The NFL’s worst QB performances are actually ghastlier than they have us believe

You or I could go out and try playing quarterback against an NFL defense, throw an interception on every pass, and the NFL would for some reason spare us from our actual passer rating hitting the books, choosing instead to simply call it zero - the same artificial number they attach to a bunch of performances by actual professional quarterbacks that in reality should be in the negatives. And so the extent to which the worst games should sink below zero are ignored by Big Shield in lieu of a life raft to ensure they stay buoyed at zero. Well, not here. We’re taking away that life raft in this endeavor to explore the wondrous beauty of what remains when we plunge into the Mariana Trench of the quarterback futility ocean.
Written and produced by Alex Rubenstein
Editing and motion graphics by Phil Pasternak
Editing by Jiazhen Zhang
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[@turbokart3776]

Gotta love this coming right after Jared Goff got a passer rating of 155 despite a 100% completion percentage.

[@dfp_01]

Even if it did net him a perfect rating, it wouldn't appear on Alex's chart because he only threw 18 attempts (which I think is kind of silly because the minimum attempts per game required to place in rate metrics is 14, not 20).

[@GrandDuchessTaco]

It may not be on the chart, but I did the math, and he was shorted by 35 points by artificial caps, his real rating was 190.

[@jimboshrump]

​@@GrandDuchessTaco thanks for doing maths for us🎉 thats crazy. I think amount of offensive plays should factor in for that. They ran 50 plays total... seattle had 76 and 17 of those were pass plays. There were 2 pefect qbs for detroit in this game😂😂

[@alexanderbateman5581]

If he threw that one touchdown instead of catching it, he would have had a perfect passer rating by a mile. Just shows how stupid of a metric it is.

[@fortynights1513]

@@dfp_01If those 14-19 attempt performances are included, then Fran Tarkenton in Week 6 of the 1970 season would pass the highest Lamar game at 228.9. Also, if we include pre-Super Bowl years, Len Dawson in 1963 vs the Broncos had a perfect passer rating and four touchdowns on only 15 attempts and that’s likely higher than Lamar.

[@seismoneer]

Gotta get a shoutout to Jared Goff for his perfect game that wasn't perfect rating

[@69belhaven]

Goff does have probably the best perfect rating for the regular season ever though against the Vikings. He also has one of the few 0 passer ratings. Man is a god sometimes and a pedestrian others.

[@saveerjain6833]

@@69belhavenactually Lamar had the top 2 and Johnny unitis the 3rd

[@saveerjain6833]

@@69belhavenlol Lamar’s were both against the Dolphins too

[@legochickenguy4938]

the limit on minimum attempts for a game to count in the passer ratings recordbooks is 20 attempts, and Goff went 18/18 so even if he had a perfect passer rating it still wouldn't have counted.

[@pascalthecurator3368]

@@legochickenguy4938afaik it’s 14

[@ItsDatCajunStuff]

When you're fresh out of long-form Dorktown sports documentaries but you luckily find a snack-sized version in the fridge.

[@SwagnerCountsThings]

"my uncle scored a free ticket .. he did not get his money's worth" 😂😂😂😂 That is an amazing insult

[@jtpal12]

If all of Pastorini's near picks were actual picks his uncapped passer rating would be -158.4. If we exclude the near-INTs on the same drive or near-INTs on drives that would end in real INTs that leaves him with 6 possible INTs for an uncapped rating of -98.9

[@gbrow1604]

People forget that, back in the day, it was perfectly normal to have more INTs than TDs.

[@phytonso9877]

"Three things can happen when you pass, and two of them are bad."

[@KTF0]

It wasn't until 84 Dan Marino when that became a thing.

[@stevensinger8271]

Possibly...but more INTs than completions has always been a rarity.

