400-yard days
Updated Sept. 16, 2013
As the passing game has evolved in the National Football League, the 400-yard mark has become the gold standard of a quarterback’s ability to air it out. Three quarterbacks – Peyton Manning on Thursday, and Eli Manning, and Colin Kaepernick yesterday – threw for 400 or more yards during Kickoff Weekend.
The first
Chicago Bears Hall of Fame legendary quarterback Sid Luckman became the first passer in NFL history to eclipse the 400-yard plateau when he threw for 433 yards and 7 TDs in his team’s 56-7 rout of the New York Giants on Nov. 14, 1943. Only seven other quarterbacks registered 400-yard games through the remainder of the 1940s and ‘50s.
| Most 400-yards games in a season |
| 2011 = 18 times 2012 = 15 times 2004 = 13 times 1986 = 13 times 2010= 11 times |
Since 1961, every NFL season except for six of ten years in the 1970s (1970, 1971, 1973, 1977-79) a quarterback has thrown for 400 yards in a game at some point during the campaign. Heading into Monday night action of the 2013 Kickoff Weekend, there have been a grand total of 121 different quarterbacks who’ve collectively amassed 258 games with 400 or more passing yards.
Sharing the limelight
Interestingly there have been 37 instances, including Eli Manning and Kaepernick on Kickoff Weekend and the trio of QBs in Week 2, in which more than one quarterback threw for 400 yards on the same day. There are only nine games, including the Philadelphia Eagles-San Diego Chargers matchup on Sunday, over the nine-decade history of the NFL in which both quarterbacks hit the 400-yard milestone in the same game.
Only three times has the NFL ever experienced three 400-yard passers on the same day. The first occurrence came on Sept. 21, 1986 when Dan Marino and Ken O’Brien combined for 927 yards in the New York Jets 51-45 overtime win against the Miami Dolphins. Meanwhile, another AFC East passer, Tony Eason, recorded the lone 400-yard day of his career as his New England Patriots fell to the Seattle Seahawks, 38-31.
The second 400-yard “trifecta” came in the final weekend of the 2011 season. On Jan. 1, 2012, Matthew Stafford of the Detroit Lions and Matt Flynn of the Green Bay Packers engaged in a wild aerial showdown when Stafford threw for 520 yards and Flynn for 480 yards. That same day, Carson Palmer threw for 417 yards for the Oakland Raiders in their season finale against the Chargers.
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| Hall of Fame QB Dan Marino holds the NFL record with 13 career 400-yard games and also the mark for most 400-yard games in a season (4). |
400 Yards Passing on the Same Day
| Date | Player | Team | Opponent | Yds | TD |
| Sept. 15, 2013 | Aaron Rodgers |
Green Bay |
Washington | 480 | 4 |
| Micheal Vick |
Philadelphia | San Diego |
428 | 2 | |
| Phillip Rivers | San Diego | Philadelphia | 417 | 3 | |
| Sept. 8, 2013 | Eli Manning | New York Giants | Dallas Cowboys | 450 | 4 |
| Colin Kaepernick | San Francisco | Green Bay | 412 | 3 | |
| Dec. 23, 2012 | Drew Brees | New Orleans | Dallas | 446 | 3 |
| Tony Romo | Dallas | New Orleans | 416 | 4 | |
| Nov. 22, 2012 | Tony Romo | Dallas | Washington | 441 | 3 |
| Matthew Stafford | Detroit | Houston | 441 | 2 | |
| Nov. 4, 2012 | Andrew Luck | Indianapolis | Miami | 433 | 2 |
| Carson Palmer | Oakland | Tampa Bay | 414 | 4 | |
| Sept. 30, 2012 | Drew Brees | New Orleans | Green Bay | 446 | 3 |
| Ryan Tannenhill | Miami | Arizona | 431 | 1 | |
| Jan. 1, 2012 | Matthew Stafford | Detroit | Green Bay | 520 | 5 |
| Matt Flynn | Green Bay | Detroit | 480 | 6 | |
| Carson Palmer | Oakland | San Diego | 417 | 2 | |
