Quiz; Name Top 5 QBs Career Completion Percentage All Time

[Rockinkuwait]

Yeah

Its fun to look at the whole list
NFL Career Pass Completion % Leaders | Pro-Football-Reference.com
- Johnny Unitas is tied with Dave Brown and Chris Miller
- YA Tittle, Archie Manning, and Rex Grossman are all tied
- Otto Graham, the best quarterback in football history, is tied for 108th with Kordell Stewart
- Sammy Baugh invented throwing the football. He's tied with Aaron Brooks
- Bart Starr is sandwiched between Josh Freeman and Wade Wilson
etc etc

Yup, most QB efficiency stats don't hold up well over time. You want one that does... YPA for a simple one isn't too bad (not perfect by any means, obviously has some era biases as well, but a lot better comparison of historical vs. today than anything else).

NFL Career Yards per Pass Attempt Leaders | Pro-Football-Reference.com

 

[jarntt]

Without looking it up........

Guess the top 5 QBs, who have the highest career pass completion percentage

with a minimum of 100 starts.......and 1500 attempts

Well, If you are starting the thread I know Romo is obviously there.

 

[TheStarOne]

minimum of; 100 starts.....1500 attempts

1. Drew Brees..........216 starts........66.4 % CA.......95.8 passer rating
2. Kurt Warner..........119 starts........65.5% CA.......93.7 passer rating
3. Peyton Manning....265 starts........65.3% CA.......96.5 passer rating
4. Tony Romo...........127 starts........65.3% CA.......97.1 passer rating
5. Aaron Rogers........119 starts........65.1% CA......104.1 passer rating

 

[flyerhawk]

I would guess the following

Brady, Wilson, Rodgers, Manning,

Yup, most QB efficiency stats don't hold up well over time. You want one that does... YPA for a simple one isn't too bad (not perfect by any means, obviously has some era biases as well, but a lot better comparison of historical vs. today than anything else).

NFL Career Yards per Pass Attempt Leaders | Pro-Football-Reference.com

YPA is probably the best single stat but still doesn't tell the whole story.

If I were to build stat it would be built around YPA, red zone efficiency, and some sort of combination of int% and TD%.

Cumulative stats are useless.

 

[NinerSickness]

I know nobody said otherwise, but looking at statistics statically is a useless comparison. The only way to truly compare stats from differing years is to look at their plus or minus against the average.

 

[jarntt]

I know nobody said otherwise, but looking at statistics statically is a useless comparison. The only way to truly compare stats from differing years is to look at their plus or minus against the average.

Not really. You still have a problem with QBs that don't have to throw much because their team is always in the lead or throw garbage time Ints trying to pull out a win, teams with strong running games that force the defense to keep a safety in the box, teams that give their QB great field position because of their defense, teams with good or bad OLs, teams with good or bad WRs, teams that play in domes in Dece/Jan...In other words stats never tell the whole story. Go by what your eyes tell you from watching...

 

[Rockinkuwait]

I would guess the following

Brady, Wilson, Rodgers, Manning,


YPA is probably the best single stat but still doesn't tell the whole story.

If I were to build stat it would be built around YPA, red zone efficiency, and some sort of combination of int% and TD%.

Cumulative stats are useless.

There are some good cumulative ones. I do like the QBR some which uses situational results... IE 8 yard completion on 3rd and 10 isn't a good play. And I think that uses opponent success rates as well.. that 3rd down conversion means more against Denver than Jacksonville for example. But none are perfect. As a simple number, YPA is nice though, it is the single stat that most closely correlates to winning percentage.

But with all, you can bring in your own observations.. Guy with a low QB rating you see making more plays when they count, or vice versa. Pennington is an example of that for me. Very efficient QB, but his lack of arm strength really hurt him running the 2 minute drill where you need to throw with velocity on the deep outs. Lets see if I can find the proof to that...

Here we go. 2 mind drill, Chad ranks there with Tebow, Geno Smith, McNown, Mallett, Manziel, and Doug Pederson. Fun fact, weaker armed Alex Smith also falls heavily in those moments according to QB rating. Which is why I think he falls so far back in the 4th quarter comebacks for his career too.

 

[flyerhawk]

Here we go. 2 mind drill, Chad ranks there with Tebow, Geno Smith, McNown, Mallett, Manziel, and Doug Pederson. Fun fact, weaker armed Alex Smith also falls heavily in those moments according to QB rating. Which is why I think he falls so far back in the 4th quarter comebacks for his career too.

Yeah I agree with that. Which is one of the reasons why I think TD% is a useful stat.

 

[Ricky Roma]

So I looked it up, and I gotta say......as far as actual accuracy is concerned, the only guys I'd say who might be considered in a debate of most accurate QB in history would be Manning or Warner. Russell Wilson 8th? Matt Ryan 9th?

