Easier to get passing yard for today's QBs?

go watch film from the 80's and see what DB's did to WR's.

And also look how much more often QB's were knocked down after releasing the ball

I am sick and tired of hearing how much easier it is for today's quarterbacks to get big numbers.

If it's so much easier, why in the hell has the record stood for twenty fricking seven years?

Yards per attempt is virtually unchanged from 1984 to today (7.1 vs 7.2--and 1983 was 7.2...). Attempts per game were ~32 per game in 1984 vs ~34 per game today. Those two attempts don't explain it all, though. Today's QBs complete ~60% of their passes, vs ~56% in 1984. This added accuracy also shows up in int%--~2% today vs ~4% in 1984.

Rules changes don't account for all of it. In 84, offenses were built differently. More deep passing, especially. Yes, the rules have changed things slightly in the last 27 years, but it is not as drastic as the talking heads want to make you think.

Oh, and one more thing, when you compare Marino's record season to the average QB in 1984 and do the same with Drew vs the average QB this year, you'll find that Drew's delta is higher than Marino's, both in absolute and in relative measurements. That should silence the bullshite trying to downplay the significance of this acheivement.

I think the biggest factor to increased QB numbers is the technology at hand. The way QBs can study film nowadays in HD from multiple angles and have every play from the last 10 years right at their fingertips. Also the evolution of the spread offense, things are so much more advanced nowadays. But if you don't have the work ethic of a brees, you can throw all this out the window.

It is definitely easier today to get more passing yards but look at when the passing yard record was broken. 80, 81, 82, 84. 4 times in 5 years so i don't see how anyone can say that passing yards were especially hard to come by during that era.