The NFL Is A Passing League...Or Is It?
Dec 18, 2020 23:51:04 GMT -6
Reignman, Funkytown, and 1 more like this
Post by Deleted on Dec 18, 2020 23:51:04 GMT -6
We hear it all the time "The NFL is a passing league!" It's in multiple news articles,tweets,forum threads,not a week goes by without some reference to it. Heck,I've even said it myself when talking about the Vikings and their run first approach.
But the league is changing.
In 2015 passing touchdowns represented just under 70% of total TDs,then it fell off a cliff. In 2016 it was 64%,went up slightly to 66% in 2017 & 2018,back to 64% in 2019 and is running at 62% in 2020.
So why is this so? Perhaps running backs aren't as extinct as we think? If we delve into the numbers,rushing TDs were below 400 in both 2014 (397) & 2015 (383) and then increased to 462 in 2016 which corresponds with the decrease in passing TDs.
However,there is another phenomenon at play here,and that is the modern QB that is being developed at the college level and is now present in the NFL. The "dual threat" or "running" QB is changing the nature of NFL offences. While passing TDs decline,and rushing TDs increase,the reason for the increase is mainly due to QB rushing TDs climbing from 15% in 2016,to 23% in 2020.
| YEAR | Pass TD | QB Rush TDs | All Rush TDs | % Of Rush TDs That Are QB Rushes | All TDs | % Of All QB Rush TDs |
| 2013 | 66% | 59 | 433 | 14% | 1269 | 4.6% |
| 2014 | 68% | 49 | 397 | 12% | 1247 | 3.9% |
| 2015 | 70% | 65 | 383 | 17% | 1250 | 5.2% |
| 2016 | 64% | 67 | 462 | 15% | 1289 | 5.2% |
| 2017 | 66% | 66 | 400 | 17% | 1181 | 5.6% |
| 2018 | 66% | 76 | 466 | 16% | 1339 | 5.7% |
| 2019 | 64% | 85 | 475 | 18% | 1304 | 6.5% |
| 2020 | 62% | 96 | 418 | 23% | 1120 | 8.6% |
Stats courtesy of Mike Clay @mikeclaynfl
... and neither is this Chris guy.