It may not seem like much, but Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger’s 314 passing yards on Sunday helped put him in rare company—or even more rare than he previously was—as it yet again put him over 3000 passing yards on the season.
He has now thrown for at least 3000 yards in 13 of his 15 NFL seasons, including the past 13 years. There are only seven players in NFL history to have ever thrown for at least 3000 yards in 13 different seasons, though Philip Rivers will likely be joining the group in a week or two.
Only six quarterbacks have ever thrown for 3000 yards in 10 consecutive seasons, as well. Brett Favre did it 18 times in total, and for 18 straight seasons, from 1992 through 2009. Peyton Manning’s 16 3000-yard seasons also all came consecutively between 1998 and 2014, though of course there was a year off due to injury.
Drew Brees has thrown for at least 3000 yards 15 times, the third-most in NFL history, and in 14 consecutive season. He should shortly reach a 15th consecutive and 16th overall later this season to tie Manning for the second-most all-time.
Eli Manning has thrown for at least 3000 yards in every season since his sophomore year in the league, 13 consecutively, and will make it 14 within the next couple of weeks. As mentioned, Rivers will reach 13 shortly as well.
Tom Brady is excluded from this list of course only due to the fact that he tore his ACL in the season opener of the 2008 season. He is working on his 10th consecutive 3000-yard season since then, which will be his 16th overall, also bringing him into a tie for second place.
There are only 10 quarterbacks in NFL history who have ever thrown for 3000 or more yards in 10 seasons at any point in their careers, the others not named being Dan Marino (13), John Elway (12), and Matt Ryan (10).
There are only five active quarterbacks right now not already listed who have at least seven such seasons, including Aaron Rodgers, who already reached that mark this season for the ninth time in his career. Joe Flacco has done so eight times, most recently last season. He has 2465 passing yards right now, but we’ll see how much time his hip injury causes him to miss.
The other active players are Andy Dalton, Cam Newton, and Matthew Stafford, all of whom have done so every year between 2011 and 2017, but have yet to hit the mark this season. All three are within 600 yards of 3000 right now.
Of course, 3000 has become a low bar at this point with the way the game is played offensively today—22 quarterbacks threw for at least that much in 2017 alone, and five have already done so this year—but doing anything for 13 consecutive seasons is still remarkable.