I'm pretty sure I could hit 60% in todays game.

 

[chf]

I'm pretty sure I could hit 60% in todays game.

Heh.

 

[Rockinkuwait]

Yeah I agree with that. Which is one of the reasons why I think TD% is a useful stat.

That ones tough too, I like it but not perfect. What about teams with great defenses that give them more opportunities closer to the endzone than teams with bad defenses where their QB is throwing more outside of the red zone? What about a team with a philosophy of pound it in at the goal vs. a team that throws more there? Look at the effect on Russell Wilson of Lynch pounding at the goal line vs. last year when he wasn't. Or a QB who's got that escapability where teams want him throwing more there like an early Big Ben, but stick to more run based offense on the rest of the field. How does it affect a guy like Cam who may have easy passes for TD's but running it in gives 0 chance of a drop or bobbled pick?

Now granted too it's usually the better QB's that get the go ahead to throw more at the goal line, but imagine if Rivers played with LT's entire prime and they didn't have Gates on that team? Vs. if he had say Gates and Calvin Johnson and Sproles?



Take a look at Brees and Rodgers for example this past year. Rodgers has the higher TD%, though you could argue Brees had the better individual season.

Brees threw 50 more times than Rodgers in 2015 overall

Brees threw 142 times inside his 20, where Rodgers only threw 112 times there.

Rodgers however threw 102 times inside the opponents redzone while Brees only threw 68 times there.

Brees had the better TD rate inside his own 20 (.7% to 0%) and the better one in the redzone (38% to 22%).

But since Rodgers threw so much more often in the good area's and less often in the bad, he gets the higher overall TD rate, even though Brees in every area individually was better in that stat (brees 2.7% TD rate, Rodgers 2.62 between the 20's).

 

[NinerSickness]

Not really. You still have a problem with QBs that don't have to throw much because their team is always in the lead or throw garbage time Ints trying to pull out a win, teams with strong running games that force the defense to keep a safety in the box---

Stop. That's a non-sequitur. It's variable for which you could also control, but then you'd have to come up with weird, arbitrary definitions of a lead with how much time to go, and that would take forever to do. But it doesn't change the fact that statistically, an 87 passer rating in 1980 is a hell of a lot more impressive than an 87 passer rating in 2015. Look it up; you'll see.

 

[Manster7588]

So I looked it up, and I gotta say......as far as actual accuracy is concerned, the only guys I'd say who might be considered in a debate of most accurate QB in history would be Manning or Warner. Russell Wilson 8th? Matt Ryan 9th?

I'm pretty sure I could hit 60% in todays game.

To the defense.

 

[Hank Kingsley]

There are some good cumulative ones. I do like the QBR some which uses situational results... IE 8 yard completion on 3rd and 10 isn't a good play. And I think that uses opponent success rates as well.. that 3rd down conversion means more against Denver than Jacksonville for example. But none are perfect. As a simple number, YPA is nice though, it is the single stat that most closely correlates to winning percentage.

But with all, you can bring in your own observations.. Guy with a low QB rating you see making more plays when they count, or vice versa. Pennington is an example of that for me. Very efficient QB, but his lack of arm strength really hurt him running the 2 minute drill where you need to throw with velocity on the deep outs. Lets see if I can find the proof to that...

Here we go. 2 mind drill, Chad ranks there with Tebow, Geno Smith, McNown, Mallett, Manziel, and Doug Pederson. Fun fact, weaker armed Alex Smith also falls heavily in those moments according to QB rating. Which is why I think he falls so far back in the 4th quarter comebacks for his career too.

Just Win Baby.

Statistics are for losers.....

 

[jarntt]

Stop. That's a non-sequitur. It's variable for which you could also control, but then you'd have to come up with weird, arbitrary definitions of a lead with how much time to go, and that would take forever to do. But it doesn't change the fact that statistically, an 87 passer rating in 1980 is a hell of a lot more impressive than an 87 passer rating in 2015. Look it up; you'll see.

Of course it's different. I didn't say it wasn't. My point is you are oversimplifying it. A guy in Wilson or Palmers situation has it a lot easier than whomever starts in Cleveland this year and their respective stats will more than likely reflect that.

 

[NinerSickness]

Of course it's different. I didn't say it wasn't. My point is you are oversimplifying it. A guy in Wilson or Palmers situation has it a lot easier than whomever starts in Cleveland this year and their respective stats will more than likely reflect that.

The point you're actually making is that there are variables other than the average to consider when evaluating the performance of a QB. That's true, but it's also not quantifiable.

Someone pointed out a single statistic, and if you want to compare statistics, looking at them statically is a meaningless comparison. Looking at them against the average actually shows something significant.

 

[SteelersPride]

this thread is awesome