[@LordTeaboBaggins]

Hey, Namath, Bradshaw and Stabler threw more picks than TDs over their entire careers and they did alright

[@mjisthegoat88]

@@LordTeaboBagginsbradshaw barely misses out on this 212 to 210

[@walterwright1085]

That Peyton Manning is also notable because it's the game he broke the all-time passing yards record in

[@Sixfortyfive]

It was also the game that kicked off Denver's 16-game losing streak to KC.

[@fanboy50]

A game so bad it basically by itself slapped an asterisk onto the claim that Manning won two Super Bowls. Like he was declining that season before that point, but that game really just put things into high relief that if/when the Broncos won the Super Bowl that year, it would be because all Manning needed to do with that defense was just not screw up too badly.

[@johnchedsey1306]

@@fanboy50 Yeah, it was startling how bad he was in that game. But in the playoffs, he was oddly impressive. He was throwing dead ducks, to be sure, but they were accurately thrown dead ducks that the Patriots somehow couldn't defend. Maybe it was like Jamie Moyer throwing the slowest fastballs. But I think we can all agree, Denver's defense that season was the true star.

[@fanboy50]

@@johnchedsey1306 That's kind of what I mean, though: they didn't get that Super Bowl win because they had Peyton Manning at QB. They won it because the defense and run game were good enough that having a replacement-level QB was all they needed. He Trent Dilfer'd it.

[@jtsholtod.79]

As a statistician, there are some formulas that are necessarily simplified to ensure they don't convolute the directional answer. Frustratingly, some sports metrics such as quarterback rating should not be one of those. I love that you're dissecting the whole picture, both highs and lows.

[@BENgalFan1369]

I'm in college to be one, is it a good job?

[@jtsholtod.79]

@@BENgalFan1369 I think so, very versatile. I would recommend finding an industry that you're passionate about where statistics can be applied and valued.

[@BENgalFan1369]

@@jtsholtod.79 does sports, specifically football count? Bc I have more passion for football then probably anybody I've ever met in real life

[@jtsholtod.79]

​@@BENgalFan1369Sure, but there just aren't a lot of those jobs available out there. But if you read up on the field, look for relevant jobs (even volunteer) while studying, you might get your dream job one day!

[@EricAKATheBelgianGuy]

Could the opposite be true, too - that the equation or formula is too complicated that it can't give an accurate answer? I feel like sabermetrics in baseball are like this. I love baseball, but I feel like the "math nerds" (and I say that as someone whose father was a mathematician) have over-complicated it by looking at too many variables at the same time, including many that are largely theoretical.

[@Jerbear1022]

Honestly shocked the 2017 Nathan Peterman game with 5 INTs doesn't register that low

[@SecretBaseSBN]

not enough passes, but was -91.4 tinyurl.com/5n82jxwp

[@RobertJW]

​@@SecretBaseSBN Dear god.

[@ugosmith7529]

​@@SecretBaseSBN If you remove the -, it becomes an almost reasonable rating😂

[@deepowls]

Peterman had a 17.9 passer rating in that game as his completion percentage and yards per attempt were above 30% and 3.0 yards/att, respectively.

[@Edgemaster72]

@@ugosmith7529 Removing the 5 INTs might also help

[@onebigadvocado6376]

Pastorini's reaction of "Not again" is the perfect punchline to the worst performance ever 😂

[@pakpaksugar5194]

the episode focusing on how passer rating can hide just how good a players game really was was nice and all, but im glad we all get to be haters now

[@meadowenthusiast]

Pastorini: Gosh, it sure is nice being able to relax and enjoy my autumn years now that everyone has completely forgotten about my infamously bad performance in that one game. Life is good! Secret Base: Um . . .

[@thomasstone3480]

secret base: two games, dan

[@gmwdim]

Fun fact: Pastorini was a pro bowler for the 1975 season. He had a 47.7% completion percentage that year, with 14 TDs and 16 INTs.

[@gabingston3430]

Which just goes to show how much the NFL was dominated by defense in the 70s.

