The Scenic Route: Matt Schaub
Unearthing the 17-Year Pro’s Statistical Legacy
There’s something special about the ages of around 8–14 for a sports fan. You can become a fan before this time, but I think it takes time for kids to fully understand a sport, develop real fanhood, and begin to understand a sport’s history, allowing them to put things happening into context.
It’s when you latch onto players and teams — whose trials and triumphs can create lifelong memories.
For me, that age range perfectly coincided with Matt Schaub’s tenure as the starting quarterback for the Houston Texans. I’ve always been a Giants fan, but the Texans are my AFC team, and growing up in Houston meant watching the Texans play on CBS every Sunday.
Schaub posted a 46–42 record as Texans starter and remains the franchise’s all-time leader in wins, passing yards (23,221), and pass TD (136) among other stats.
Taking over from Houston’s original starter David Carr, Schaub led the Texans to their first winning season in 2009 (when he topped the NFL with 4,770 passing yards) and their best year to date — a 12–4 finish in 2012 and Wild Card victory over the Bengals before falling to the Patriots in the Divisional Round.
While his time in Houston ended under less-than-ideal circumstances and left Schaub with an infamous NFL record (which we will get to), his prime years with Arian Foster, Andre Johnson, and Owen Daniels were electric.
But beyond the obvious, Schaub’s career with filled with statistical quirks, which just so happen to be my bread and butter. Let’s take the long route through the career of one of the NFL’s more underappreciated players and a personal favorite.
The Atlanta Falcons selected Matt Schaub in the 3rd round of the 2004 NFL Draft to serve as the backup for Michael Vick despite them coming from rival schools (Schaub went to Virginia while Vick attended Virginia Tech).
Vick holds the NFL record for most rushing yards by a quarterback (6,109). Schaub, on the other hand, didn’t exactly have wheels — in 93 career starts, he averaged 2.8 rushing yards per game.
However, at home against the Vikings in Week 4 of the 2005 season, Schaub turned on the jets.
Forced into the game in the 2nd quarter after Vick suffered a knee injury, Schaub guided Atlanta to a 30–10 victory that couldn’t have much smoother sailing, as Minnesota didn’t get on the board until there were just eight minutes left in regulation.
Schaub’s best moments of the game came on back-to-back plays in the two-minute drill, where he scrambled for 21 and 23 yards to set up a 38-yard field goal before halftime. Those would end up as the longest rushes of his entire 17-year career.
For the game, Schaub carried the ball four times for 56 yards. It’s the only time he cracked even 25 rushing yards in a single contest.
Before his injury, Vick tallied 58 yards on four carries. This remains the only time in the Super Bowl era where multiple QBs on the same team rushed for 50+ yards in the same game. Alongside Warrick Dunn and T.J. Duckett, this is also the only time since the merger that four different Falcons have each rushed for 40+ yards in a game.
It was a dominant ground performance and one where both Vick and Schaub each had more rushing yards than passing yards.
But that wasn’t even the first notable Schaub performance of the year. The NFL began the 2005 season by continuing its tradition of playing preseason games in locations outside of the United States in what was known as the “American Bowl” series.
Over a 20-year period from 1986–2005, the NFL played 40 such games in eight different countries across four continents, most frequently in Japan.
On Aug. 6, the Falcons and Colts clashed at the Tokyo Dome, with the Falcons taking home a 27–21 victory. Schaub was awarded MVP of the game after finishing 11–13 passing for 115 yards and 2 TD.
That would be the final American Bowl game, as Roger Goodell became commissioner the following season and opted to focus instead on playing regular season games internationally. The NFL has not played a game in Japan since.
After three years as a backup, Schaub was traded to the Texans in March of 2007, where he would spend the next seven seasons as the team’s primary starter. In that first season, Houston finished 8–8, the franchise’s best mark to that point, but still finished last in one of the strongest divisions in NFL history.
The following five years would see Schaub in his prime. From 2008–12, he was one of only four NFL QBs to finish with a passer rating above 90.0 in each season, along with Drew Brees, Aaron Rodgers, and Tony Romo.
During the span, Schaub finished with a winning record as starter four times and passed for over 4,000 yards in all three seasons where he started every game. Only the Saints and Patriots averaged more total YPG across the period.
