Atlanta’s Matt Ryan threw 12 interceptions last season, which is not an inordinately high number for a quarterback who starts all 16 games. But it was a lot more interceptions than he should have thrown.
According to data from FootballOutsiders.com, Ryan threw five interceptions that should have been caught by his own teammates, an incredibly high number of passes that were thrown into his own receivers’ hands, only to be tipped into the hands of a defensive player who made the interception.
How rare is that? Football Outsiders has been tracking tipped interceptions for years, and no quarterback has had that many tipped interceptions in a season since 2010. Last year Tom Brady, Philip Rivers, Eli Manning and Ben Roethlisberger all threw more passes than Ryan and had zero passes tipped by their own receivers and intercepted.
Most quarterbacks have more potential interceptions dropped by the defense than passes intercepted after their own receiver dropped the ball. Ryan, who had just two potential interceptions dropped by the defense, was a rare quarterback whose bad luck resulted in him having more interceptions than passes thrown into the hands of the opposing team.
