Matthew Stafford has had interceptions returned for touchdowns in three straight games. If he throws a Pick Six against Jacksonville this week, he'll tie another Matt, Matt Schaub, for most games in a row with such a miscue in NFL history. It's a pairing he'd no doubt like to avoid.
Whether he does or not, Stafford is already high on the list in terms of frequency of throwing Pick Sixes. Among quarterbacks who have thrown at least 10 in NFL history (since the league started tracking them), only four have thrown them with greater frequency (on a per-game basis) than Stafford. There's a Lions connection (Joey Harrington is one of the four.
In the table, generated from pro-football-reference, players are sorted by per-game frequency of throwing Pick Sixes. Stafford has thrown one in nearly 15 percent of his games, more frequently than anyone this century besides Harrington and Blake Bortles. Active players are italicized.
PICK SIX FREQUENCY, NFL HISTORY | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Player | Pick6 | Games | Att | TD | Int | %Games |
Joe Namath | 28 | 140 | 3762 | 173 | 220 | 20.0% |
Frank Tripucka | 12 | 69 | 1600 | 60 | 110 | 17.4% |
Joey Harrington | 14 | 81 | 2538 | 79 | 85 | 17.3% |
Blake Bortles | 13 | 78 | 2634 | 103 | 75 | 16.7% |
Matthew Stafford | 26 | 176 | 6624 | 309 | 153 | 14.8% |
Jameis Winston | 11 | 83 | 2720 | 135 | 91 | 13.3% |
Brian Griese | 12 | 93 | 2796 | 119 | 99 | 12.9% |
Jake Delhomme | 13 | 103 | 2932 | 126 | 101 | 12.6% |
Don Meredith | 13 | 104 | 2308 | 135 | 111 | 12.5% |
Stan Humphries | 11 | 88 | 2516 | 89 | 84 | 12.5% |
Jay Cutler | 19 | 153 | 4920 | 227 | 160 | 12.4% |
Norm Snead | 22 | 178 | 4353 | 196 | 257 | 12.4% |
Kurt Warner | 15 | 124 | 4070 | 208 | 128 | 12.1% |
Carson Palmer | 22 | 182 | 6307 | 294 | 187 | 12.1% |
Jon Kitna | 17 | 141 | 4442 | 169 | 165 | 12.1% |
Andrew Luck | 10 | 86 | 3290 | 171 | 83 | 11.6% |
Dan Marino | 28 | 242 | 8358 | 420 | 252 | 11.6% |
Elvis Grbac | 12 | 105 | 2445 | 99 | 81 | 11.4% |
Bill Nelsen | 10 | 90 | 1905 | 98 | 101 | 11.1% |
Brett Favre | 32 | 302 | 10169 | 508 | 336 | 10.6% |
Babe Parilli | 20 | 189 | 3330 | 178 | 220 | 10.6% |
Marc Bulger | 10 | 96 | 3171 | 122 | 93 | 10.4% |
Philip Rivers | 25 | 244 | 8134 | 421 | 209 | 10.2% |
Chris Miller | 10 | 98 | 2892 | 123 | 102 | 10.2% |
Peyton Manning | 27 | 266 | 9380 | 539 | 251 | 10.2% |
Kerry Collins | 20 | 198 | 6261 | 208 | 196 | 10.1% |
Jeff Blake | 12 | 119 | 3241 | 134 | 99 | 10.1% |
Andy Dalton | 15 | 149 | 4894 | 222 | 128 | 10.1% |
Trent Dilfer | 13 | 130 | 3172 | 113 | 129 | 10.0% |
Derek Carr | 12 | 121 | 4243 | 187 | 80 | 9.9% |
Vinny Testaverde | 23 | 233 | 6701 | 275 | 267 | 9.9% |
Lynn Dickey | 15 | 152 | 3125 | 141 | 179 | 9.9% |
Steve DeBerg | 20 | 206 | 5024 | 196 | 204 | 9.7% |