[@jasonnelson6624]

How about the raider trading stabler to get him. Which he breaks his leg and the back up QB is Jim plunkett who was the 1st overall player drafted in the same draft as Pastorini. That draft being the great qb draft before the 1984 draft. 1st Plunkett, 2nd Archie manning, and 3rd Dan.

[@DarklordZagarna]

Turns out that when you allow what would now be illegal contact anywhere on the field, it's kind of hard to run routes.

[@jasonnelson6624]

@@DarklordZagarna when were you allowed to have illegal contact anywhere on the field? I remember the Mel Blount rule which allowed bump and run but that was for 5 yards after that you couldnt contact them. Before that defenders could only run with the receivers. So not sure when you were allowed to make contact outside of the first 5 yard?

[@phineasbogg1318]

“Tries his hand with his feet … oooh that’s a shame” 😂😂😂

[@conormaloney455]

Hilarious that Pastorini had that bad of a game then literally was still their QB 7 years later. Different kind of patience in those days

[@psymar]

I mean, you saw that offensive line, right? 2008 Tom Brady ain't doing shit behind that O-line

[@jeffreywillis4258]

I still remember when Pittsburg wanted to get rid of Bradshaw. They even benched him.

[@deepowls]

Steve Tensi I looked at Steve Tensi's Wikipedia page for his two 0.0 official passer ratings within the same season. There was no mention of them. What I did find was that after two years and 52 pass attempts in the AFL after being a 4th round pick (16th round NFL), this remarkable trade happened: "On August 15, 1967, shortly before the 1967 season, new coach and general manager Lou Saban traded Denver's #1 draft picks in the 1968 and 1969 common AFL-NFL draft for Tensi. These proved to be valuable picks for San Diego, becoming the #4 and #9 overall selections respectively." 1967 was his season of two 0.0 official passer rating games. His first had an uncapped rating of -3.125, which is a candidate for the highest uncapped rating for an official 0.0 game. That line was 6/20 for 55 yards with 2 INT. Tensi's second game had a -21.023 uncapped rating, which is more like it (3 INT in 22 attempts being the main difference).

[@eclipse528]

1:40 Gary Hogeboom, ex-Cowboys quarterback, not to be mistaken for Gary Hawkins, humble landscaper, who happens to be the same age and went to the same college in the same years as Gary Hogeboom, but is definitely NOT Gary Hogeboom

[@yoshifan331]

Nice Survivor Guatemala reference!

[@pandaplayr73]

Is this Peridiam's alt account?

[@eclipse528]

@@pandaplayr73 no but I'm a fan of that channel so I probably picked up that way to talk about it unconsciously from him

[@chrisdelisle3954]

I was a huge Earl Campbell fan in my youth. In wondering how my beloved Earl Campbell could never beat those Steelers, I apparently, I blocked out how awful Dan Pastorini actually was. The 1970's look pretty wild. Some quarterbacks - Terry Bradshaw included - just liked slinging the ball around without any care.

[@hiimemily]

In a slightly different universe, we'd be talking about Dan Pastorini's 9 INT game every time a QB throws 5 or 6. He should thank his lucky stars that he ended up with only 4 in that game.

[@1998_MIN]

That's how bad his play was that day - neither his team nor his opponents could catch his passes 😂

[@utryping]

Hi emily

[@jasonnelson6624]

Dan Pastorini was part of what was seen as the great QB draft (before the 84 draft). 1st Plunkett, 2nd Archie Manning, and 3rd Pastorini. People either dont know or forget Pastorini was a pro bowl QB the raider even traded stabler for him. Just for him to break his leg and back up the former 1st round pick of the same draft Jim plunkett takes and wins them the Super Bowl. Poor Pastorini 😂😂😂

[@alexlowe2054]

"He got a free ticket to that game. He didn't get his money worth" is such a good burn. Also, I remember watching Manning during his last season. He was obviously too old to be playing, but he refused to retire. I'm glad he won the super bowl, but he definitely wasn't the same that year. I'm glad he retired rather than try to hang onto the glory days for one more season.

