percyhoward
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This information seems worthy of its own thread. It gives an idea of how much better Romo has performed than his defenses, using the same stat. It also shows how consistent he's been compared to the league's so-called elite quarterbacks.
I chose to look at the six highest-rated passers since 1998. Six is a good cutoff point, because there is less separation between the four players ranked #3 thru #6 than there is between #6 and the next active player.
The above table includes playoffs. If your first reaction is, "There's no way Romo has been better than all those other players, stats must not tell the whole story," then you're mostly right. But rather than leaving it at that, read more of the story.
In the above list, any quarterback who was starting before Romo's first year as a starter (2006) is at a disadvantage because he played in more seasons (Brees 4, Brady 5, Manning 8) when the league average passer rating was lower than it is now. The earlier the player started playing, the greater the disadvantage. This means that the 8-point gap between Rodgers and the rest of the field is artificial, and that Romo's edge over Manning is an illusion.
To filter out that effect, here are the six players' average rankings in their qualifying seasons.
Rank in Passer Rating
(average of all qualifying seasons)
Rodgers 3.1
Manning 5.3
Romo 6.1
Brady 7.0
Rivers 7.8
Brees 9.8
Among the top 6 highest-rated passers since 1998, Romo has the 3rd-highest average ranking. Each qualifying year, he's ranked an average of slightly lower than 6th in the NFL.
Rodgers' 3.1 doesn't mean he's been the 3rd best, it means he's ranked an average of 3rd, which happens to be the best. No other player has ranked that high on average. This proves that, even considering his advantage of starting his career later than the others, Rodgers has been the best passer during this time period according to passer rating, the stat invented by the NFL to determine each season's passing leader.
Every pass attempt generates a passer rating for a quarterback, and a corresponding passer rating for the defense he's facing. The teams that make the playoffs each year are typically the ones whose QB and defenses rank high in passer rating differential. If you take the average ranking of each QB's defenses over their career, it looks like this...
Rank in Defensive Passer Rating
(defense's average in QB's qualifying seasons)
Rodgers 7.7
Brady 11.4
Rivers 16.8
Manning 18.3
Romo 19.3
Brees 20.5
Not only has Rodgers been the best passer since 1998, the Packers' defenses have been the best at stopping the pass during Rodgers' career. On average, Brady's defenses have also been playoff caliber. The other players' defenses have been average to below average.
And if you take the average difference in passer rating rankings -- defense minus QB -- this last list shows where each player has ranked relative to the support he's received from his defenses.
Average Difference Between Rankings
Romo +13.2
Manning +13.0
Brees +10.7
Rivers +9.0
Rodgers + 4.6
Brady +4.4
I chose to look at the six highest-rated passers since 1998. Six is a good cutoff point, because there is less separation between the four players ranked #3 thru #6 than there is between #6 and the next active player.
The above table includes playoffs. If your first reaction is, "There's no way Romo has been better than all those other players, stats must not tell the whole story," then you're mostly right. But rather than leaving it at that, read more of the story.
In the above list, any quarterback who was starting before Romo's first year as a starter (2006) is at a disadvantage because he played in more seasons (Brees 4, Brady 5, Manning 8) when the league average passer rating was lower than it is now. The earlier the player started playing, the greater the disadvantage. This means that the 8-point gap between Rodgers and the rest of the field is artificial, and that Romo's edge over Manning is an illusion.
To filter out that effect, here are the six players' average rankings in their qualifying seasons.
Rank in Passer Rating
(average of all qualifying seasons)
Rodgers 3.1
Manning 5.3
Romo 6.1
Brady 7.0
Rivers 7.8
Brees 9.8
Among the top 6 highest-rated passers since 1998, Romo has the 3rd-highest average ranking. Each qualifying year, he's ranked an average of slightly lower than 6th in the NFL.
Rodgers' 3.1 doesn't mean he's been the 3rd best, it means he's ranked an average of 3rd, which happens to be the best. No other player has ranked that high on average. This proves that, even considering his advantage of starting his career later than the others, Rodgers has been the best passer during this time period according to passer rating, the stat invented by the NFL to determine each season's passing leader.
Every pass attempt generates a passer rating for a quarterback, and a corresponding passer rating for the defense he's facing. The teams that make the playoffs each year are typically the ones whose QB and defenses rank high in passer rating differential. If you take the average ranking of each QB's defenses over their career, it looks like this...
Rank in Defensive Passer Rating
(defense's average in QB's qualifying seasons)
Rodgers 7.7
Brady 11.4
Rivers 16.8
Manning 18.3
Romo 19.3
Brees 20.5
Not only has Rodgers been the best passer since 1998, the Packers' defenses have been the best at stopping the pass during Rodgers' career. On average, Brady's defenses have also been playoff caliber. The other players' defenses have been average to below average.
And if you take the average difference in passer rating rankings -- defense minus QB -- this last list shows where each player has ranked relative to the support he's received from his defenses.
Average Difference Between Rankings
Romo +13.2
Manning +13.0
Brees +10.7
Rivers +9.0
Rodgers + 4.6
Brady +4.4
