In the history of the National Football League (NFL), 21 different quarterbacks have passed for at least 500 yards in a single game 26 times, a feat also referred to as the "500 Club".[1][2][3][4] Norm Van Brocklin was the first to do so, whose 554-yard performance in a 1951 game remains the league record for most passing yards in a game.[5] Only three quarterbacks have thrown for over 500 yards more than once in their career; Drew Brees and Tom Brady did so twice (both of Brees' 500-yard games occurred in regular season games, while Brady had one 500-yard game each in both a regular season game and a postseason game), and Ben Roethlisberger did so four times (three times in the regular season and once in the postseason).[6] No quarterback has thrown for 600 yards in a league game during regulation, but Tom Brady was the first player to total 600 or more yards passing over four consecutive quarters.

Brady and Roethlisberger are the only quarterbacks to have thrown for over 500 yards in a postseason game during the modern era; Brady did so in a Super Bowl LII loss to the Philadelphia Eagles during the 2017–18 playoffs while Roethlisberger did so in a Wild Card round loss to the Cleveland Browns during the 2020–21 NFL playoffs.[7] Ben Roethlisberger holds the record for most 500 yard performances in the regular season with three and most overall with four when including the postseason. Quarterbacks throwing for 500 yards have amassed 14 wins and 12 losses while doing so. Over time, the frequency of quarterbacks throwing for 500 or more yards in a game has increased, with 16 of 26 such performances occurring since 2010.

List

Norm Van Brocklin threw for an NFL record 554 yards in a 1951 game.
Tom Brady threw for 505 yards in Super Bowl LII, the most in NFL playoff history.
Ben Roethlisberger has thrown for at least 500 yards an NFL record four times.
Playoff performance
No. Quarterback Date Team Opponent Result Comp. Att. Comp. % Yards Y/A TDs INTs Passer rating Ref.
1 Norm Van Brocklin September 28, 1951 Los Angeles Rams New York Yanks W 54–14 27 41 65.9 554 13.51 5 2 128.3 [5]
2 Y. A. Tittle October 28, 1962 New York Giants Washington Redskins W 49–34 27 39 69.2 505 12.94 7 0 151.4 [8]
3 Vince Ferragamo December 26, 1982 Los Angeles Rams Chicago Bears L 34–26 30 46 65.2 509 11.07 3 2 106.2 [9]
4 Phil Simms October 13, 1985 New York Giants Cincinnati Bengals L 35–30 40 62 64.5 513 8.27 1 2 82.3 [10]
5 Dan Marino October 23, 1988 Miami Dolphins New York Jets L 44–30 35 60 58.3 521 8.68 3 5 68.8 [11]
6 Warren Moon December 16, 1990 Houston Oilers Kansas City Chiefs W 27–10 27 45 60.0 527 11.71 3 0 123.1 [12]
7 Boomer Esiason November 10, 1996 Arizona Cardinals Washington Redskins W 37–34 (OT) 35 59 59.3 522 8.85 3 4 77.1 [13]
8 Elvis Grbac November 5, 2000 Kansas City Chiefs Oakland Raiders L 49–31 39 53 73.6 504 9.51 2 2 99.9 [14]
9 Drew Brees November 19, 2006 New Orleans Saints Cincinnati Bengals L 31–16 37 52 71.2 510 9.81 2 3 91.0 [3]
10 Ben Roethlisberger December 20, 2009 Pittsburgh Steelers Green Bay Packers W 37–36 29 46 63.0 503 10.93 3 0 121.9 [6]
11 Tom Brady September 12, 2011 New England Patriots Miami Dolphins W 38–24 32 48 66.7 517 10.77 4 1 121.6 [3]
12 Matthew Stafford January 1, 2012 Detroit Lions Green Bay Packers L 45–41 36 59 61.0 520 8.81 5 2 103.8 [3]
13 Eli Manning September 16, 2012 New York Giants Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 41–34 31 51 60.8 510 10.00 3 3 89.5 [15]
14 Matt Schaub November 18, 2012 Houston Texans Jacksonville Jaguars W 43–37 (OT) 43 55 78.2 527 9.58 5 2 121.7 [16]
15 Tony Romo October 6, 2013 Dallas Cowboys Denver Broncos L 51–48 25 36 69.4 506 14.06 5 1 140.0 [17]
16 Ben Roethlisberger October 26, 2014 Pittsburgh Steelers Indianapolis Colts W 51–34 40 49 81.6 522 10.65 6 0 150.6 [6]
17 Philip Rivers October 18, 2015 San Diego Chargers Green Bay Packers L 27–20 43 65 66.2 503 7.74 2 0 99.7 [18]
18 Drew Brees November 1, 2015 New Orleans Saints New York Giants W 52–49 39 50 78.0 505 10.10 7 2 131.7 [19]
19 Matt Ryan October 2, 2016 Atlanta Falcons Carolina Panthers W 48–33 28 37 75.7 503 13.59 4 1 142.0 [20]
20 Derek Carr October 30, 2016 Oakland Raiders Tampa Bay Buccaneers W 30–24 (OT) 40 59 67.8 513 8.69 4 0 117.4 [21]
21 Ben Roethlisberger December 10, 2017 Pittsburgh Steelers Baltimore Ravens W 39–38 44 66 66.7 506 7.67 2 0 99.7 [6]
22 Tom Brady February 4, 2018 New England Patriots Philadelphia Eagles L 41–33 28 48 58.3 505 10.52 3 0 115.4 [7]
23 Jared Goff September 29, 2019 Los Angeles Rams Tampa Bay Buccaneers L 55–40 45 68 66.2 517 7.60 2 3 80.3 [22]
24 Dak Prescott October 4, 2020 Dallas Cowboys Cleveland Browns L 49–38 41 58 70.6 502 8.7 4 1 112.9 [23]
25 Ben Roethlisberger January 10, 2021 Pittsburgh Steelers Cleveland Browns L 48–37 47 68 69.1 501 7.4 4 4 85.5 [24]
26 Joe Burrow December 26, 2021 Cincinnati Bengals Baltimore Ravens W 41–21 37 46 80.4 525 11.4 4 0 143.2 [25]
No. Quarterback Date Team Opponent Result Comp. Att. Comp. % Yards Y/A TDs INTs Passer rating Ref.