Schaub threw for more than 270 YPG during this span, including some absolutely monster performances. By the time 2010 rolled around, he had already gone over 350 passing yards on seven different occasions, including a career-high 414 yards in a 2008 win in Green Bay. But in Week 2 against Washington, Schaub elevated his production to new heights.
Trailing 27–10 late in the 3rd quarter, the Texans scored 17 unanswered points to force overtime and closed out a 30–27 road victory with a Neil Rackers field goal. Schaub finished 38–52 for 497 yards, 3 pass TD, and 1 INT, with 332 of those yards coming after halftime.
He would one-up that showing a few years later. The Texans entered their home contest against the Jaguars in Week 11, 2012 with an 8–1 record. Jacksonville was just 1–8, but this was a case of being able to throw standings out the window in a game between divisional rivals.
The teams traded blows, both scoring in each quarter of a game that ended regulation tied 34–34. The offenses didn’t stop in regulation, and it was a rare occurrence of there being three scoring drives in OT.
Houston and Jacksonville traded field goals on their first possessions of the extra period, leading to a sudden-death situation. Both teams came up scoreless on their next drives, but the Texans made the most of their third opportunity — Schaub and Andre Johnson connected on a 48-yard TD to seal a 43–37 win.
Schaub’s game was ludicrous. He went 43–55 for 527 yards, 5 pass TD, and 2 INT in what is tied for the 2nd-most passing yards in a game in league history.
Johnson had 273 receiving yards on the day (12th-most in a game all-time) while Justin Blackmon had 236 receiving yards for the Jaguars. Their combined 509 yards are the most by opposing receivers in an NFL game.
Even when the Texans weren’t winning, Schaub was still slinging the ball around. From Weeks 13–16, Schaub had a career-high four straight games of 300+ passing yards despite Houston losing each contest. That matches an NFL record dating back to at least 1950.
After years of coming close, the Texans made their first playoff appearance in 2011, going 10–6 during the regular season. Schaub led the team to a 7–3 start before missing the rest of the season with a Lisfranc injury.
Houston opened the 2012 season as the third-favorites to win the Super Bowl (+1000) and rocketed to an 11–1 start that put them two games ahead of anyone in the AFC before struggling down the stretch and finishing as the 3-seed at 12–4. They took down the Bengals in the Wild Card Round, but Houston’s season, like so many others in the Tom Brady era, ended in Foxborough, as the Patriots won 41–28 in the Divisional Round.
This brings us to 2013 — Matt Schaub’s final season with the Texans. Looking to make an even deeper run, perhaps even reaching the Super Bowl, expectations were high in Houston.
Schaub and the team certainly got off to a flashy start. In Week 1, the Texans overcame a 28–7 deficit in the second half to defeat the Chargers 31–28 on a last-second Randy Bullock field goal in what remains the largest comeback in franchise history.
Then in Week 2, Schaub threw a pick-six with five minutes remaining that gave the Titans a 24–16 lead but responded by leading the team on a TD drive capped off by an Arian Foster two-point conversion to knot things at 24.
Schaub connected with DeAndre Hopkins in OT (this team really liked overtime, huh?) for the rookie’s first career TD, and the Texans won 30–24 to improve to 2–0.
Late-game theatrics aside, Houston had gotten the job done. However, they were about to fall off a cliff.
Schaub would throw a pick-six in each of the Texans’ next three games, all losses. His streak of four-straight games with a pick-six is an NFL record.
His worst came in Week 4 against the Seahawks when Richard Sherman took a Schaub pass to the house late in the 4th quarter to tie the game at 20. Houston had led 20–3 at halftime and lost 23–20 in yet another overtime battle.
In just the previous season, Schaub had made the Pro Bowl. Now, his job security was rapidly dissipating. After he left the team’s Week 6 game against the Rams with an ankle injury, Houston fans cheered, only to quickly get their comeuppance when backup T.J. Yates threw a pick-six in the team’s fourth-straight defeat.
From there on, Houston alum Case Keenum was named the starting QB, but not even a third quarterback could get things rolling for the Texans. Losses continued to pile up, and head coach Gary Kubiak was fired after a 2–11 start.
Schaub would start again for the final two games of the season. By that point, the Texans were merely locking up the #1 overall pick in the 2014 Draft.
