George Blanda

Analytic George: The Story of the Next Most Pass-Happy Game In Pro Football History

by Chase Stuart on March 14, 2020

Blanda giving his arm a workout.

On Monday, November 2nd, 1964, the country was talking about Lyndon Baines Johnson and Barry Goldwater, as the upcoming presidential election was just one day away. The NFL world was talking about Jim Brown, who a day earlier had become the first player to rush for 10,000 yards, and the Baltimore Colts, who had just won their 7th straight game. Fans of the AFL were talking about the Buffalo Bills, who had won yet again to bring their 1964 record to a perfect 8-0.

But if you look closely, there was some attention being paid to old George Blanda, the Houston Oilers quarterback who set a new pro football record by throwing 68 passes in a losing effort against those Bills. You might be wondering how did a 37-year-old quarterback in 1964 get away with throwing 68 passes? At the time, the single-game record by pass attempts by a team or player was 60, set by Davey O’Brien with the Philadelphia Eagles back in 1940. In the ensuing 23-and-a-half seasons, no team had hit 60 pass attempts again, and then Blanda and the Oilers threw 68 times on November 1st, 1964. In the next 24 seasons, no quarterback threw more than 62 passes in a game.

So, what happened on November 1st 1964 in western New York?

Let’s begin with the opponent. Blanda had a lot of success against the Bills in 1963: in two wins, he completed 30 of 56 passes for 475 yards with 6 TDs and 1 interception, back when those numbers were truly outstanding. [continue reading…]

Tagged as: George Blanda

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Carson Palmer had a very bad day in the NFC Championship Game

by Chase Stuart on January 27, 2016

in Passing, Quarterbacks, Statgeekery, Statistics

This pass probably wasn’t completed.

In the NFC Championship Game, Carson Palmer was really bad. He completed 23 of 40 passes for 235 yards, with three sacks that lost 8 yards. That by itself is not very good — it translates to a 5.3 net yards per attempt average — but the real damage came when it comes to turnovers. Palmer threw one touchdown againt four interceptions, giving him an Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt average of just 1.56. And even that inflates things a bit, as Palmer also fumbled twice, with both fumbles being recovered by Carolina. On the season, Carolina allowed 4.46 ANY/A to opposing passers, the best in the NFL, so that does mitigate things a bit. As a result, Palmer’s game is considered -125 ANY below expectation, because he was 2.9 ANY/A below expectation over 43 dropbacks.

That’s bad, but nowhere near as bad as the worst performance from even this year’s playoffs (Brian Hoyer) or the last Cardinals playoff loss (thank you, Ryan Lindley). But the reason Palmer’s performance appeared so bad was precisely because it came from someone like Carson Palmer, and not a Hoyer or a Lindley. Palmer, after all, was arguably the best passer in the NFL this season. He led the NFL in Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, at 8.11, which was 2.14 ANY/A better than league average. [continue reading…]

Tagged as: Carson Palmer, George Blanda

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Estimated Sacks Data From 1960 to 1968

by Chase Stuart on August 5, 2015

in Quarterbacks, Statgeekery, Statistics

You remember the November 20th game between the Bears and Lions in 1960, right? If you look at the boxscore on PFR, you will see that Detroit quarterback Jim Ninowski was 10 for 26 for 121 yards with 0 touchdown passes and 2 interceptions. You’ll also see that the Lions as a team went 10 for 26 for 121 yards with 0 touchdown passes, 2 interceptions, and 12 sacks for 107 yards. But the PFR boxscore does not indicate how many sacks Ninowski took that game, because the individual game log data wasn’t kept on that metric.

But, you know, I’m a pretty smart guy. I have a feeling that Ninowski was probably sacked 12 times in that game for 107 yards. I could be wrong, of course — maybe a backup came in and took two dropbacks, and was sacked on both of them — but it seems like making a good faith effort here is better than ignoring it completely. [continue reading…]

Tagged as: George Blanda, Joe Namath, John Hadl

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