# USA/Canadian football:  Has anyone ever considered trying to track career actual air yards?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-canadian-football-has-anyone-ever-considered-trying-to-track-career-actual-air-yards/844070>\
**Category:** The Game Room\
**Created:** [November 27, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-canadian-football-has-anyone-ever-considered-trying-to-track-career-actual-air-yards/844070 "2019-11-27T15:28:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-canadian-football-has-anyone-ever-considered-trying-to-track-career-actual-air-yards/844070/1 "2019-11-27T15:28:19Z")

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A QB might toss a two-yard pass that ends up in a 20-yard gain. He gets credit for 20 yards ‘passing.’ Receiver gets credit for a 20-yard reception.

With today’s technology, it would seem easier to start tracking actual air yards and yards after reception as separate stats. Has anyone ever considered doing that?

(I’m not saying to do away with the traditional accounting, but adding an additional stat.)

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**Author:** ![Justin\_Bailey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justin_bailey/32/8792_2.png) [@Justin\_Bailey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Justin_Bailey)\
**Post date:** [November 27, 2019, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usa-canadian-football-has-anyone-ever-considered-trying-to-track-career-actual-air-yards/844070/2 "2019-11-27T15:39:00Z")

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[https://www.pro-football-reference.com](https://www.pro-football-reference.com) tracks both of those stats.