Week 6 Passing Stats: The Bills Are Above Average At Passing… For 1941

by Chase Stuart on October 16, 2018

The Buffalo Bills have the worst passing attack in the NFL, and it is not particularly close. The NFL is averaging 6.5 Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt, the 30th-best passing offense is averaging 4.5 ANY/A, and the 31st-best passing attack is averaging 4.1 ANY/A. The Bills? They are averaging 2.0 ANY/A and have reached the cellar by being bad at every facet of the passing game. The Bills rank last in the league in completion percentage, passing yards, passing touchdowns, passing touchdown rate, and yards per attempt. The Bills also have the worst sack rate *and* the worst interception rate in the NFL.

In 1941, the league average completion percentage was 44.3%; the 2018 Bills are completing passes at a 50.6% clip.

In 1941, the average NFL team gained 122 passing yards per game; the 2018 Bills are gaining 123 passing yards per game.

In 1941, NFL teams threw an interception on 10% of passes; the 2018 Bills have thrown an interception on 7.3% of passes.

But if you pick any year more recent than 1941, you might think Buffalo was a below-average passing team. The league average completion percentage has been over 50.6% in every season since 1961. When it comes to interceptions, 1975 and 1971 are the only post-merger seasons where the league average more than 1.5 interceptions per game. And in passing yards per game? It’s been higher than Buffalo’s current average in every season beginning in 1942.

If you want to use yards per attempt, you have to go back to 1935 to find a season where Buffalo’s current 5.39 Y/A average would be above average. The last time the league average ANY/A was below 2.0 was in 1938, and the NFL has never had a NY/A average as poor as the 2018 Bills.

So yes, Buffalo’s passing performance this season has been otherworldly. And it got worse in week 6, as Josh Allen and Nathan Peterman combined to gain just 129 passing yards on 31 dropbacks, while throwing two interceptions. And with 90 seconds left in the 4th quarter of a tie game, Peterson threw a brutal pick six that swung the game to Houston.

Below are the week 6 passing stats, with some familiar names at the top.

Rk	Quarterback	Tm	Opp	Result	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Sk	Yds	ANY/A	VALUE
1	Matt Ryan	ATL	TAM	W 34-29	41	354	3	0	1	8	9.67	136
2	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	SFO	W 33-30	46	425	2	0	3	20	9.08	130
3	Patrick Mahomes	KAN	NWE	L 40-43	36	352	4	2	0	0	9.5	110
4	Tom Brady	NWE	KAN	W 43-40	35	340	1	0	2	13	9.38	109
5	Mitch Trubisky	CHI	MIA	L 28-31	31	316	3	1	2	13	9.64	106
6	Jameis Winston	TAM	ATL	L 29-34	41	395	4	2	2	6	8.81	102
7	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	CIN	W 28-21	46	369	1	0	0	0	8.46	93
8	Carson Wentz	PHI	NYG	W 34-13	36	278	3	0	1	7	8.95	93
9	Russell Wilson	SEA	OAK	W 27-3	23	222	3	1	1	8	9.54	75
10	Brock Osweiler	MIA	CHI	W 31-28	44	380	3	2	0	0	7.95	67
11	C.J. Beathard	SFO	GNB	L 30-33	23	245	2	1	2	18	8.88	61
12	Sam Darnold	NYJ	IND	W 42-34	30	280	2	1	2	13	8.19	56
13	Philip Rivers	LAC	CLE	W 38-14	20	207	2	1	1	12	9.05	55
14	Dak Prescott	DAL	JAX	W 40-7	27	183	2	0	3	11	7.07	19
15	Case Keenum	DEN	LAR	L 20-23	41	322	2	1	2	25	6.79	15
16	Geno Smith	LAC	CLE	W 38-14	1	8	0	0	0	0	8	2
17	Cam Newton	CAR	WAS	L 17-23	40	275	2	1	1	6	6.44	0
18	DeAndre Hopkins	HOU	BUF	W 20-13	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-6
19	Joe Flacco	BAL	TEN	W 21-0	37	238	1	1	0	0	5.76	-25
20	Andrew Luck	IND	NYJ	L 34-42	43	301	4	3	0	0	5.72	-31
21	Andy Dalton	CIN	PIT	L 21-28	42	229	2	0	3	16	5.62	-37
22	Kirk Cousins	MIN	ARI	W 27-17	34	233	1	1	4	17	5.03	-54
23	Josh Allen	BUF	HOU	L 13-20	17	84	0	0	2	16	3.58	-54
24	Alex Smith	WAS	CAR	W 23-17	36	163	2	0	3	7	5.03	-55
25	Josh Rosen	ARI	MIN	L 17-27	31	240	0	1	4	32	4.66	-62
26	Blake Bortles	JAX	DAL	L 7-40	26	149	1	1	3	10	3.93	-73
27	Jared Goff	LAR	DEN	W 23-20	28	201	0	1	5	27	3.91	-83
28	Nathan Peterman	BUF	HOU	L 13-20	12	61	1	2	0	0	-0.75	-86
29	Eli Manning	NYG	PHI	L 13-34	43	281	0	1	4	27	4.45	-94
30	Marcus Mariota	TEN	BAL	L 0-21	15	117	0	0	11	66	1.96	-116
31	Derek Carr	OAK	SEA	L 3-27	31	142	0	0	6	36	2.86	-132
32	Deshaun Watson	HOU	BUF	W 20-13	25	177	1	2	7	35	2.25	-134
33	Baker Mayfield	CLE	LAC	L 14-38	46	238	1	2	5	24	2.82	-184
	Total				1028	7805	53	28	80	473	6.44	0

And in addition, here are the passing stats to date. I am using 15 dropbacks multiplied by the number of weeks in the season to determine whether a passer has qualified. The table has 58 rows, but for ease of reading, I have defaulted to only showing the top 10.

