1967. That is the last year that a Washington Redskins/ Commanders QB threw 30 touchdown passes in a season. To put this in perspective, in a 16 game season that = 1.875 Touchdown passes per game. In a 17 game season it's 1.76 touchdown passes per game. Yet, no QB in Washington has done it since Computer keyboards were invented.
If that doesn't give you the right perspective, here's an actual photo of the last guy to do it. Sunny Jurgensen.
If you remove Kirk Cousins from
the equation then the last QB to throw 25 touchdown passes in a season was Mark Rypien the year the Redskins won the super bowl.
The NFL is no longer in the era of QBs throwing 45+ TDs per season but this year there are 8 QBs with a realistic chance of eclipsing 30. It would have been 9 had the Broncos not benched Russell Wilson.
This feels like some complex problem that needs layers and layers of analysis but it is actually quite simple.
Coaching - Washington's coaching carousel has regularly left the QBs having to learn 2 to 3 different offensive systems in their tenure. Generally, year 3 is the sweet spot for a QB in an offensive system. Not many of the QBs here have remained a starter for 3 years let alone been a starter in the same system.
Player personnel - Washington's QB struggles are well documented. The lack of 1st rd talent at the position combined with a constant revolving door of signal callers, leads to less than ideal results.
Throughout the Snyder era, there was minimal QB success. Egos, owner favoritism , coaching bias and improper evaluation were all to blame. Fortunately, that era is over and now we are in the post- snyder era. Howell was the first to get a crack at breaking 30 and after a promising start, he cooled off and now will not be the one to do it. At least not this year.
Every other NFC East team has had at least one 30 TD passer since 2015. Perhaps 2024 will be our year. Maybe we get Caleb , Maye, Jayden or Howell finds his magic and we finally get our 30.
It's less about the actual number and more about the putrid quarterback play that the inability to hit 30 TDs represents.
When the season finally comes where our QB throws 30 touchdowns , we, will finally know that we have one.
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