Drew Brees | 27 | 287 | 10551 | 571 | 243 | 9.4% |
Matt Cassel | 10 | 107 | 2683 | 104 | 82 | 9.3% |
Eli Manning | 22 | 236 | 8119 | 366 | 244 | 9.3% |
Tommy Kramer | 12 | 129 | 3651 | 159 | 158 | 9.3% |
Jim Zorn | 13 | 140 | 3149 | 111 | 141 | 9.3% |
Richard Todd | 11 | 119 | 2967 | 124 | 161 | 9.2% |
Kirk Cousins | 11 | 120 | 4068 | 213 | 87 | 9.2% |
Jeff George | 12 | 131 | 3967 | 154 | 113 | 9.2% |
Jake Plummer | 13 | 143 | 4350 | 161 | 161 | 9.1% |
Matt Schaub | 14 | 155 | 3348 | 136 | 91 | 9.0% |
Jeff Garcia | 11 | 125 | 3676 | 161 | 83 | 8.8% |
Matt Ryan | 19 | 216 | 7822 | 363 | 169 | 8.8% |
Tobin Rote | 13 | 149 | 2907 | 148 | 191 | 8.7% |
Ken Stabler | 16 | 184 | 3793 | 194 | 222 | 8.7% |
Bobby Hebert | 10 | 118 | 3121 | 135 | 124 | 8.5% |
Tony Romo | 13 | 156 | 4335 | 248 | 117 | 8.3% |
Jim Everett | 13 | 158 | 4923 | 203 | 175 | 8.2% |
Steve McNair | 13 | 161 | 4544 | 174 | 119 | 8.1% |
Johnny Unitas | 17 | 211 | 5186 | 290 | 253 | 8.1% |
Phil Simms | 13 | 164 | 4647 | 199 | 157 | 7.9% |
Ryan Fitzpatrick | 13 | 166 | 5060 | 223 | 169 | 7.8% |
Drew Bledsoe | 15 | 194 | 6717 | 251 | 206 | 7.7% |
John Elway | 18 | 234 | 7250 | 300 | 226 | 7.7% |
Warren Moon | 16 | 208 | 6823 | 291 | 233 | 7.7% |
Cam Newton | 11 | 143 | 4400 | 193 | 120 | 7.7% |
Jim Plunkett | 12 | 157 | 3701 | 164 | 198 | 7.6% |
Jim Kelly | 12 | 160 | 4779 | 237 | 175 | 7.5% |
Eddie LeBaron | 10 | 134 | 1796 | 104 | 141 | 7.5% |
Ben Roethlisberger | 18 | 243 | 8222 | 410 | 207 | 7.4% |
Steve Grogan | 11 | 149 | 3593 | 182 | 208 | 7.4% |
Archie Manning | 11 | 151 | 3642 | 125 | 173 | 7.3% |
Charley Johnson | 12 | 165 | 3392 | 170 | 181 | 7.3% |
Mark Brunell | 14 | 193 | 4640 | 184 | 108 | 7.3% |
Chris Chandler | 13 | 180 | 4005 | 170 | 146 | 7.2% |
Ed Brown | 11 | 154 | 1987 | 102 | 138 | 7.1% |
Len Dawson | 15 | 211 | 3741 | 239 | 183 | 7.1% |
Sonny Jurgensen | 15 | 218 | 4262 | 255 | 189 | 6.9% |
Bob Griese | 11 | 161 | 3429 | 192 | 172 | 6.8% |
Gus Frerotte | 10 | 147 | 3106 | 114 | 106 | 6.8% |
Brad Johnson | 12 | 177 | 4326 | 166 | 122 | 6.8% |
Troy Aikman | 11 | 165 | 4715 | 165 | 141 | 6.7% |
Dan Fouts | 12 | 181 | 5604 | 254 | 242 | 6.6% |
John Brodie | 13 | 201 | 4491 | 214 | 224 | 6.5% |
Matt Hasselbeck | 13 | 209 | 5330 | 212 | 153 | 6.2% |
Joe Flacco | 11 | 178 | 6108 | 227 | 144 | 6.2% |
Jim Hart | 12 | 201 | 5076 | 209 | 247 | 6.0% |
Boomer Esiason | 11 | 187 | 5205 | 247 | 184 | 5.9% |
John Hadl | 13 | 224 | 4687 | 244 | 268 | 5.8% |
Craig Morton | 12 | 207 | 3786 | 183 | 187 | 5.8% |
Dave Krieg | 12 | 213 | 5311 | 261 | 199 | 5.6% |
Roman Gabriel | 10 | 183 | 4498 | 201 | 149 | 5.5% |
Tom Brady | 17 | 312 | 11055 | 611 | 200 | 5.4% |
George Blanda | 17 | 328 | 3986 | 236 | 272 | 5.2% |
Fran Tarkenton | 12 | 246 | 6467 | 342 | 266 | 4.9% |
--Andy Richardson