Best individual season by a Bengals QB - Analysis

[Ctfan73]

(05-30-2022, 10:00 AM)fredtoast Wrote: I'm sorry, but Anderson is better and it isn't really close.  When Kenny retired he was the only QB in history to lead the league in passing 4 times.  Today Steve Young is the only QB to do it more times (5).  Burrow has never even done it once.

In 1982 Anderson set an NFL record with a 70.6% completion percentage that would stand for TWENTY-SEVEN YEARS.  In '82 when Anderson set the record the league completion percentage was only 56.4  When Brees broke that record in 2009 the league completion percentage was 60.9.  In 2021 when the entire league completed almost 65% of their passes Burrow could still not match Anderson's 70.6%.  A QB today would have to complete over 81 percent of his passes to match what Anderson did in 1982 compared to league average.  And Kenny was not just dinking and dunking in '82.  His 11.4 yards per completion was higher than the league average in 2021 (11.0). 

Ken Anderson was also a much better runner.  When Ken retired in '86 the only other QB with 30K passing yards and 2K rushing yard was Fran Tarkenton.  Among all players in NFL history with at least 300 rushes Anderson is #13 in yards per carry (5.6).  He had 4 seasons where he averaged over 7.0 yards per carry including 2 with over 300 yards.

Burrow is a damn good QB and easily among the best playing today.  But Ken Anderson set multiple NFL passing records with some of them standing for decades, and he was a much better runner than Burrow.  Burrow just is not in his class yet.

I’m a huge Anderson fan. His ‘75 and ‘81 seasons were incredible. I agree with most of the points above, his mobility, accuracy and arm strength were outstanding.

The ‘82 completion % is diminished by the fact that it was a nine game strike shortened season. The Bengals had games vs. Washington, Dallas and Miami cancelled. Three of the best teams in the league.

Would we compare a baseball player hitting .400 in mid July to Ted Williams?