Kirk Cousins had a standout moment in his career last Thursday night when he passed for 509 yards, ending with a game-winning touchdown pass in overtime during Atlanta’s 36-30 victory over Tampa Bay.
However, he still could not break one of the NFL’s longest-standing records: Norm Van Brocklin’s 554-yard game from 1951, which remains the record for single-game passing yards, even as offensive production has increased in recent years.
While many single-game records for rushing yards, receiving yards, touchdown passes, runs, catches, field goals, interceptions, and other important stats have been set or matched recently, Van Brocklin’s record still stands.
This record was unexpected because Van Brocklin was chosen to start for the Los Angeles Rams just days before the game due to an injury to Bob Waterfield.
At that time, he had never thrown for 300 yards in a game when he faced a New York Yanks team that was finishing its last season in the NFL.
Van Brocklin broke Johnny Lujack’s 1949 record of 468 yards for the Bears, completing 27 passes—15 fewer than Cousins in his 500-yard game—with nine passes going to Elroy “Crazylegs” Hirsch for 173 yards.
Van Brocklin only had five other games with at least 300 yards passing in his Hall of Fame career, and just four other players achieved that mark in 1951, when teams averaged 183.9 passing yards per game. In the last ten years, there have been six seasons where teams averaged over 250 passing yards per game, but no one has surpassed Van Brocklin’s record.
The closest anyone has come to it since 1951 was Matt Schaub, who threw for 527 yards while playing for Houston against Jacksonville on November 18, 2012.
