Credit: Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
By Ross Jackson
With two 300-yard passing outputs in 2025, the New Orleans Saints found success breaking through an ongoing trend across the NFL. Head coach Kellen Moore and rookie quarterback Tyler Shough built a fearsome downfield attack that flew in the face of current NFL trends.
Here are the numbers of 300-yard passing games by year.
2020: 131
2021: 112
2022: 92
2023: 106
2024: 83
2025: 68
The number of 300-yard passing games in 2025 was nearly half of what was accomplished in 2020, when there was one fewer regular season game in the season.
Shough contributed two such games, both of which in December which was the month that included the most 300-yard passing games (22) during the 2025 season.
A similar, though not exact, trend takes place when considering the average 300-yard passing game league-wide.
2020: 362
2021: 360.1
2022: 361.7
2023: 350.8
2024: 360.8
2025: 357.4
While the dissension isn’t as direct a line as the 300-yard passing games list is, the average 300-yard passing game looks different than it did in 2020 by nearly five yards on average. That might not sound like much, but it’s a considerable turn from the previous aerial firepowers across the NFL.
Shough’s 300-yard games included totals of 333 and 308. While he didn’t cross the threshold of the league’s average, it’s an illustration that gameplans centered around pushing the ball downfield didn’t always yield swollen numbers in results even when successful.
The impact that Moore and Shough found attacking downfield is unique because of the rarity of such games during the 2025 season. What led to the sharp decline in big plays through the air? Likely the way teams defended this year.
Per TruMedia, the league saw its highest percentage of combined Cover 2 and Cover 4 zone coverages and its lowest rate of Cover 1 man coverage looks since 2020 this season. That means NFL defenses were focused on taking away the deep passing plays and inviting the run as well as short and intermediate passes.
Moore and Shough decided to fly in the face of this trend by consistently challenging defenses to stop the big plays their looks were built to slow.
In 2025, the average yards per pass across the NFL was just 7.0 yards per attempt. Shough averaged 7.6 passing yards with each throw as a starter.
It wasn’t an Earth-shattering performance by the coach-quarterback duo, but if it’s any indication of what the identity of the Saints’ offense will be moving forward with them at the helm, expect a high-octane passing game to be the center of the team’s attack.
More New Orleans Saints