[@benburtzos]

Oof, I was at that Broncos-Chiefs game in 2015. After Manning went 5-20 for 35 yards and 4 INTs, Brock Osweiler came in and went 14-24 for 146 with one TD and another pick. Also, they combined for 5 sacks. Miserable, miserable game.

[@serisothikos]

4:01 - "Ahhhhhhh, that's a shame" had me cackling out loud.

[@chrisj.9882]

I was stunned that Ryan Leaf's Sept. 20, 1998 game against the Chiefs didn't come up .... until I realized he only threw 15 passing attempts, and thus didn't qualify. But because it was so terrible, here's his line: 1 compleition in 15 attempts for 4 yards and 2 interceptions. Yikes.

[@SecretBaseSBN]

tinyurl.com/599rjfj9 -46.8, so believe it or not there've been 7 games worse even in a 20-pass threshold

[@hellowhirled]

i'm a Jon Bois lifer but it's refreshing to know that Alex Rubenstein can hold his own without him

[@JazzYachtrocker]

Jon bois moved on from simple sports

[@baxterbrown8088]

Yeah Alex has rly came along way from that awkward af Rockets vid in 2018

[@tomhoblin4571]

Gotta add Jared Goff from the other night onto this list!

[@gmtatum]

2:20 Lynn Dickey, my boy! Can we get a Prism on this dude? There's a story somewhere.

[@knutthompson7879]

Perhaps one of the most unusual careers. A very average QB with both historic highs and historic lows.

[@MrMW2nd]

i cant believe this video had 0 mention of nathan peterman

[@noytelinu]

Passer rating has been so stupid and made no sense to me. Glad to see it is actually broken and I wasn't just being dumb.

[@JazzYachtrocker]

Both can be true 😊

[@arribalaschivas91]

Didnt Rex Grossman have a passer rating of 0 at least once? That season was a wild ride for Bears fans

[@deepowls]

He had only 12 attempts in his only 0.0 rated game (week 17 of that 2006 Super Bowl season). He was 2 of 12 for 33 yards and 3 INTs. His uncapped passer rating was -76.7. Grossman's worst game with 20+ attempts had an official rating of 10.2.

[@chrischecketts8792]

Once again secret base blesses us 🙏

[@logankaplan3238]

babe wake up new secret base video just dropped

[@holstorrsceadus1990]

This epic QB suck fest will look familiar to Jets, Bears and Browns fans.

[@scottgray636]

Three of the worst at drafting and training a prospective QB.

[@johnquach8821]

Ah, Nathan Peterman. The Most Negative QB Ratio.

[@bigjared8946]

Gary Hogeboom sightings always make my day.

[@thomasjolicoeur3188]

The answer, when it comes to individual performances and career in general, is and always will be Nathan Peterman.

[@gabrieldodds9081]

Shoutout to Lynn Dickey: the hottest of hots, and the coldest of cold

[@Sahil-oq8ki]

seeing terry bradshow on this list really gives me more perspective on the "That's how much more dire this could have been had Bradshaw slipped up even once. He didn’t." line from Section 1

[@noahpevey8834]

So Goff going 19-19 this week won’t make this graphic which is wild.

[@michaelhall2494]

Hearing Grogan's name at the end hurt my heart. I still love ya Steve. Toughest QB ever.

[@jimmy3people0]

fun fact: that "Pastrana" down in the 1970-ish Fun Zone is Alan Pastrana - who is, indeed, Travis' dad.

[@balisticjoe]

But what is the lowest rating that resulted in a win? Probably from defensive scores and running to a field goal, but still a funny thought. My guess is next video will create a new metric that will eliminate the rating bounds and also include running performance.

[@dfp_01]

My guess is it would come from the Falcons-Rams game where both QBs finished with a truncated passer rating of 0. But I'm not sure.

