Matt Schaub's Big Day: 527 Yards Second To 1951 Van Brocklin Record

Matt Schaub passed for 527 yards in Houston’s much-tougher-than-expected 43-37 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, tying a mark for the second most passing yards in the history of the game.

It seems Houston has launched more than its fair share of rocket-like passing performances.

In fact, Schaub tied an old Houston Oilers legend and Hall of Famer in the process: Warren Moon passed for 527 yards in a 27-10 win at Kansas City in Week 15 of the 1990 season.

Here’s a look at the 14 500-yard games in NFL history.

• Norm Van Brocklin, Los Angeles Rams (1951) – 554 (W vs. N.Y. Yanks 54-14)
• Matt Schaub, Houston Texans (2012) – 527 (W vs. Jacksonville, 43-37)*
• Warren Moon, Houston Oilers (1990) – 527 (W at Kansas City, 27-10)
• Boomer Esiason, Arizona Cardinals (1996) – 522 (W at Washington 37-34)*
• Dan Marino, Miami Dolphins (1988) – 521 (L vs. N.Y. Jets 30-44)
• Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions (2011) – 520 (L at Green Bay 41-45)
• Tom Brady, New England Patriots (2011) – 517 (W at Miami 38-24)
• Phil Simms, New York Giants (1985) – 513 (L at Cincinnati 30-35)
• Eli Manning, New York Giants (2012) – 510 (W vs. Tampa Bay 41-34)
• Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints (2006) – 510 (L vs. Cincinnati 16-31)
• Vince Ferragamo, Los Angeles Rams (1982) – 509 (L at Chicago 26-34)
• Y.A. Tittle, New York Giants (1962) – 505 (W vs. Washington 49-34)
• Elvis Grbac, Kansas City Chiefs (2000) – 504 (L at Oakland 31-49)
• Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers (2009) – 503 (W vs. Green Bay 37-36)

*Overtime game

As we’ve so often noted, monster passing days do not correlate to victory as much as you might imagine. The 14 500-yard passers are just 8-6 in those 14 games and Schaub’s big day was notably tough.

The Texans entered the game with the best record in football (8-1); the Jaguars had the worst record in football (1-8). Houston was a two-touchdown favorite in what looked like a very advantageous match of one of the league’s best defenses vs. one of the league’s worst offenses.

Yet the Texans trailed 34-20 in the fourth quarter and needed two late touchdown passes to tight end Garrett Graham to forge the tie and send the game into overtime.

The Jaguars and Texans traded field goals in the extra session before Schaub connected with Andre Johnson for a game-winning 48-yard score propelled by the receiver’s great individual effort. It was Schaub’s fifth TD pass of the day.

Johnson's 273 receiving yards are the seventh most in NFL history and most in a single game since Terrell Owens caught a record 20 passes for 283 yards in December 2000.

Schaub’s performance was one of two 500-yard passing days that had the benefit of overtime. But otherwise, it stacks up quite favorably compared to the greatest passing days in history.

His 121.7 rating is fourth among the 500-yard club, the five TDs tied for second most, and his 78.2 completion percentage easily the best. In fact, it’s the highest completion percentage in history by a QB with at least 50 attempts in a game.

Player	Cmp	Att	Cmp%	Yds ▾	Y/A	TD	Int	Rate
Norm Van Brocklin	n/a	n/a	n/a	554	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Matt Schaub	43	55	78.20%	527	9.58	5	2	121.7
Warren Moon	27	45	60.00%	527	11.71	3	0	123.1
Boomer Esiason	35	59	59.30%	522	8.85	3	4	77.1
Dan Marino	35	60	58.30%	521	8.68	3	5	68.8
Matt Stafford	36	59	61.00%	520	8.81	5	2	103.8
Tom Brady	32	48	66.70%	517	10.77	4	1	121.6
Phil Simms	40	62	64.50%	513	8.27	1	2	82.3
Eli Manning	31	51	60.80%	510	10	3	3	89.5
Drew Brees	37	52	71.20%	510	9.81	2	3	91
Vince Ferragamo	30	46	65.20%	509	11.07	3	2	106.2
Y.A. Tittle	27	39	69.20%	505	12.95	7	0	151.4
Elvis Grbac	39	53	73.60%	504	9.51	2	2	99.9
Ben Roethlisberger	29	46	63.00%	503	10.93	3	0	121.9

 *We're searching for Van Brocklin's complete stats from that 1951 game. They are hard to come by. But we'll post them once we find them. Most sources merely mention the total yards.

 

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Read more: Andre Johnson, Andrew Johnson, Arizona Cardinals, Ben Roethlisberger, Detroit Lions, Drew Brees, Eli Manning, Garrett Graham, Houston Texans, Jacksonville, Jacksonville Jaguars, Jaguars, Kansas City Chiefs, Matt Schaub, Matthew Stafford, Miami Dolphins, New England Patriots, New Orleans Saints, New York Giants, NFL, Norm Van Brocklin, Pittsburgh Steelers, Terrell Owens, Texans, Tom Brady, Warren Moon