Statistical production of 90+ prominent QB's by age

[Steelerdipwad]

I was curious how many guys were doing anything remotely close to what Favre is doing at his age, so I took the stats of more than 90 prominent QB's and checked to see how they did at what age. I ended up totaling their production to get some sense as to what age QB's start to tail off. Surprisingly, once they overcome their eraly struggles, the numbers stayed relatively the same until they were 40 for the guys who didn't sucumb to injury. I also list which QB led in attempts, completions, yards, TD's and interceptions for each age group. I started doing QB rating but it was useless as too many guys with just a couple games played had the best rating for each age.

The QB's I looked at are: Aikman,Anderson, Bledsoe,Bradshaw, Brady, Brees, Brodie, Brunnell, Bulger, Collins, Cunningham, Dawson, Delhomme, Dilfer, Eason, Elway, Esiason, Favre, Ferguson, Fouts, Gabriel, Gannon, Garrard, Greeen, B. Griesie, Grogan, Hadl, Hart, Hasselbelck, Jaworski, Brad Johnson, Bert Jones, Jurgensen, Kelly, Kilmer, Kosar, Lamonica, Landry, Lane, Graham, Luckman, A. Manning, E. Manning, P. Manning, Marino, McMahon McNabb, McNair, Montana, Morrall, Morton, Namath, O'Brien, O'Donnell, Palmer, Parilli, Pastorini, Pennington, Phipps, Plummer, Plunket, Rivers, Roethlisberger, Romo, Rypien, Schaub, Schroeder, Simms, Stabler, Starr, Staubach, Stewart, Tarenton, Everett, Blanda, Culpepper, Kemp, Krieg, Rote, Snead, Testaverde, Theisman, Tittle, Todd, Unitas, Van Brocklin, Warner, Waterfield, White, Williams, Steve Young, Zorn, Moon, Garcia, Green.

Age 21 (only Bledsoe and Tarkenton played)

Avg Atts 356 Comps 186 Yds 2246 TD's 17 Ints 16 Rating 68.8
Comps-Bledsoe 214
Atts-Bledsoe 429
Yds-Bledsoe 2494
TD's-Tarkenton 18
Int's-Tarkenton 17
No titles won

Age 22 (41 players)

Avg Atts 162 Comps 82 Yards 1089 TD's 7 Int's 10 Rating 61.5
Comps-Bledsoe 400
Atts-Bledsoe 691
Yards-Bledsoe 4555
TD's-P Manning 26
Int's-P manning 28
No titles won (Super Bowls and Championships)

Age 23 (66 players)

Avg Atts 235 Comps 125 Yards 1605 TD's 10 Int's 11 Rating 69.3
Comps-Marino 362
Atts-Bledsoe 636
Yards-Marino 5084
TD's-Marino 48
Int's- Hart 30
Titles-1

Age 24 (75 players)

Avg Atts 255 Comps 140 Yards 1772 TD's 11 Int's 11 Rating 73.9
Comps-Bledsoe 373
Atts-Bledsoe 623
Yards-P Manning 4413
TD's P Manning 33
Int's- Namath 28
Titles-2

Age 25 (84 players)

Avg Atts 302 Comps 169 Yards 2173 TD's 15 Int's 12 Rating 76.1
Comps-Marino 378
Atts-Marino 623
Yds-Marino 4746
TD's Marino 44
Ints-Testaverde 35
Titles-4

Age 26 (88 players)

Avg Atts 340 Comps 191 Yards 2445 TD's 16 Int's 13 Rating 78.5
Comps- P Manning 392
Atts- P Manning 591
Yards- Favre 4413
TD's Favre 38
Int's- Krieg 24
Titles-10

Age 27 (91 players)

Avg Atts 327 Comps 187 Yards 2413 TD's 16 Ints 12 Rating 80.1
Comps-P Manning 379
Atts- Marino 606
Yards-Culpepper 4717
TD's Culpepper/Favre 39
Int's- Todd 30
Titles-10

Age 28 (90 players)

Avg Atts 327 Comps 189 Yards 2420 TD's 16 Ints 13 Rating 81.3
Comps-Brees 440
Atts-Brees 652
Yards- P Manning 4557
TD's- P Manning 49
Int's- Hadl 32
Titles-6

Age 29 (86 players)

Avg Atts 332 Comps 190 Yards 2435 TD's 16 Int's 13 Rating 80.5
Comps- Brees 413
Atts- Brees 635
Yards- Brees 5029
TD's- Brees 34
Int's- Tittle 28
Titles-4

