Why all the pick sixes? (must read)

Just what I’ve been saying:  the “six” part is basically a completely random fluke.  The pick part…that’s another story.

There’s no obvious player type linking the guys at the top and bottom of the pick-six charts, either. Among quarterbacks with 50 interceptions thrown or more, the lowest rate of interceptions returned for touchdowns belongs to … Jake Plummer (4.6 percent). He threw three pick-sixes amidst 46 interceptions, one fewer than Manning has thrown in his past eight picks. Right behind Plummer are Matt Hasselbeck, Trent Green and Tom Brady. The highest rate belongs to Johnson, at 18.9 percent, with Joey Harrington, Carson Palmer and Brian Griese all at 15 percent or better. Famed gunslinger Brett Favre (10.1 percent) is right at the same level as the ultra-cautious Chad Pennington (10.0 percent).

In the long run, there’s nothing suggesting that Manning’s two-game stint is anything but a colossal fluke, a confluence of mistakes and bad luck. Even if Manning were to continue throwing four interceptions a game, it would be a shock if more than one out of every 10 or so were to be returned for a touchdown.