1 | 1.50 | 12 |
| 2008 | 16 | 21 | 1 | 1.38 | 15T |
| 2009 | 16 | 27 | 0 | 1.69 | 12T |
| 2010 | 16 | 31 | 0 | 1.94 | 7 |
| 2011 | 16 | 29 | 1 | 1.88 | 9 |
| 2012 | 16 | 26 | 0 | 1.63 | 14T |
| 2013 | 16 | 18 | 0 | 1.13 | 27T |
| 2014 | 16 | 30 | 1 | 1.94 | 9T |
| 2015 | 16 | 35 | 0 | 2.19 | 6T |
| 2016 | 16 | 26 | 0 | 1.63 | 16T |
—Ian Allan