Age 30 (88 players)

Avg Atts 336 Comps 192 Yards 2430 TD's 16 Ints 12 Rating 80.4
Comps- Brady 398
Atts- Bledsoe 610
Yards- Warner 4830
TD's Brady 50
Int's- Todd/Moon 26
Titles-4

Age 31 (85 players)

Avg Atts 330 Comps 185 Yards 2296 TD's 15 Ints 13 Rating 76.2
Comps- Everette 346
Atts- Favre 580
Yards- Marino 4116
TD's- Kelly 33
Int's- Luckman 31
Titles-5

Age 32 (81 players)

Avg Atts 305 Comps 176 Yards 2192 TD's 14 Ints 11 Rating 79.4
Comps-P Manning 371
Atts-McNabb 571
Yards Young 4023
TD's Favre 32
Ints- Namath 28
titles-5

Age 33 (73 players)

Avg Atts 328 Comps 190 Yards 2274 TD's 15 Ints 12 Rating 78.1
Comps-Marino 385
Atts- Marino 615
Yards- Marino 4453
Td's- Young 35
Int's-Stabler 30
Titles-7

Age 34 (67 players)

Avg Atts 295 Comps 170 Yards 2110 TD's 14 Ints 12 Rating 79.4
Comps-Green 369
Atts-Moon 584
Yards-Moon 4689
TD's- Moon 33
Ints-Parilli 27
Titles-5

Age 35 (54 players)

Avg Atts 292 Comps 170 Yards 2079 TD's 13 Ints 11 Rating 78.9
Comps-Moon 404
Atts- Moon 655
Yards-Moon 4690
TD's- Cunningham 34
Ints-Blanda 42 (ouch)
Titles-2

Age 36 (49 players)

Avg Atts 271 Comps 157 Yards 1929 TD's 13 Ints 11 Rating 78.8
Comps- Favre 372
Atts-Favre 607
Yards-Favre 3881
TD's- Titlle 33
Int's-Favre 29
Titles-0

Age 37 (40 players)

Avg Atts 270 Comps 158 Yards 1892 TD's 12 Ints 10 Rating 79.4
Comps-Gannon 418
Atts-Gannon 618
Yards-Warner 4583
TD's- Young 36
Int's-Blanda 27
Titles-2

Age 38 (33 players)

Avg Atts 250 Comps 147 Yards 1697 TD's 10 Ints 10 Rating 75.7
Comps-Moon 371
Atts-Moon 601
Yards-Moon 4264
TD's- Favre 28
Ints- Testaverde 32
Titles-1

Age 39 (19 players)

Avg Atts 165 Comps 97 Yards 1134 TD's 7 Ints 7 Rating 76.5
Comps Moon 377
Atts-Moon 606
Yards-Moon 4228
TD's-Moon 33
Ints-Favre 22
Titles-0

Age 40 (12 Players)

Avg Atts 114 Comps 69 Yards 823 TD's 5 Ints 4 Rating 85.4 (Favre's number this year are skewing this number)
Comps Favre 312
Atts-Favre 460
Yards-Favre 3565
TD's Favre 27
Ints-Moon 7
Titles-0

Age 41 (4 players)

Avg Atts 278 Comps 167 Yards 2026 TD's 13 Ints 10 Rating 82.1
Comps- Moon 313
Atts-Moon 528
Yards-Moon 3678
TD's-Moon 25
Ints-Testaverde 20
Titles-0

Age 42 (4 players)

Avg Atts 101 Comps 56 Yards 657 TD's 4 Ints 4 Rating 71.5

Comps- Moon 145
Atts- Moon 258
Yards-Moon 1632
TD's- Moon 11
Ints-Moon 8

Moon, Blanda, and Testaverde put up some token numbers after this, but it's not worth mentioning.

I find it interesting that, of the guys who manage to hang on into their mid to late 30's, there really is little dropoff in production. Of course, hanging on is the trick, isn't it? The guys that quit in their early to mid 30's almost all quit due to injury, either it's a concussion like Aikman or more serious injury. Also, other than a few freaks like Favre and Tarkenton, most of them have just about the same shelf life. If they start playing early, then their career ends earlier than the others and vice versa. Funny that guys like Montana, Bradshaw, Roethlisberger, and Starr don't appear on any of the "best for that age" lists, but then they DO have the titles.