The past 10 years have seen the Denver Broncos experience ups and downs, and many of the highs came during the four years that Peyton Manning was part of the franchise.
The Broncos made the playoffs in the four years Manning started and made it to the Super Bowl twice. Denver won everything in Manning’s final year in 2015. Although the Broncos’ dominant defense was the main reason they won, Manning’s presence in the center and in the locker room kept the team focused on the task at hand.
Therefore, it is not surprising that when Football Outsiders reviewed DYAR’s best performances for quarterbacks by individual game and by season, Manning made both lists.
For both individual play and seasonal performances, one need only look back to 2013, when Manning set franchise and NFL records for the most touchdowns in a single season.
Vincent Verhei ranked the top 20 singles games for QB DYAR from 2010 to 2019, and Manning made the list twice. DYAR is an advanced metric used by Football Outsiders. What does that mean?
Tight yards on defense over replacement. A Football outsiders A statistic that compares each player’s performance, in terms of DVOA, against a replacement level baseline rather than the league average for that position, then translates that total into yards. Because DYAR is a total stat, not a rate stat, it helps show the importance of workhorse runners and receivers who can draw attention away from the defense of other players. DYAR replaced DPAR as our method of measuring individual players with the publication of 2008 professional soccer brochure in July 2008. The method and calculation of the replacement level are discussed later here.
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Back to Manning. He ranked 16th for his performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 5 of 2013, posting a DYAR of 275.
Verhei notes that Manning went 6-for-7 on a third shot for 69 yards with a touchdown, with four converts for first attempts and a fifth that would have been had it not been for Eric Decker groping the ball.
The other game was ranked 17th, which was the Broncos’ first game of the season against the Baltimore Ravens that same year. Manning recorded -2 DYAR in the first quarter, but took off after that, registering 242 DYAR in the next three quarters.
In the Ravens’ game, Manning’s statistics were mind-blowing: 27-of-42 passes for 462 yards with seven touchdowns, no interceptions by delivering three sacks. On the other hand, Verhei notes that Manning converted just 6 of 11 third attempts, which kept his DYAR lower than it otherwise could have been.
Still, that doesn’t take anything away from Manning’s overall performance, nor from his record campaign in which he set a new single-season record with 55 approved touchdowns.
Manning posted a DYAR of 6,722 between 2010 and 2015. That was enough to put him at No. 9 overall, despite other passers, ranging from Drew Brees to Matthew Stafford, who have played the past 10 seasons.
On the other hand, Manning also appears on the list of the 20 worst games for quarterbacks as measured by DYAR over the past 10 years. He posted -233 DYAR in Week 10 of the 2015 season against the Kansas City Chiefs. Manning’s ability had decreased at that point, plus he was playing through the foot injury that would cost him the next seven weeks.
Also featured in the worst DYAR games is Trevor Siemian, who recorded a DYAR -238 against the Miami Dolphins in Week 13 of the 2017 season. Siemian had the dubious distinction of being the first QB that season to throw multiple interceptions against the Dolphins.
The Broncos have seen the best and worst of the quarterback game in the past 10 years, but even when Manning wasn’t at the top of his game, there’s no question that it had an impact on the franchise, and the Broncos saw a lot. success under your leadership.
Now we turn the page to the 2020 season and find out if Drew Lock can be the next quarterback to bring the Broncos to the playoffs. However, Lock does not necessarily have to press registration DYAR or other registration numbers.
All he needs to be is the guy who can lead the field and keep the Broncos as playoff contenders for years to come.
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