[@daleftuprightatsoldierfield]

In 2010, Todd Collins went 6/16 for 32 yards and 4 INTs in a 23-6 win over the Panthers. This resulted in a capped passer rating of 6.2. Might not be the lowest but it’s definitely a contender

[@DruiceBox]

@@daleftuprightatsoldierfieldgood pull

[@isthatharrasment]

Probably a Bradshaw or Tarketon game. Neither are terrible quarterbacks, but their defenses did most of the work

[@psymar]

​@@dfp_01I looked at that one and it's about a -1. I found a worse one, Norm Snead on November 14, 1976. 14 attempts, 2 picks, 3 completions for 26 yards and of course 0 TD yields a -6.24 true QBR if I mathed right

[@douglasblouir9185]

Where's Rex Grossman on the list. He always gave me hope- I always felt that I too could throw a 0.0 QBR.

[@musicwarrior3755]

I did some quick math on Goff’s recent performance. I got about 189.95 real Passer Rating.

[@SecretBaseSBN]

tinyurl.com/msn4ca8y close :)

[@musicwarrior3755]

@@SecretBaseSBNThanks. I figured I was off by a bit given how I was doing the math, but being under by less than a tenth is pretty good.

[@mangler103]

I knew as soon as the premise was explained that Manning was going to have the highest delta. He's had some of the worst games of all time despite his greatness.

[@jdotoz]

I was surprised to see that his 2004 AFCCG rating wasn't constrained at all

[@beaker4311]

Most unskippable ads ive seen on a vid in years. Ive seen less on a 5 hour essay on film than this 15 min one 😂

[@andlabs]

My biggest takeaway from this series so far is that Alex Does. Not. Like. Lynn Dickey

[@faceurhell]

Really would be cool to see one of these videos focus specifically on Super Bowl performances. I think the changed QBR statistics could showcase a new angle on how the NFC’s 15+ year straight Super Bowl wins hapoened.

[@MelloTreezTV]

It’s a wonder how Miami wasn’t shell shocked enough to pick another Dan as their QB after a performance like that🤣

[@lainewiens]

This is wonderful.

[@shieldon530]

10:01 I got an ad that started with the word “prime” right before Alex could say it here O_o

[@anitoon9972]

Quote To JG9: ... Which is worse than spiking the ball onto the ground, on every single play.

[@keegandecker4080]

Johnny Football, it’s your time to shine

[@oeao2841]

The NFL doesn't tell us the real truth because they want us to keep watching...if we saw there was a negative passer rating then we wouldn't watch

[@QuarkTwain]

Really? Who is going to stop watching because this one statistic has negative values occasionally?

[@jamesprumos7775]

Next you should do this but adjust for the average passer rating for the year; passer rating was originally made so that a 66.7 rating would be considered average, but nowadays that rating would be terrible.

[@bakkadilla]

I think the Basement is pretty obvious why the NFL doesn't want that metric out there in the world. But the literal upper bounds of the QB metric doesn't make any sense. Why not celebrate a QB who has an absolute romp of a game.

[@evanwelsh6405]

RIP Pastorini, you’d love Jackson Arnold

[@raybourgeois3192]

This is literally just a class on passer rating. They should use this in college algebra classes across the globe

[@issan7]

I need to see Will Levis throw all his passes at the vender to see what the QB rating will be

[@Wergoheb]

We played an 8-on-11 JV game once. 1/7 -2 Passing yards 0 Interceptions. Not ideal.

[@knutthompson7879]

I’m actually sort of surprised there isn’t a bigger increase in the passer rating over the years. There seems to be some increase for sure, but I’d expect more since the standards for passer efficiency are much much higher today. Our friend Dan Pastorini actually made the Pro Bowl one year with more picks than TDs. Generally in the 70s, if you had more TDs than INTs and had a completion percentage above 50, you were a pretty good QB. Obviously you wouldn’t even make the roster with those stats today.

