Yakuza Rich: Best Dallas QB Years

[Yakuza Rich]

Best Dallas QB Years
by Yakuza Rich
http://yakuzarich.blogspot.com

With Terry Glenn being released by Dallas, this has caused a great debate about whether or not Dallas needs a better #2 WR than Patrick Crayton. I'm apt to see both sides of the argument. I'd like to see a better #2 WR than Crayton (in fact, give me somebody about as productive, but with far better speed to stretch the defense and I'll take it), but this was a team that was 2nd in points scored last year, with only the historic Patriots offense scoring more points.

With that, we keep hearing how Tony Romo had the best QB season in Dallas history because he had the most passing yards and passing TD's. But, I wasn't so sure about that. As I've mentioned in the past, particularly in my debate of why Art Monk should not be in the HOF, the passing game has changed dramatically over the years. Teams throw the ball a lot more, but utilize a much more controlled passing attack. Thus, TD passes and yards should be higher now than they will be in the past.

Still, Romo undoubtedly had a great season. So what I did was take the top years (top year determined by QB rating) of Dallas' greatest QB's...Don Meredith, Roger Staubach, Danny White, Troy Aikman and Tony Romo and compared those stats versue the league average during that year. I only took the stats of completion percentage, yards per attempt and QB rating. So here goes:

YARDS PER PASS ATTEMPT

Player.............Year...............YPA...............% Above the Avg.

Staubach.........1971................8.9........................48.3%
White...............1982...............8.4.........................33.3%
Meredith.........1966...............8.2.........................32.3%
Romo...............2007...............8.1.........................26.6%
Aikman...........1993................7.6.........................22.6%


COMPLETION PERCENTAGE

Player.............Year..............Comp %..............% Above the Avg.

Aikman...........1993..............69.1%....................19.3%
Staubach.........1971..............59.7%....................17.5%
White..............1982..............63.2%....................12.1%
Romo..............2007..............64.4%....................5.4%
Meredith........1966..............51.5%.....................3.4%


QB RATING

Player............Year..............QB Rat................% Above the Avg.

Staubach........1971..............104.8....................77.0%
Meredith.........1966..............87.7.......................38.8%
Aikman...........1993.............,99.0......................32.5%
White.............1982..............91.1.......................29.0%
Romo..............2007.............97.4.......................20.4%


How great was Staubach's 1971 season. Well, Tom Brady's QB rating of 116 was "only" 45% above the average in 2007. So, in order for Romo to tie Roger's 1971 season, he would have to put up numbers that project to this:

9.49 yards per pass attempt
71.8% completion percentage
143.2 QB rating

If Romo had done that, he would have been projected to have thrown for 4,935 yards last season.


One of the keys is that Romo has had 2 very good seasons. So I then wanted to do the same thing I did above, but take each QB's best back to back seasons. (Note: With Staubach I did 1971 and 1973 because he didn't play the '72 regular season due to a seperated shoulder)

YARDS PER PASS ATTEMPT

Player.............Years...............YPA.............% Above the Avg

Staubach.........71 & 73...........8.7..................47.5%
Romo...............06-07.............8.3..................29.7%
Meredith...........65-66.............8.0..................29.0%
White...............81-82.............8.1...................26.6%
Aikman.............93-94.............7.7....................22.2%


COMPLETION PERCENTAGE

Player...........Years............Comp %...........% Above the Avg

Staubach......71 & 73..........61.4%................19.5%
Aikman.........93-94.............66.9%.................15.3%
White............81-82............59.4%................11.2%
Romo............06-07............64.8%.................7.3%
Meredith......65-66..............50.0%................1.6%


QB RATING

Player..........Years.............QB Rating........% Above the Avg

Staubach......71 & 73..........98.9...................63.5%
Meredith......65-66............84.0...................32.3%
White............81-82............88.9...................28.7%
Aikman.........93-94...........92.3...................21.8%
Romo............06-07...........96.5...................21.1%






YAKUZA

 

[Cbz40]

Thanks YR..as always I enjoy your work.

I would say we have had some pretty good QB s over the years.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Thanks YR..as always I enjoy your work.

I would say we have had some pretty good QB s over the years.

And it's why we've won 5 Super Bowls and a not by coincidence, so have the Niners.






YAKUZA

 

[sago1]

Very interesting stats and certainly a tribute to how lucky we've been to have so many good QBs. In fact until the draught of good QBs after Aikman's forced retirement, we had never been w/o a good QB that long. But your stats also beg another question. You've compared the best seasons of all the other QBs against Romo's 1 1/2 years as a starter. Some might say you needed to compare his stats against the first 1 1/2 to 2 years the other players also started. And what happens if Romo has another very good season and even better stats and also his play doesn't fall off in December which also dropped his stats?

 

[ZeroClub]

Nice job. Your "% Above the Avg." column is especially great stuff.

 

[Yakuza Rich]

Very interesting stats and certainly a tribute to how lucky we've been to have so many good QBs. In fact until the draught of good QBs after Aikman's forced retirement, we had never been w/o a good QB that long. But your stats also beg another question. You've compared the best seasons of all the other QBs against Romo's 1 1/2 years as a starter. Some might say you needed to compare his stats against the first 1 1/2 to 2 years the other players also started. And what happens if Romo has another very good season and even better stats and also his play doesn't fall off in December which also dropped his stats?

Very good points. However, Meredith was pretty good from the beginning as well as Staubach (once he got playing time) and White (once he moved from punter to QB). The only QB that struggled out of the gate was Aikman. I was thinking of how Aikman was a bit of an anamoly for Dallas because not only did he struggle early, but the other QB's didn't start right away with Roger having to finish his service to the Navy, White waiting for Roger to retire and move from punter to QB (people can say what they want about Danny, but what a brilliant pickup by the organization) and then there's Romo who sat out for 3 1/2 years. Sort of goes to show that sitting out QB's early in their careers has been a smart move for quite some time.





YAKUZA