If you’re watching the NFL draft this weekend, you might be interested to know how scoring in the league has developed over time. It’s no secret that the development of the forward pass in 1933 changed the game, but how did this change the way teams score?
First of all, games became a lot higher-scoring. the 1940s and 1950s saw a boom in touchdown frequency thanks to the new rules of the game.
Second, the passing game played a much bigger role in point generation, and it still does today.
In the chart above, we show average receiving touchdowns per team per game (in red) and average rushing touchdowns per team per game (in blue) over time since 1922. While the 1920s and 1930s show that football was a ground game in the early years, passing has dominated ever since. Differentials in receiving touchdowns versus rushing touchdowns are now at the highest levels they’ve ever been.