QBs Pile Up Yards but Not Wins : 3 Who Pass for More Than 300 End Up With Losses

When you throw a football in the air, it may come to earth you know not where.

A fitting parable for Week 2 of the NFL season, when quarterbacks proved that throwing for bundles of yards does not always produce wins. The 26 teams who played Sunday averaged a considerable 24 points per game; they also produced a considerable 36 interceptions.

Seven quarterbacks went over the 300 mark Sunday, and three of them lost.

That makes eight 300-yard games for the season, four by losers, just about the same 50% average of last season.

On the other hand, the New York Giants have surrendered more than 300 yards passing in both their games this year--and won both.

In other words, for every Randall Cunningham, whose 447 yards rallied Philadelphia from a 0-20 deficit to a “That’s Incredible!” 42-37 victory over the Washington Redskins, there is a Jim McMahon, who has thrown for 300 yards twice in his career--and lost. Sunday, McMahon passed for 389 yards--but with three interceptions--as he and his new San Diego teammates lost 34-27 to Houston.

And for every Don Majkowski, who hit 18 straight passes and threw for 354 yards as Green Bay rallied from 21 points down to beat New Orleans 35-34, there’s a Tony Eason, who had 341 yards for New England but was sacked seven times in a 24-10 loss to Miami.

Cunningham and Majkowski were not the only winning heroes. There also was Jim Everett, who threw for 368 yards as the Rams beat the Colts 31-17 to ruin Eric Dickerson’s return to Southern California, and Boomer Esiason, who had 317 yards passing as the Cincinnati Bengals routed the Steelers 41-10, giving Pittsburgh an aggregate two-week score of 10 points scored, 92 scored against.

But you don’t have to be prolific to be good.

The Dolphins’ Dan Marino threw for a relatively quiet 226 yards, but three of them went for touchdowns, giving him 200 TD passes in 89 games. The next quickest to reach 200 was Johnny Unitas, who took 121 games.

DIVISION DIARY: The NFC, which has won six straight Super Bowls, is 6-0 against the AFC this season. It went 4-0 last week and got two more wins Sunday--Phoenix’ 34-17 triumph over Seattle and the Rams’ victory over the Colts.