Agree about a QB never quitting, even when trailing by a large margin. But it’s far more common for a QB to amass numbers in hopeless games, as opposed to a QB throwing when his team is comfortably ahead. In addition to softer coverages, the losing QB sometimes faces backups as well. In the more rare instances of the eventual winning QB up by a large margin and throwing, the opponent often keeps blitzing.

“Falcons would have extended their lead to 35-12 and it would look like Ryan was just padding his stats. In hindsight, if he had done that it could have been a game-sealing drive.”

Exactly. Then imagine that Brady keeps plugging away and trying to win, even as the Falcons continue to pile on some more points, say the Falcons are up 42 to 19 at the end of the 3rd. Would anyone, fan, hater, ambivalent watcher, begrudge Brady for continuing to throw and try to overcome the deficit? Would people say he was only trying to pad his numbers at that point?