Historical Interception Percentages

[Rain Man]

Here's your dose of football history for the day.

As far as I can tell, no NFL player with 100 or more passing attempts has thrown more interceptions than completions. But one guy came pretty darn close.

Pug Rentner, who played for the Boston Redskins and Chicago Bears from 1934 to 1937, was a "back" who both ran the ball and passed it. In his career, he completed 26 of 100 passes, throwing for 1 touchdown and 24 interceptions. His interception percentage of 24 percent is the highest in NFL history among players with 100 or more passing attempts.

Here are the highest interception percentages among players with various minimum passing attempts.

• 100 or more - Pug Rentner (1934 to 1937, mostly with Redskins) - 24.0 percent.
• 500 or more - Frankie Filchock (1938 to 1950, mostly with Redskins) - 11.7 percent.
• 1,000 or more - Arnie Herber (1930 to 1945, mostly with Packers) - 9.0 percent
• 1,500 or more - Bob Waterfield (1945 to 1952, Rams) - 7.9 percent
• 2,000 or more - George Blanda (1949 to 1975, mostly with Oilers) - 6.9 percent
• 2,500 or more - George Blanda (1949 to 1975, mostly with Oilers) - 6.9 percent
• 3,000 or more - George Blanda (1949 to 1975, mostly with Oilers) - 6.9 percent
• 3,500 or more - George Blanda (1949 to 1975, mostly with Oilers) - 6.9 percent
• 4,000 or more - George Blanda (1949 to 1975, mostly with Oilers) - 6.9 percent
• 4,500 or more - John Hadl (1962 to 1977, mostly with Chargers) - 5.9 percent
• 5,000 or more - Johnny Unitas (1956 to 1973, mostly with Colts) - 4.9 percent
• 5,500 or more - Dan Fouts (1973 to 1987, Chargers) - 4.3 percent
• 6,000 or more - Fran Tarkenton (1961 to 1978, mostly with Vikings) - 4.1 percent
• 6,500 or more - Vinny Testaverde (1987 to 2007, mostly kinda with Buccaneers) - 4.0 percent
• 7,000 or more - Brett Favre (1991 to 2010, mostly with Packers) - 3.3 percent

There are a few things that I find interesting here.

First, it appears that throwing a lot of interceptions isn't a big deal for top quarterbacks. Many of these guys are Hall of Famers and they're high among their peers on interception rate. Of course, for the most part getting 5,000 attempts may push you into the Hall based on longevity, but even with that, most would agree that Favre and Tarkenton and Unitas were top-notch quarterbacks. Guys like Arnie Herber and Bob Waterfield were also big stars in their day. I think if you throw a lot of touchdowns people don't notice the interceptions as much.

Second, George Blanda really and truly sucked, but for some mysterious reason they kept putting him in starting lineups. That dude was a bad quarterback for decades.

Third, Vinny Testaverde sure got a lot of opportunities relative to his accomplishments.

Fourth, I notice that a lot of these guys had Hall of Fame receivers - James Lofton, Raymond Berry, Don Hutson, Charlie Joiner (rolls eyes), and Waterfield may have had one or two (Fears? Hirsch?). Did that mean that they took more risks? Or did that mean that the receivers were good enough to divert attention from the bad throws? Maybe Hall of Fame quarterbacks are manufactured by top-notch receivers.

Finally, the rate goes down as attempts go up, which is probably to a minor extent a statistical centralization, but I think it's probably even more of a reflection of era. The modern era has longer careers and more attempts, and also a more effective anti-turnover design.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this.