How many of those 50+ yard plays actually cover the 50+ yards on just the pass. I think you will find that most were in the 10-15 yard range with 35+ YAC.
But I could be wrong. Have been before and will be again, IMHO.
How many of Tom Brady's passes to Moss were catch and run? This argument is silly. But, if you must....
In '07, the 57 yard TD to Gregorious Jennings against the San Diego Chargers was a ten yard pass and Gregorious took it to the house. So scratch this one off the list.
Against the Broncos, Brett Favre threw not one, but 2 deep bombs that covered 50+ yards in the air - one to JJ which was for 79 yards. The other was an 82-yard pass to Gregorious Jennings. It was this game where he broke the record of the most TD passes of 75+ yards with 13. A pretty impressive feat, don't you think?
I remember after this game, the Favre bashers were saying it was a fluke. That Favre can't throw the deep ball and just happened to throw 2 deep balls that both were complete against the Broncos (who by the way may have had the best CB set in the NFL in '07, so that makes it even more impressive).
So, next week, Brett Lorenzo Favre and the Green Bay Packers travel to Kansas City to play the Chiefs. Once again, Brett heaves a deep one to Gregorious Jennings, this time for 60 yards. It's questionable if it was 50 yards in the air or not. I'll give you that. Not sure. I'll have to watch the video again.
Against the Oakland Raiders, he hit Gregorious for an 80-yard bomb. And yes, I'll readily admit that the 46-yard TD to Donald Lee was a catch and run and Lee gets the credit for breaking two tackles (and making their DBs look silly).
As for the 90 yard TD pass to Donald Driver against the Giants in the Playoffs, it looked like it may have been under 50 yards, but you have to admit, it was a beautiful deep pass. Donald Driver too gets some credit for breaking one tackle and taking it to the house.
I don't see the argument here. It's just downright silly. I'd have to go back to watch the tape of all of Favre's long TDs and see how much yardage was YAC and how much was in the air. But I did prove to you in '07 because I have the '07 tapes handy, that in '07, Favre RULED at the deep ball, easily kicking Brady's *** (who was #2 at the deep ball in '07).
So, let's take everyone who ever threw a 50+ yard TD and analyze the tapes and see how much of that 50 yards was in the air. I bet you will be very disappointed to see that the Green Bay Packers aren't the only team that ever had YAC, that a lot of those 50+ yard TDs were partially earned by the WR. That's how it was for every QB who EVER PLAYED THE GAME. WRs do get YAC, that's a fact of life. The WR doesn't sit there in the end zone and wait for the QB to throw a deep bomb. He gets YAC.
Yes, Brady was a better overall QB in '07 and yes, Brady deserved that MVP. But let's give Favre a little bit of credit, can't we? He was the MVP runner-up. They just don't give those out. Favre may not have been the best deep ball passer who ever lived, but he was without a doubt the best deep ball passes of 2007.