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The Limitations of the current Quarterback rating System
Keith R. Thompson, January 2008
The QB rating system has apparently been rising in prominence
(certainly among many media outlets) in its ability to evaluate a
quarterback’s performance on the field. However, given its many
limitations should we be so dependent on it when evaluating these
QBs. Below is the rank of all current and Hall-of-Fame quarterbacks in
the NFL's history through
the 2007 regular season, according to their QB rating score.
Source: http://www.pro-football-reference.com/leaders/pass_rating_career.htm
From the table we see a number of interesting (and quite frankly
even some shocking) results.
John Elway, arguably one of the greatest quarterbacks of all-time
with an NFL-best 148 career wins as a starter before he was
surpassed by Brett Favre in 2007, and who also has an NFL-record
47
game-winning or game-tying drives in the fourth quarter. Yet for all
these accomplishments Elway’s QB rating is only 79.9, good for 47th
on the all-time rank. This rating is lower than quarterbacks such as
Carson Palmer, Philip Rivers, and Brian Griese. Taking nothing from
these current QBs but rating them above Elway who led five teams to the
Super Bowl, and won two championships, clearly merits a serious
evaluation of this quarterback passer rating tool. Elway,
unquestionably, is a much
higher rank than 47th.
Or consider Sammy Baugh. Baugh led the league in passing for six
years (an NFL record), and has the NFL’s second-best performance
leading the league each season in attempts, completion and
completion percentage. Yet for all those accomplishments the
Hall-of-Famer is tied for only 116th in the quarterback
passer efficiency rating. What a laugher.
Finally, when we see four-time Super Bowl champion Terry Bradshaw
who is also 7th on the all-time wins list as a starting
QB tied with the Chicago Bear’s enigmatic quarterback Rex Grossman
for 127th on the all-time passer rating list we clearly know that the
quarterback passer efficiency rating is seriously flawed.
So what’s the reason for the numerous limitations of this
quarterback rating system. We cite three main factors:
1.
It considers only passing, not rushing or the other dimensions of a
successful quarterback
2.
It over-penalizes for the number of interceptions thrown
3.
It’s passer rating excludes fumbles lost by a quarterback which could
also change the game the way an interception can.
To produce a more accurate quarterback rating tool we have to
account for a quarterback’s ability to run the football. This allows
the team to continually move the chain by earning first-downs on the
ground, or simply to avoid sacks because of the QB's ability to scramble. That
was one of John Elway’s greatest strengths, which is obviously not
captured by the current QB passer efficiency rating system.
The current rating system also over-penalizes for the number of
interceptions thrown since not all interceptions are game critical.
Interceptions thrown via ‘Hail Mary’ attempts at the end of halves
and completed games are not critical to the outcome. Likewise, many
interceptions that are thrown do not lead to points for the
opposition. Therefore the passer efficiency rating has to account
for these factors and not over-penalizes for all of the
interceptions a quarterback throws.
Finally, the current passer efficiency rating system does not
account for lost fumbles by a quarterback that can also critically
change the game. During one forgettable game in the 2007 regular
season (October 28th against the New England Patriots)
Jason Campbell of the Washington Redskins produced a passer rating
of 71.2 despite turning the ball over four times. However only one
of those turnovers (an interception) was ever captured by the rating
system. The other three were lost fumbles which, although they led
to 17 points for the Patriots, were never penalized in the rating
system.
If the passer efficiency rating system is to ever evolve into a more
relevant rating system for quarterbacks then it must be able to
account for the QB’s ability to run, better penalize for
interceptions, and also account for lost fumbles by the quarterback.
Maybe then we will see more representative ranking for the likes of
John Elway, Sammy Baugh, and Terry Bradshaw, among others.
© 2008 PER Sports, Inc. Have a comment on this article. Send an email to us via info@persports.com |
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