In a recent discussion, I was struggling to make my point about how Elways game changed in the mid-1990's. Obviously part of it was due to two coaching changes, but if you watch just him in the games he was a different player. Now the main point of the discussion was whether or not Reeves used a run first offense more then Shanahan, I suggested that while Reeves wasn't pass heavy, Elway was the center piece of that offense, and he was the bread and butter each game. Once Shanahan came in, most believe it became the passing marvel we all love, but this is a bit off.
Now I have opinions about this, but I do like to actually try and back myself up, otherwise I look like an idiot, so I went back and looked at the offensive numbers to see what I could find. So I did a bit of research, and here's what I found:
Year |
Passing atps. |
Passing yards |
Rushing atps. |
Rushing yards |
Ratio yards (pass/rush) |
Ratio attps. (pass/rush) |
Reeves |
||||||
1983 |
499 |
3466 |
471 |
1784 |
1.94 |
1.06 |
1984 |
475 |
3116 |
508 |
2076 |
1.50 |
0.94 |
1985 |
617 |
3952 |
497 |
1851 |
2.14 |
1.24 |
1986 |
549 |
3811 |
455 |
1678 |
2.27 |
1.21 |
1987 |
530 |
3874 |
510 |
1970 |
1.97 |
1.04 |
1988 |
581 |
3941 |
464 |
1815 |
2.17 |
1.25 |
1989 |
474 |
3352 |
554 |
2092 |
1.60 |
0.86 |
1990 |
527 |
3671 |
462 |
1872 |
1.96 |
1.14 |
1991 |
459 |
3310 |
507 |
2015 |
1.64 |
0.91 |
1992 |
473 |
3312 |
403 |
1500 |
2.21 |
1.17 |
Avg. |
518.4 |
3580.5 |
483.1 |
1865.3 |
1.94 |
1.08 |
Phillips |
||||||
1993 |
553 |
4061 |
468 |
1693 |
2.40 |
1.18 |
1994 |
626 |
4383 |
431 |
1470 |
2.98 |
1.45 |
Avg. |
589.50 |
4222.00 |
449.50 |
1581.50 |
2.69 |
1.32 |
Shanahan |
||||||
1995 |
549 |
4260 |
440 |
1995 |
2.14 |
1.25 |
1996 |
536 |
3662 |
525 |
2362 |
1.55 |
1.02 |
1997 |
513 |
3704 |
520 |
2378 |
1.56 |
0.99 |
1998 |
491 |
3808 |
525 |
2468 |
1.54 |
0.94 |
Avg. |
522.25 |
3858.50 |
502.50 |
2300.75 |
1.70 |
1.05 |
So what did I find, well Wade Phillips actually ran the most pass heavy offense Elway played in, Reeves came in second, and Shanahan actually came in third. Actually, you remember those two Super Bowl years, we actually ran more rushing plays then passing plays those seasons. Shanahan and Reeves were almost identical in their ratio, both in attempts and yards, well actually, Reeves had a better passing yards ratio then Shanahan did. Shanahan had a much higher average yards in both rushing and passing, but the average ratio actually went down. Now this wasn't meant to be twisted, I just took the yards and attempts and divided them, this takes into account changes in the offense, while still keeping things in perspective. I didn't include touchdowns, either rushing or passing, or interceptions or fumbles, I just wanted to look at the offense, and what it was geared to do.
Due to further data work, I will probably keep adding tables to this post.
Biggest surprise though, Philips owned them both in passing. Elway had two of his best seasons with Phillips in terms of yardage, accuracy, touchdown percentage and interception percentages. A bit shocking to say the least.
So tell me, what do you think?
P.S. Due to further data work, I will probably keep adding tables to this post.
Year |
Rushing Yards/Attp. |
RB/FB Y/A |
1983 |
3.8 |
3.74 |
1984 |
4.1 |
4.08 |
1985 |
3.7 |
3.60 |
1986 |
3.7 |
3.56 |
1987 |
3.9 |
3.47 |
1988 |
3.9 |
3.84 |
1989 |
3.8 |
3.76 |
1990 |
4.1 |
3.88 |
1991 |
4 |
3.87 |
1992 |
3.7 |
3.81 |
Avg. |
3.87 |
3.76 |
1993 |
3.6 |
3.64 |
1994 |
3.4 |
3.31 |
Avg. |
3.5 |
3.47 |
1995 |
4.5 |
4.41 |
1996 |
4.5 |
4.43 |
1997 |
4.6 |
4.68 |
1998 |
4.7 |
4.93 |
Avg. |
4.575 |
4.61 |