| Oct. 9, 2011 | Eli Manning | New York Giants | Seattle | 420 | 3 |
| Matt Schaub | Houston | Oakland | 416 | 2 | |
| Oct. 2, 2011 | Michael Vick | Philadelphia | San Francisco | 416 | 2 |
| Aaron Rodgers | Green Bay | Denver | 408 | 4 | |
| Sept. 18, 2011 | Cam Newton | Carolina | Green Bay | 432 | 1 |
| Tom Brady | New England | San Diego | 423 | 3 | |
| Sept. 12, 2011 | Tom Brady | New England | Miami | 517 | 4 |
| Chad Henne | Miami | New England | 416 | 2 | |
| Oct. 10, 2010 | Philip Rivers | San Diego | Oakland | 431 | 2 |
| Tony Romo | Dallas | Tennessee | 406 | 3 | |
| Sept. 26, 2010 | Kyle Orton | Denver | Indianapolis | 476 | 1 |
| Philip Rivers | San Diego | Seattle | 455 | 2 | |
| Sept. 19, 2010 | Matt Schaub | Houston | Washington | 497 | 3 |
| Donovan McNabb | Washington | Houston | 426 | 1 | |
| Sept. 21, 2008 | Drew Brees | New Orleans | Denver | 421 | 1 |
| Brian Griese | Tampa Bay | Chicago | 407 | 2 | |
| Dec. 19, 2004 | Billy Volek | Tennessee | Oakland | 492 | 4 |
| Daunte Culpepper | Minnesota | Detroit | 404 | 3 | |
| Dec. 5, 2004 | Donovan McNabb | Philadelphia | Green Bay | 464 | 5 |
| Peyton Manning | Indianapolis | Tennessee | 425 | 3 | |
| Oct. 31, 2004 | Jake Plummer | Denver | Atlanta | 499 | 4 |
| Peyton Manning | Indianapolis | Kansas City | 472 | 5 | |
| Oct. 12, 2003 | Steve McNair | Tennessee | Houston | 421 | 3 |
| Trent Green | Kansas City | Green Bay | 400 | 3 | |
| Nov. 10, 2002 | Tommy Maddox | Pittsburgh | Atlanta | 473 | 4 |
| Marc Bulger | St. Louis | San Diego | 453 | 4 | |
| Sept. 15, 2002 | Drew Bledsoe | Buffalo | Minnesota | 463 | 3 |
| Rich Gannon | Oakland | Pittsburgh | 403 | 1 | |
| Nov. 18, 2001 | Charlie Batch | Detroit | Arizona | 436 | 3 |
| Kurt Warner | St. Louis | New England | 401 | 3 | |
| Nov. 5, 2000 | Elvis Grbac | Kansas City | Oakland | 504 | 2 |
| Trent Green | St. Louis | Carolina | 431 | 2 | |
| Dec. 6, 1998 | Vinny Testaverde | N.Y. Jets | Seattle | 418 | 2 |
| John Elway | Denver | Kansas City | 400 | 2 | |
| Sept. 4, 1994 | Dan Marino | Miami | New England | 473 | 5 |
| Drew Bledsoe | New England | Miami | 421 | 4 | |
| Sept. 13, 1992 | Steve Young | San Francisco | Buffalo | 449 | 3 |
| Jim Kelly | Buffalo | San Francisco | 403 | 3 | |
| Nov. 10, 1991 | Mark Rypien | Washington | Atlanta | 442 | 6 |
| Warren Moon | Houston | Dallas | 432 | 0 | |
| Nov. 26, 1989 | Jim Everett | L.A. Rams | New Orleans | 454 | 1 |
| Mark Rypien | Washington | Chicago | 401 | 4 | |
| Sept. 24, 1989 | Joe Montana | San Francisco | Philadelphia | 428 | 5 |
| Dan Marino | Miami | N.Y. Jets | 427 | 3 | |
| Nov. 2, 1986 | Tommy Kramer | Minnesota | Washington | 490 | 4 |
| Ken O'Brien | N.Y. Jets | Seattle | 431 | 4 | |
| Sept. 21, 1986 | Ken O'Brien | N.Y. Jets | Miami | 479 | 4 |
| Dan Marino | Miami | N.Y. Jets | 448 | 6 | |
| Tony Eason | New England | Seattle | 414 | 3 | |
| Oct. 13, 1985 | Phil Simms | N.Y. Giants | Cincinnati | 513 | 1 |
| Dave Krieg | Seattle | Atlanta | 405 | 4 | |
| Oct. 6, 1985 | Phil Simms | N.Y. Giants | Dallas | 432 | 3 |
| Joe Montana | San Francisco | Atlanta | 429 | 5 | |
| Dec. 20, 1982 | Dan Fouts | San Diego | Cincinnati | 435 | 1 |
| Ken Anderson | Cincinnati | San Diego | 416 | 2 | |
| Oct. 25, 1981 | Brian Sipe | Cleveland | Baltimore | 444 | 4 |
| David Woodley | Miami | Dallas | 408 | 3 | |
| Oct. 29, 1961 | George Blanda | Houston | Buffalo | 464 | 4 |
| Sonny Jurgensen | Philadelphia | Washington | 436 | 3 | |
| Oct. 31, 1948 | Sammy Baugh | Washington | Boston | 446 | 4 |
| Jim Hardy | Los Angeles | Chicago Cardinals | 406 | 3 | |
| Bold indicates two 400-yard passers in same game. | |||||
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