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Best passing teams of the Super Bowl Era
Cold, Hard Football Facts for April 14, 2008
Here's a look at the greatest passing teams of the Super Bowl Era, based upon Yards Per Attempt, the easy-to-understand stat that we believe is the greatest single indicator of passing success.
Click here for a complete wrap-up on the topic. One thing you'll notice is that many of the these teams were highly successful. Eight of these teams won the Super Bowl, and five others reached the Super Bowl. By contrast, the great running teams were not as successful.
GREATEST PASSING TEAMS - Super Bowl Era
|
|
TEAM |
ATT. |
YARDS |
YPA |
RESULT |
|
1 |
1989 49ers |
483 |
4584 |
9.491 |
14-2 (Won SB XXIV) |
|
2 |
2000 Rams |
587 |
5492 |
9.356 |
10-6 (lost wildcard) |
|
3 |
1968 Chiefs (AFL) |
270 |
2492 |
9.230 |
12-2 (lost div. playoffs) |
|
4 |
1988 Bengals |
392 |
3592 |
9.163 |
12-4 (lost SB XXIII) |
|
5 |
1969 Cowboys |
355 |
3212 |
9.048 |
11-2-1 (lost div. playoffs) |
|
6 |
1984 Dolphins |
572 |
5146 |
8.997 |
14-2 (lost SB XIX) |
|
7 |
2004 Colts |
527 |
4732 |
8.979 |
12-4 (lost div. playoffs) |
|
8 |
1982 Chargers |
338 |
3021 |
8.938 |
6-3 (lost div. playoffs) |
|
9 |
1976 Colts |
361 |
3221 |
8.922 |
11-3 (lost div. playoffs) |
|
10 |
1983 Packers |
526 |
4688 |
8.913 |
8-8 |
|
11 |
1966 Packers |
318 |
2831 |
8.903 |
12-2 (won SB I) |
|
12 |
2001 Rams |
551 |
4903 |
8.898 |
14-2 (los SB XXXVI) |
|
13 |
1976 Raiders |
361 |
3195 |
8.850 |
13-1 (won SB XI) |
|
14 |
1969 Bengals (AFL) |
308 |
2720 |
8.831 |
4-9-1 |
|
15 |
1998 Falcons |
424 |
3744 |
8.830 |
14-2 (lost SB XXXIII) |
|
16 |
1971 Falcons |
285 |
2495 |
8.754 |
7-6-1 |
|
17 |
1999 Rams |
530 |
4580 |
8.642 |
13-3 (won SB XXXIV) |
|
18 |
1972 Dolphins |
259 |
2235 |
8.629 |
14-0 (won SB VII) |
|
19 |
1968 Colts |
359 |
3094 |
8.618 |
13-1 (lost SB III |
|
20 |
2004 Vikings |
552 |
4754 |
8.612 |
8-8 |
|
21 |
1990 Raiders |
336 |
2885 |
8.586 |
12-4 (lost AFC title) |
|
22 |
1993 49ers |
524 |
4480 |
8.550 |
10-6 (lost NFC title) |
|
23 |
1994 49ers |
511 |
4362 |
8.536 |
13-3 (won SB XXIX) |
|
24 |
1992 49ers |
480 |
4054 |
8.427 |
14-2 (lost NFC title) |
|
25 |
1972 Jets |
347 |
2930 |
8.444 |
7-7 |
|
26 |
1991 Redskins |
447 |
3771 |
8.436 |
14-2 (won SB) |
|
27 |
1998 Vikings |
533 |
4492 |
8.428 |
15-1 (lost NFC title) |
|
28 |
1971 Cowboys |
361 |
3037 |
8.413 |
11-3 (won SB VI) |
Note: In the form we use as a Quality Stat, Net Passing Yards Per Attempt involves taking total passing yards and subtracting yards lost to sacks. We then add the number of sacks to the number of passing attempts to get true Passing Yards Per Attempt – the average gained every time a team dropped back to pass.
This proved exceedingly difficult for this exercise. Namely, sacks did not become an official stat until 1982 – so calculating their impact on teams’ passing efforts throughout history is virtually impossible.
Thus, for this exercise, we looked only at gross passing yards divided by attempts. It’s not perfect. In fact, it’s a bit inflated. But since we’re looking here at only the best passing teams of all time, you can imagine that sacks would not have led to a serious change in the rankings. Let’s put it this way: If a team averaged 8.8 yards every time it got off a pass, chances are their quarterbacks weren’t under a lot of pressure to begin with.
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