Rk	Quarterback	Tm	Age	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Sk	Yds	ANY/A	Value
1	Patrick Mahomes	KAN	23	212	1865	18	4	6	26	9.26	606
2	Jared Goff	LAR	24	194	1928	12	5	11	68	9.15	546
3	Drew Brees	NOR	39	190	1658	11	0	8	64	9.16	531
4	Philip Rivers	LAC	37	194	1702	15	3	7	52	9.03	512
5	Matt Ryan	ATL	33	224	1955	14	2	17	108	8.45	475
6	Ryan Fitzpatrick	TAM	36	129	1356	11	5	7	37	9.66	433
7	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	35	254	1997	12	1	19	127	7.56	296
8	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	36	261	2033	12	6	9	59	7.2	194
9	Kirk Cousins	MIN	30	260	1921	12	3	18	98	6.94	126
10	Carson Wentz	PHI	26	158	1192	8	1	13	96	7.08	103
11	Tom Brady	NWE	41	214	1599	13	6	8	50	6.93	100
12	Mitch Trubisky	CHI	24	161	1261	11	4	12	80	7.06	100
13	Russell Wilson	SEA	30	165	1308	13	4	19	125	6.86	70
14	Matthew Stafford	DET	30	191	1385	10	5	9	59	6.51	5
15	Alex Smith	WAS	34	171	1205	6	2	12	69	6.37	-20
16	Andy Dalton	CIN	31	229	1674	14	7	12	100	6.39	-23
17	Deshaun Watson	HOU	23	217	1798	9	7	25	120	6.38	-26
18	Joe Flacco	BAL	33	264	1788	9	4	11	41	6.35	-35
19	Cam Newton	CAR	29	170	1158	9	4	8	46	6.25	-42
20	C.J. Beathard	SFO	25	114	892	6	5	7	77	5.87	-74
21	Jimmy Garoppolo	SFO	27	89	718	5	3	13	97	5.75	-75
22	Ryan Tannehill	MIA	30	129	972	8	5	11	98	5.78	-98
23	Josh Rosen	ARI	21	90	626	2	2	7	54	5.38	-107
24	Sam Darnold	NYJ	21	179	1346	9	7	13	85	5.86	-118
25	Derek Carr	OAK	27	233	1783	7	8	17	97	5.86	-154
26	Eli Manning	NYG	37	230	1662	6	4	20	154	5.79	-172
27	Blake Bortles	JAX	26	237	1674	9	8	14	68	5.68	-201
28	Baker Mayfield	CLE	23	153	1076	4	5	13	86	5.09	-231
29	Dak Prescott	DAL	25	171	1144	7	4	19	112	5.22	-240
30	Case Keenum	DEN	30	233	1687	7	8	15	106	5.49	-246
31	Andrew Luck	IND	29	288	1792	16	8	10	76	5.62	-256
32	Tyrod Taylor	CLE	29	84	462	2	2	13	81	3.41	-298
33	Marcus Mariota	TEN	25	118	793	2	4	17	99	4.1	-321
34	Josh Allen	BUF	22	139	832	2	5	21	167	3	-557
NQ	Nick Foles	PHI	29	82	451	1	1	5	26	4.6	-164
NQ	Sam Bradford	ARI	31	80	400	2	4	6	33	2.64	-330
NQ	Jameis Winston	TAM	24	61	540	5	4	4	17	6.82	22
NQ	Brock Osweiler	MIA	28	49	415	4	2	0	0	8.27	87
NQ	Blaine Gabbert	TEN	29	45	242	1	1	3	25	4	-119
NQ	Nathan Peterman	BUF	24	30	85	1	4	3	12	-2.64	-301
NQ	Matt Schaub	ATL	37	7	20	0	0	0	0	2.86	-25
NQ	DeShone Kizer	GNB	22	7	55	0	1	2	21	-1.22	-69
NQ	Matt Cassel	DET	36	6	14	0	1	0	0	-5.17	-70
NQ	Lamar Jackson	BAL	21	5	24	0	0	1	8	2.67	-23
NQ	Taysom Hill	NOR	28	2	10	0	0	0	0	5	-3
NQ	Kevin Byard	TEN	25	1	66	1	0	0	0	86	80
NQ	Odell Beckham	NYG	26	1	57	1	0	0	0	77	71
NQ	Albert Wilson	MIA	26	1	52	1	0	0	0	72	66
NQ	Nelson Agholor	PHI	25	1	15	0	0	0	0	15	9
NQ	Derrick Henry	TEN	24	1	8	0	0	0	0	8	2
NQ	Geno Smith	LAC	28	1	8	0	0	0	0	8	2
NQ	Corey Bojorquez	BUF	22	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-6
NQ	Jacoby Brissett	IND	25	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-6
NQ	Johnny Hekker	LAR	28	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-6
NQ	DeAndre Hopkins	HOU	26	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-6
NQ	JK Scott	GNB	22	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	-6
	Lg Avg	0	0	6730	50704	328	169	465	3024	6.48	0

Tagged as: Weekly ANY/A

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