The 12 Best Quarterback Passing Seasons of the Last 12 Years

11. Peyton Manning, 2005

The 2005 Indianapolis Colts raced out to a 13-0 start and finished the year at 14-2, winners of the AFC South. Unfortunately for Colts fans, they lost at home to Pittsburgh in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

At least Peyton Manning finally got the Tom Brady monkey off his back with his first victory against a Brady-led New England Patriots team, though. He was previously 0-6 in head to head matchups with Brady. Manning also led the league with 187.33 Passing NEP that season, the 11th-best mark since 2000.

Manning's Passing NEP was a massive 74.14 points higher than his nearest competitor, Carson Palmer. Among the 33 quarterbacks who made at least 250 drop backs, 14 had negative Passing NEP, including Kyle Orton's putrid -99.94.

His 56.81 percent Success Rate is the fifth-best mark since 2000.

Both Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne were targeted more than 120 times that year, and each man caught more than 80 balls for over 1,000 yards. Harrison came down with an impressive 12 touchdowns.

Manning was also assisted by Edgerrin James, who rushed for 1,506 yards and 13 touchdowns, also hauling in 44 receptions for 337 yards.

The average Passing NEP per drop back among qualifying quarterbacks in 2005 was only 0.03. Manning's 0.40 mark per drop back is the fourth-best since 2000, and was 39.97 points above average -- easily the second-best differential in that same time frame.

Manning completed 67.3 percent of his passes for 3,747 yards in 2005, with 28 touchdowns and 10 interceptions.