Jared Goff, John Brodie, and The Biggest ANY/A Increases

by Chase Stuart on September 24, 2017

Last season, Jared Goff produced one of the worst rookie seasons in recent history. He ranked dead last in ANY/A, over a 1.5 adjusted net yards per attempt behind every other qualifying passer. Well, this year, through three games, Goff ranks first in the NFL in ANY/A.

It’s really early, but Goff’s performance made me wonder what was the biggest increase in ANY/A year over year in football history (minimum 200 attempts both seasons). In the pre-merger era, the answer is John Brodie (although we are really using AY/A here because we don’t have sack data). He averaged 3.99 AY/A in 1960 and 8.23 AY/A in 1961, representing an increase of 4.24. In the post-merger era, it’s Nick Foles at the top, thanks to his remarkable 2013 season. The table below shows the top 100 year-over-year increases:

Rk	Quarterback	Years	Teams	Yr N-1 ANY/A	Yr N ANY/A	Diff
1	John Brodie	1960--1961	sfo--sfo	3.99	8.23	4.24
2	Nick Foles	2012--2013	phi--phi	5.13	9.18	4.05
3	Otto Graham	1952--1953	cle--cle	5.87	9.83	3.97
4	Drew Brees	2003--2004	sdg--sdg	3.91	7.78	3.87
5	Boomer Esiason	1992--1993	cin--nyj	2.70	6.33	3.63
6	Ken Anderson	1980--1981	cin--cin	3.81	7.43	3.62
7	Charlie Conerly	1953--1954	nyg--nyg	2.79	6.11	3.32
8	Josh Freeman	2009--2010	tam--tam	3.69	6.94	3.26
9	George Blanda	1960--1961	oti--oti	5.24	8.45	3.21
10	Ken Stabler	1975--1976	rai--rai	4.28	7.45	3.17
11	Steve DeBerg	1978--1979	sfo--sfo	1.83	4.92	3.09
12	John Hadl	1972--1973	sdg--ram	3.58	6.64	3.07
13	Tom Flores	1965--1966	rai--rai	5.12	8.13	3.01
14	Ed Brown	1958--1959	chi--chi	3.91	6.85	2.93
15	Tom Brady	2006--2007	nwe--nwe	6.08	8.88	2.80
16	Milt Plum	1959--1960	cle--cle	7.19	9.97	2.78
17	Jake Plummer	2002--2003	crd--den	3.86	6.63	2.77
18	Scott Mitchell	1994--1995	det--det	4.26	6.99	2.74
19	Brett Favre	2008--2009	nyj--min	4.91	7.61	2.70
20	Bert Jones	1974--1975	clt--clt	2.95	5.65	2.70
21	Matt Ryan	2015--2016	atl--atl	6.35	9.03	2.68
22	Billy Kilmer	1970--1971	nor--was	2.96	5.55	2.59
23	Brian Griese	1999--2000	den--den	5.23	7.79	2.56
24	Norm Snead	1961--1962	was--was	4.18	6.71	2.53
25	Tommy Kramer	1985--1986	min--min	4.54	7.08	2.53
26	Vinny Testaverde	1997--1998	rav--nyj	5.16	7.68	2.53
27	Norm Snead	1966--1967	phi--phi	4.16	6.68	2.52
28	Donovan McNabb	2003--2004	phi--phi	5.35	7.87	2.52
29	Len Dawson	1967--1968	kan--kan	6.63	9.13	2.50
30	Dan Pastorini	1973--1974	oti--oti	1.58	4.06	2.48
31	Don Meredith	1964--1965	dal--dal	4.96	7.44	2.48
32	Jack Trudeau	1986--1987	clt--clt	3.05	5.52	2.47
33	Peyton Manning	2003--2004	clt--clt	7.35	9.78	2.43
34	John Elway	1992--1993	den--den	3.99	6.42	2.43
35	Craig Morton	1976--1977	nyg--den	2.66	5.09	2.43
36	Len Dawson	1965--1966	kan--kan	6.73	9.14	2.42
37	Andy Dalton	2014--2015	cin--cin	5.75	8.17	2.41
38	John Brodie	1964--1965	sfo--sfo	5.25	7.65	2.40
39	Randall Cunningham	1986--1987	phi--phi	2.66	5.06	2.40
40	Matt Cassel	2009--2010	kan--kan	4.26	6.64	2.37
41	Tobin Rote	1950--1951	gnb--gnb	1.30	3.67	2.37
42	Donovan McNabb	1999--2000	phi--phi	2.41	4.79	2.37
