With a long history, one would ordinarily have to scour the record books to find out who holds the Arizona Cardinals record for single-season passing touchdowns
Despite a history of losing, the Arizona Cardinals have had some great quarterbacks strap on a cardinal and white helmet. Players like Carson Palmer, Kurt Warner, Neil Lomax, Jim Hart, Charley Johnson, and even Jake Plummer are names that Cardinals fans of all generations look on fondly.
And quite a few of them hold records for the most passing touchdowns in a single season when you break down not just the Arizona Cardinals, but also the St. Louis and Chicago Cardinals. So who holds the record at each stop, and who holds the overall record? Let’s start with the latter.
Carson Palmer may have been entering career twilight in 2015, but he was one of the best quarterbacks in the game that season, throwing for 35 touchdown passes, 11 interceptions, and 4,671 yards. To this day, he is one of just two quarterbacks in Cardinals history to throw 30-plus touchdown passes, with Kurt Warner tossing 30 in 2008.
Palmer paces Arizona Cardinals quarterbacks in touchdown passes
But who leads the St. Louis Cardinals in the category? In this one, we have a TIE between Charley Johnson and Neil Lomax, who threw for 28 touchdown passes in 1963 and 1984, respectively.
In 1984, Lomax completed 345 of 560 passes, good for a 61.6 completion percentage. Along with his 28 touchdown passes, Lomax threw for 4,614 yards, 16 picks, and amassed a 92.5 passer rating.
Johnson completed 222 of 423 passing attempts in 1963, for a 52.5 completion percentage, 3,280 yards, and 21 interceptions. This gave him a 79.5 passer rating.
As for the Chicago Cardinals, we also have a tie, this time between Paul Christman and Jim Hardy, who threw for 17 touchdown passes in 1947 and 1950, respectively. Christman helped lead the Cardinals to what is to date, their last NFL title, completing 45.8 percent of his passes for 2,191 yards, 22 picks, and a 59.0 passer rating.
And finally, Hardy threw 1,636 yards while completing 45.5 percent of his passes with 24 picks and a 49.7 passer rating. These numbers weren’t as sharp as those seen from Lomax, Johnson, Palmer, and Warner, but the NFL was a different landscape back in the 1940s and 1950s.
(Statistics provided by Stat-Muse)