After a 2–0 start, Houston finished the season with 14 consecutive losses (a franchise record). Since World War II, they are the only team to win their first two games and then lose every remaining game on their schedule.
It was an aberration for a team that had achieved winning records in both 2011 and 2012 and would do so again in three straight seasons from 2014–16.
The Texans actually outgained their opponents by 475 total yards on the season (the best mark since at least 1940 by a team with two or fewer wins), which was good for sixth in the NFL. Yet, they finished dead last in both takeaways (11) and turnover margin (-20).
That would do it for Schaub in Houston. He was traded to the Raiders in 2014 but found himself as a backup after the team drafted Derek Carr in the second round. He began his Texans career by replacing David Carr and then was himself replaced by Carr’s younger brother.
From there, Schaub bounced to the 2015 Ravens, where he returned to the starting lineup following a season-ending injury to Joe Flacco. He went 1–1 but again threw pick-sixes in both games, leading to his benching in favor of first Jimmy Clausen and then Ryan Mallett.
Baltimore finished the year 5–11 and as one of only five teams to ever have four quarterbacks throw at least 80 passes in a season. It remains the only time in Jim Harbaugh’s 15 seasons as head coach that the Ravens won fewer than eight games.
With it becoming clear that Schaub would never receive another opportunity as a full-time starting quarterback in the NFL, he returned to Atlanta to spend his final five seasons behind Matt Ryan. In 2016, Schaub watched as Ryan won league MVP and led the Falcons to an appearance in Super Bowl LI. You know what happened next.
Matt Ryan is one of the most durable QBs in NFL history. He missed only one game during Schaub’s second stint in Atlanta from 2016–20. It came in Week 8, 2019, with the Falcons at home against the Seahawks.
After 154 consecutive starts, an ankle injury forced Ryan out, giving Matt Schaub one final opportunity to start a game.
By this point, Schaub was 38 and hadn’t spent meaningful time in a game in four years. Since rejoining the Falcons, he had gone just 12–16 for 101 yards and a TD. The majority of those yards and the touchdown pass came in a garbage time drive the previous week.
The Falcons entered the game just 1–6 against a Seahawks team that would go 11–5 and reach the Divisional Round of the playoffs. They had no business being in the game, and for most of it, they weren’t. The Seahawks led 24–0 at halftime. Schaub had totaled 151 passing yards but was also responsible for a pair of turnovers.
And then, something clicked. The Falcons scored a TD to open the 3rd quarter and were off to the races. Schaub led Atlanta on four scoring drives in five second-half possessions. They only came up empty when Devonta Freeman fumbled on the Seahawks’ 1-yard line early in the 4th quarter.
I wish the Falcons would’ve reached the end zone on that drive because after Atlanta failed to recover an onside kick with 1:19 remaining, Matt Schaub could only watch as Russell Wilson kneeled out a 27–20 Seahawks win. He had done everything in his power but simply ran out of time.
Schaub threw for 309 yards in that second half, more than Matt Ryan ever had in a half during his 14 seasons with Atlanta, where he totaled nearly 60,000 passing yards. It still ranks top 10 among second-half performances in the play-by-play era (since 1991).
For the entire game, Schaub completed 39 of 52 passes for 460 yards. It stands as the Falcons single-game completions record and makes Schaub the oldest player to ever throw for 450 yards in a game while completing 75% of passes. He was the only player in 2019 to do it at all, and one of just two players in NFL history to do so in a loss.
After 497 yards against Washington in 2010 and 527 against the Jaguars in 2012, it also marked Schaub’s third career game with at least 450 passing yards, putting him on a rather exclusive list of QBs to achieve the feat.
On a day where many were surprised to find out he was even still playing professional football, Schaub turned in a spirited performance that effectively served as his swansong. His only remaining NFL pass attempts came on a single drive four weeks later, when he again led the Falcons to a garbage time TD.
During the peak of his 17-year career, Schaub brought the Texans into relevancy and had them as a legitimate Super Bowl contender. While his dropoff was abrupt, he stuck around and found some magic in his final few appearances.
Matt Schaub is a fixture of my childhood and a quarterback far more statistically noteworthy than he would seem at first glance. And of course, he’s still the reigning American Bowl MVP.