43	Philip Rivers	2007--2008	sdg--sdg	5.67	8.04	2.37
44	Chad Pennington	2007--2008	nyj--mia	4.83	7.19	2.36
45	Philip Rivers	2012--2013	sdg--sdg	5.45	7.79	2.34
46	Frankie Albert	1947--1948	sfo--sfo	5.69	8.03	2.34
47	Mark Rypien	1990--1991	was--was	6.01	8.34	2.33
48	Steve Bartkowski	1979--1980	atl--atl	3.96	6.27	2.31
49	Carson Palmer	2004--2005	cin--cin	4.96	7.26	2.29
50	Blake Bortles	2014--2015	jax--jax	3.81	6.09	2.28
51	Archie Manning	1977--1978	nor--nor	3.12	5.38	2.27
52	Boomer Esiason	1987--1988	cin--cin	5.53	7.79	2.26
53	John Brodie	1969--1970	sfo--sfo	5.28	7.52	2.25
54	Drew Brees	2010--2011	nor--nor	6.01	8.23	2.22
55	Peyton Manning	1998--1999	clt--clt	4.84	7.06	2.22
56	David Garrard	2006--2007	jax--jax	5.41	7.62	2.21
57	Terry Bradshaw	1970--1971	pit--pit	0.86	3.06	2.20
58	Roman Gabriel	1966--1967	ram--ram	5.09	7.26	2.17
59	Joe Flacco	2013--2014	rav--rav	4.50	6.66	2.17
60	Josh McCown	2014--2015	tam--cle	4.30	6.45	2.15
61	Jim Ninowski	1960--1961	det--det	2.93	5.06	2.14
62	Bert Jones	1975--1976	clt--clt	5.65	7.78	2.13
63	Joe Montana	1988--1989	sfo--sfo	6.19	8.31	2.12
64	Eli Manning	2013--2014	nyg--nyg	4.55	6.67	2.12
65	Mark Brunell	2004--2005	was--was	3.81	5.92	2.11
66	Frank Tripucka	1961--1962	den--den	2.75	4.85	2.10
67	George Blanda	1962--1963	oti--oti	3.49	5.57	2.08
68	Don Meredith	1967--1968	dal--dal	5.62	7.70	2.08
69	Pete Liske	1970--1971	den--phi	2.85	4.85	2.01
70	Johnny Unitas	1962--1963	clt--clt	6.15	8.15	2.00
71	Jim Everett	1993--1994	ram--nor	3.93	5.92	1.99
72	Ken O'Brien	1984--1985	nyj--nyj	4.62	6.60	1.98
73	Brett Favre	2006--2007	gnb--gnb	5.21	7.18	1.97
74	Trent Green	2001--2002	kan--kan	5.06	7.02	1.96
75	Bob Griese	1970--1971	mia--mia	4.39	6.35	1.96
76	Jim Plunkett	1972--1973	nwe--nwe	2.15	4.10	1.96
77	Norm Van Brocklin	1958--1959	phi--phi	4.84	6.79	1.95
78	Bernie Kosar	1990--1991	cle--cle	4.06	6.00	1.94
79	Troy Aikman	1990--1991	dal--dal	3.88	5.82	1.94
80	John Elway	1983--1984	den--den	3.33	5.26	1.93
81	Jim Harbaugh	1993--1994	chi--clt	3.90	5.84	1.93
82	Matt Hasselbeck	2001--2002	sea--sea	4.32	6.25	1.93
83	Ben Roethlisberger	2008--2009	pit--pit	5.21	7.12	1.91
84	Steve DeBerg	1989--1990	kan--kan	5.67	7.58	1.91
85	Otto Graham	1948--1949	cle--cle	7.62	9.53	1.90
86	Steve McNair	2002--2003	oti--oti	5.91	7.81	1.90
87	Joe Ferguson	1974--1975	buf--buf	3.99	5.89	1.90
88	Aaron Rodgers	2010--2011	gnb--gnb	7.50	9.39	1.90
89	John Brodie	1967--1968	sfo--sfo	4.34	6.23	1.89
90	Troy Aikman	1997--1998	dal--dal	5.18	7.06	1.88
91	Marc Wilson	1986--1987	rai--rai	3.86	5.73	1.86
92	Steve Fuller	1979--1980	kan--kan	2.38	4.23	1.86
93	Tobin Rote	1955--1956	gnb--gnb	4.27	6.13	1.86
94	Ken Stabler	1978--1979	rai--rai	3.54	5.38	1.84
95	Brian Sipe	1979--1980	cle--cle	4.91	6.73	1.83
96	Andrew Luck	2015--2016	clt--clt	5.04	6.84	1.80
97	Jeff Garcia	1999--2000	sfo--sfo	5.55	7.34	1.79
98	Craig Erickson	1993--1994	tam--tam	4.54	6.32	1.78
99	Daunte Culpepper	2002--2003	min--min	4.92	6.70	1.77
100	David Archer	1985--1986	atl--atl	2.97	4.73	1.76

What stands out to you? Goff needs to average 7.07 ANY/A this year to set the record. Will he do it?

{ 7 comments }