Why 49ers should've had 500 yards more passing

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This post is inspired by ESPN's Mike Sando, one of the brightest guys out there in my line of work (And, no, I'm not trying to get out of repaying a debt).Sando cited some statistics involved in the whole Alex Smith-Cam Newton dialogue. And, yes, we're still talking about it. As Sando writes, "Big story? Nope. Fun story? Yep."I'm coming at it from a different angle as the 49ers' offensive focus during OTAs is on their passing game.Yes, the 49ers ranked 29th in the league in yards passing. I'm the one who mentioned that in a question to Smith, which led to his comment about Newton and the Carolina Panthers.Of course, wins are only thing that matters when it comes to football. And Smith also had a point about the importance (or lack thereof) of yards passing. But I also believe that yards passing count for something.Here's why it should matter to the 49ers:The 49ers ranked 31st in the league in third-down conversions last season. They converted just 65 of 221 third-down chances (29 percent). If they had converted 40 percent of their third downs, that would've meant 23 more first downs. (Forty percent was the success rate of the Panthers, by the way.)Let's just say the 49ers achieved each of those additional first downs through the air. The 49ers averaged 11.5 yards per completion. That's 265 more yards passing on third downs.Then, the 49ers would've had 23 more sets of downs through the course of the season. Let's just say each of those sets resulted in only three more plays, that's 69 more offensive plays. The 49ers threw the ball about 50 percent of the time. So let's say, they attempted 34 more passes. The 49ers averaged 7.1 yards every time they attempted a pass, so that's another 241 yards passing.In all, that's 506 more yards passing for the 49ers on the season.Of course, that does not account for first downs that could've been achieved on the ground. It also does not factor in an increased number of sacks. But it also limits each of the 23 additional first downs to just three more offensive plays when they surely would've added more than just 69 offensive plays.
With 506 more yards of passing on the season, the 49ers would've ranked in the NFL's top-20 in passing yards.There you have it.
And if you could've managed to make it through your Tuesday without reading this post, well, blame Mike Sando.

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