These quarterbacks, in other words, are Drew Bledsoe’s peers — the players who performed under the same historic conditions and by whom he should be judged if we are to blindly weigh his Hall of Fame qualifications.

The case for Bledsoe
A compelling case can be made for Bledsoe as a Hall of Famer, at least among those unlearned observers who fail to study their Cold, Hard Football Facts.

As of today, Bledsoe ranks in the Top 10 all-time in almost every major passing category: Yards (44,611; 7th all-time) attempts (6,717; 5th) completions (3,839; 5th)

In fact, even among our test group, the ten other quarterbacks of his era who have earned or will earn Hall of Fame honors, Bledsoe stacks up fairly well in these categories. Among our 11 legendary quarterbacks:

Bledsoe ranks fifth in attempts, completions and yards Bledsoe ranks seventh in TD passes and fewest INTs.

NFL Modern Hall of Fame QB ‘volume’ stats, sorted by passing yards Quarterback Comp. Att. Yards TDs INTs Marino 4,967 8,358 61,361 420 252 Favre* 4,812 7,849 55,096 405 260 Elway 4,123 7,250 51,475 300 226 Moon 3,988 6,823 49,325 291 233 Bledsoe* 3,839 6,717 44,611 251 206 Montana 3,409 5,391 40,551 273 139 Kelly 2,874 4,779 35,467 237 175 Manning* 2,900 4,539 34,809 256 132 Young 2,667 4,149 33,124 232 107 Aikman 2,898 4,715 32,942 165 141 Brady* 1,683 2,737 19,261 133 69

Volume vs. effectiveness
These numbers look impressive, but they really only tell us one thing: Bledsoe threw the ball as often as the greatest quarterbacks of his era.

But when we break down these numbers, the five basic stats from which all passing analysis can be made, they tell us another thing: Bledsoe did not pass the ball as well as the greatest quarterbacks of his era. He certainly did not pass the ball with Hall of Fame effectiveness.

Basically, there are two kinds of passing stats for NFL quarterbacks.

Volume Stats: attempts, completions, yards. How often did you throw the ball and how far did you throw it? Efficiency Stats: yards per attempt, TD-to-INT ratio, passer rating. How well did you throw the ball and what were the results?

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Volume numbers look great to unlearned football fans. But they mean little. As the Cold, Hard Football Facts have often shown, a volume stat like passing yards has very little correlation to winning football games. Efficiency stats like yards per attempt and INT percentage have a very high correlation to winning football games.

The Case against Bledsoe
When we look at efficiency stats, we find that Bledsoe falls well short of modern Hall of Fame passers in virtually every category. In fact, against these performers, Bledsoe ranks: 10th in completion percentage (57.2) 10th in TD percentage (3.74) 7th in INT percentage (3.07) 10th in TD-to-INT ratio (1.22:1) 11th in passing yards per attempt (6.64) 11th in passer rating (77.1)

NFL Modern Hall of Fame QB “efficiency” stats, sorted by passer rating Quarterback Comp. % TD% INT% TD:INT YPA Rating Young 64.3 5.59 2.58 2.17:1 7.98 96.8 Manning* 63.9 5.64 2.91 1.94:1 7.67 94.0 Montana 63.2 5.06 2.58 1.96:1 7.52 92.3 Brady* 61.5 4.86 2.52 1.93:1 7.04 88.3 Marino 59.4 5.02 3.01 1.67:1 7.34 86.4 Favre* 61.3 5.16 3.31 1.56:1 7.02 85.8 Kelly 60.1 4.96 3.66 1.35:1 7.42 84.4 Aikman 61.5 3.50 2.99 1.17:1 6.99 81.6 Moon 58.4 4.26 3.41 1.25:1 7.23 80.9 Elway 56.9 4.14 3.12 1.33:1 7.10 79.9 Bledsoe* 57.2 3.74 3.07 1.22:1 6.64 77.1

Bledsoe fails to measure up across the board. The players who come close include 2006 Hall of Fame inductees Warren Moon and Troy Aikman.

Moon, as the Cold, Hard Football Facts showed earlier this year, was clearly a borderline candidate to begin with. But even he outpaces Bledsoe in almost every volume and efficiency statistic.

Aikman, meanwhile, is the only quarterback to finish behind Bledsoe in most every volume stat, as well as in efficiency stats like TD percentage and TD-to-INT ratio. But he beats Bledsoe in all other efficiency statistics — and he won three Super Bowls.

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The Hall of Fame certainly rewards performers, especially quarterbacks, for winning Super Bowls. It’s another area where Bledsoe falls short compared with most Hall of Fame quarterbacks.

Ten years ago, he led the Patriots to Super Bowl XXXI, where they lost to a superior Packers team. But Bledsoe’s four INTs that day certainly did not help the cause. Moon failed to reach a Super Bowl, but as we already noted, is a borderline Hall of Famer. Marino never won a Super Bowl, and Manning has yet to do so but still has plenty of opportunity. But even without Super Bowl rings, Marino and Manning put up volume and efficiency numbers that stand among the greatest of all time. Manning may find himself on top of every volume and efficiency stat by the time his career is over.

The other seven quarterbacks in our comparison — Aikman, Brady, Elway, Favre, Kelly, Montana and Young — made 22 Super Bowl appearances, won 14 and put up better numbers than Bledsoe in almost every area. Bledsoe is certainly not the equal of these Hall of Fame performers.