Quarterback efficiency is usually discussed through passer rating, EPA, completion percentage and yards per attempt. But one of the cleanest measures is also one of the easiest to understand: how many passing touchdowns did a quarterback throw for every interception?
Using the all-time qualifying single-season leaderboard from The Football Database, the top five TD-to-INT ratio seasons are a fascinating mix of all-time legends, short-run brilliance and two seasons that rarely get mentioned in mainstream GOAT debates.
Top 5 NFL single-season passing TD-to-INT ratios
| Rank | Quarterback | Season | TD | INT | TD/INT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Tom Brady | 2016 Patriots | 28 | 2 | 14.00 |
| 2 | Nick Foles | 2013 Eagles | 27 | 2 | 13.50 |
| 3 | Josh McCown | 2013 Bears | 13 | 1 | 13.00 |
| 4 | Aaron Rodgers | 2018 Packers | 25 | 2 | 12.50 |
| 5 | Damon Huard | 2006 Chiefs | 11 | 1 | 11.00 |
1. Tom Brady, 2016 — 28 TD, 2 INT, 14.00 ratio
Brady’s 2016 season remains the standard. Even though he played only 12 regular-season games, he threw 28 touchdown passes against just two interceptions. That is one interception every 216 pass attempts and a 14-to-1 touchdown advantage every time a turnover finally happened.
The efficiency becomes even more impressive when you remember the context: Brady returned from a four-game suspension, immediately took over a championship-caliber offense, and finished with a 112.2 passer rating. The Patriots went on to win Super Bowl LI.
2. Nick Foles, 2013 — 27 TD, 2 INT, 13.50 ratio
Foles produced one of the strangest elite quarterback seasons ever. He began 2013 behind Michael Vick, took over the Eagles offense and finished with 27 touchdowns against only two interceptions while posting a 119.2 passer rating.
It was not a low-volume caretaker season either: Foles threw 317 passes, averaged 9.1 yards per attempt and helped Philadelphia win the NFC East. For a long time, 27-to-2 was the number fans cited whenever somebody asked for the most absurd TD-to-INT season in modern football.
3. Josh McCown, 2013 — 13 TD, 1 INT, 13.00 ratio
McCown’s 2013 Bears season is the surprise entry. He attempted exactly enough passes to qualify historically, throwing 13 touchdowns and only one interception over 224 attempts while filling in for Jay Cutler.
Because he started only five games, the season is less famous than Brady’s or Foles’. But the raw efficiency was extraordinary: a 109.0 passer rating, 8.2 yards per attempt and only one picked-off pass all year.
4. Aaron Rodgers, 2018 — 25 TD, 2 INT, 12.50 ratio
Rodgers’ 2018 season is the most extreme interception-avoidance year on this list by pure workload. He threw 597 passes and was intercepted only twice. The Packers finished just 6-9-1, so the season rarely gets remembered as one of Rodgers’ finest, but the ball-security number is almost impossible to duplicate.
That season is another reminder that quarterback greatness and team record are not always the same question. BitcoinVersus.Tech has made that case from another angle in our Peyton Manning-versus-Tom Brady comparison.
5. Damon Huard, 2006 — 11 TD, 1 INT, 11.00 ratio
Huard is the deep-cut name on the list. He stepped in for Trent Green in Kansas City and threw 11 touchdowns against one interception across 244 attempts. His 98.0 passer rating does not jump off the page beside Brady, Foles or Rodgers, but the turnover discipline was historic.
Why Lamar Jackson’s 2024 season may be the most impressive high-volume version
Raw ratio rankings reward quarterbacks who threw very few interceptions, even if their touchdown total was modest. That is why McCown and Huard appear ahead of Lamar Jackson. But if the question shifts from “best ratio” to “best ratio while also producing massive touchdown volume,” Jackson’s 2024 season deserves special treatment.
Jackson threw 41 touchdowns against four interceptions for a 10.25 ratio while also passing for 4,172 yards. NFL.com noted that it was the highest TD-to-INT ratio ever by a quarterback with at least 30 passing touchdowns. He also became the first player in league history to throw 40-plus touchdown passes with fewer than five interceptions.
Pro Football Reference highlighted Jackson’s league-leading adjusted net yards per attempt during that same season in this efficiency snapshot.
That high-volume context matters. Jackson’s 41-to-4 line is sixth on the raw all-time ratio leaderboard, but it is arguably stronger than several seasons above it because he combined elite mistake avoidance with true MVP-level scoring volume.
It also makes the arc of Jackson’s career even more remarkable given how he was evaluated entering the league. We ranked that history No. 1 in our list of the most disrespectful NFL draft evaluations ever.
What TD-to-INT ratio does — and does not — tell us
TD-to-INT ratio is useful because it captures two of the highest-impact quarterback outcomes in one number: scoring and giveaways. It is also incomplete. It does not account for sacks, fumbles, down-and-distance, receiver separation, offensive line play, rushing production or how aggressive a quarterback is asked to be.
Modern football analytics can add those missing layers. Our recent look at YOLO and OpenCV player tracking showed how even ordinary game video can now be converted into movement data, heatmaps and positional context.
Still, the leaderboard is brutally simple. Brady’s 14.00 remains No. 1. Foles’ 13.50 is still one of the NFL’s great outlier seasons. McCown and Huard prove that historic efficiency can emerge from unexpected places. Rodgers showed how far elite ball security can be pushed over nearly 600 attempts. And Jackson showed that a ratio above 10 can coexist with 40-plus touchdown volume.
BitcoinVersus.Tech
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