See also

References

  1. ^ "500-yard NFL passers in a game". Newsday. November 18, 2012. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  2. ^ "List of quarterbacks to throw over 500 yards". Reuters. February 5, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  3. ^ a b c d "The NFL's 500-Yard Passers". Sports Illustrated. October 7, 2013. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  4. ^ "500 Club". Pro Football Hall of Fame. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Battista, Judy (September 27, 2011). "Still the Biggest Passing Day". The New York Times. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  6. ^ a b c d "Ben Roethlisberger becomes first QB with three 500-yard games". ESPN.com. December 11, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  7. ^ a b "Brady takes his 3rd Super Bowl loss, despite 500-yard game". USA Today. Associated Press. February 5, 2018. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  8. ^ "Tittle's Aerials Rip Skins". The Milwaukee Sentinel. United Press. October 29, 1962. p. 3. Retrieved May 9, 2016.[permanent dead link]
  9. ^ Rapoport, Ron (December 28, 1982). "Ferragamo record show wasted". The Morning News. p. 27. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  10. ^ Dodd, Mike (October 14, 1985). "Defense Makes Big Plays, Overcomes Simms' Big Day". The Cincinnati Enquirer. p. 19. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  11. ^ "Marino's 521 Passing Yards Not Enough as Dolphins Lose". The Atlanta Constitution. Associated Press. October 24, 1988. p. 41. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  12. ^ "Oilers' Moon Is Shining With Pride". Los Angeles Times. Associated Press. December 17, 1990. p. 141. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  13. ^ "Esiason revives status with 522-yard showing". The Daily Times. Associated Press. November 12, 1996. p. 11. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  14. ^ "Raiders overcome Grbac's 500 yards". Detroit Free Press. November 6, 2000. p. 41. Retrieved September 21, 2018 – via Newspapers.com.
  15. ^ Worthington, Dan (September 18, 2012). "Just the Facts: A closer look at Eli Manning's first 500-yard game". NJ.com. The Star Ledger. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  16. ^ Rosenthal, Gregg. "Matt Schaub's passing keys Houston Texans' OT win". NFL.com. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  17. ^ Wilson, Ryan (October 6, 2013). "Cowboys QB Tony Romo throws for 506 yards in loss to Broncos". CBS Sports. Retrieved September 21, 2018.
  18. ^ Williams, Eric D. (October 19, 2015). "Philip Rivers throws for more than 500 yards in loss to Packers". ESPN.com. ESPN Internet Ventures, LLC. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  19. ^ Orr, Conor (November 1, 2015). "Drew Brees ties single-game record with 7 TD passes". NFL.com. NFL Enterprises, LLC. Retrieved September 20, 2018.
  20. ^ RotoWire Staff (October 3, 2016). "Falcons' Matt Ryan: Throws for career-high 503 yards in rousing victory". CBS Sports. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  21. ^ RotoWire Staff (October 31, 2016). "Raiders' Derek Carr: Surpasses 500 yards in overtime victory". CBS Sports. Retrieved September 22, 2018.
  22. ^ Klein, Gary (September 30, 2019). "Jared Goff throws three interceptions as turnover-plagued Rams lose to Buccaneers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved September 30, 2019.
  23. ^ Farrar, Doug (October 4, 2020). "Dak Prescott becomes third QB in NFL history to reach an unfortunate statistical mark". Touchdown Wire. USA Today. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  24. ^ Florio, Mike (January 11, 2021). "Ben Roethlisberger joins a very small club". Pro Football Talk. Retrieved January 1, 2022.
  25. ^ Hobson, Geoff. "Santa Burrow Delivers With Club-Record 525 Yards As Bengals On Verge of AFC North Title". Bengals.com. Retrieved December 26, 2021.
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