9/6/26

Jay C. Brandriet

On September 28th, 1951, Norm Van Brocklin made history.

He was the first player to pass for over 500 yards in a National Football League game.

Van Brocklin led his Rams to a blowout victory while totaling 554 yards in the air.

This is STILL the NFL record.

It’s been 75 years!

1951

Van Brockin was not playing in an era with lenient passing game rules.

This was not a planet full of indoor stadiums.

To put into perspective how long ago 1951 was….

Bill Parcells was 10 years old.

Joe Montana would be born 5 years later.

Monday Night Football would take 2 more decades to arrive on television.

“I Love Lucy” would air for the first time, 3 weeks later.

THE 500-YARD PASSING YARDAGE CLUB

There has been 27 times an NFL quarterback has passed for over 500 yards in a game.

This has been done by 22 different men.

Ben Roethlisberger did it 4 times.

Tom Brady got it done in a Super Bowl.

Tony Romo did it with the least attempts (36).

Warren Moon and Matt Schaub share the second highest total with 527 yards.

THIS STAT IS BUILT FOR THE MODERN GAME

Of the 27 times this was accomplished, 20 of them (74%) happened after the year 2000.

Since 2011, 17 (63%) of the 500-yard outings have occurred.

A RECORD READY TO BE SURPASSED?

This mark will become more vulnerable as we move forward in the modern NFL.

It being broken or not is secondary to my point.

Shout out to the legacy of Norm Van Brocklin.

In a world where records are made to be broken, this one has a real Betty White quality to it.

Jay C. Brandriet