[@romanmarcus14]

Big take away is that inorder to be allowed to have a really bad game is that you have to have been or be really good. Otherwise the coaches will pull you from it.

[@markjackson6431]

Rewinder: 2006 Orange Bowl 3OTs Beef History: Lindros vs Flyers Organization Overlap: Greatest College Football Coach (Saban) and the Greatest NFL Coach (Belichick) coaching in the same division Beef History: Michael Jordan and Isiah Thomas Beef History: Phil Jackson and Pat Riley Untitled: Reggie Miller Untitled: Barry Sanders Untitled: Carl Yastrzemski Untitled: Ted Williams Untitled: Jim Kelly Collapse: Early 90s Bills Collapse: 1987-2000 Seminoles Collapse: Moneyball (2002) Athletics Rewinder: 2012 Olympic 100m Men’s Final Rewinder: The Catch By Willie Rewinder: Wide Right I, Wide Right II Rewinder: Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds breaking the respective HR record(s) Untitled: Don Nelson

[@aVerveQuest]

Poor Dan, tough as nails an nearly killed on field, he tried his heart out with the worst of teams

[@TheIncredible2IC]

I wouldn't mind an addendum to this about the lowest QB rating in a game without any minimum qualifier. Feels like there would be some gems there. After all, the true worst games ever QBed would see them benched before they get 20 attempts.

[@SecretBaseSBN]

stathead.com/tiny/vGLIt no minimum qualifier? then it'd be a 679-way tie at -414.58, so hopefully you see the point of the minimum qualifier :)

[@brianbelgard5988]

Passer rating is fine as long as you have a reasonable minimum threshold of games played. If you stack rank qbs by rating it’s very similar to rankings by more “advanced” metrics used now.

[@IHJello]

I never heard of a football being referred to as a can of corn

[@Legault397]

man I bet Steve Grogan will never forget September 11th 1987

[@joshuagraves6643]

Do an episode on what passing yards would look like if YAC was only applied to the receiver

[@NeopolitianNPLTN]

I’ve never heard of this guy but he seems to have decent footwork and mechanics.

[@Akojiguy]

Now we need "The NFL's most average QB performances are actually more bland than they have us believe"

[@michaeldew7904]

I'm pretty sure it was never meant to be used for individual games. Still good videos.

[@DarklordZagarna]

It's not actually all THAT surprising that the guys with the most negative-rating games were pretty good-- if you're not, on the whole, pretty good, you just aren't going to get that long a leash. Pastorini famously got benched for Jim Plunkett in the 1980 season, for example, and that was pretty much the end of him as a credible NFL talent.

[@DerekS75]

Ready to hear about some Falcons QBing

[@O4C209]

Can you review Goff's "perfect" game?

[@luisguillermojg]

Never heard of Dan Pastorini before today and now I feel awful for him.

[@bralph82]

As an oilers fan, props.

[@WegotTheBOMB]

You cannot compare qbs from different eras with this math. Youd have to categorize them based on rule changes. This is why espns total qbr is the better formula.

[@alexellsworth3852]

@NFL Fix this, 90% of the work is already done for you.

[@1998_MIN]

Slightly disappointed that Bo Nix ended up with positive passing yards this past weekend, would have liked to see where he fell To have his game the same week as Jared Goff having a perfect accuracy game just shows that despite parity improving, it's still a league of contrasts

[@dfp_01]

The thing about Nix is he didn't throw an interception. His yardage per attempt would've needed to be more significantly negative than the -1 that I think he had in the first half in order to register below 0.

[@thekidfromcleveland3944]

"I have a passer rating of zero....right now"

[@dominiquelange4542]

great content

[@ValorOni]

Remind me again: Why does Next Gen Stats and Profootball Focus Stats exists?

[@ryanjapan]

You guys did a ton of leg work on this series but I don't think you've done a great job of explaining why it's *bad* that the "artificial" bounds are in place. There are good reasons for diminishing the impact of extreme outliers in any statistical measure, especially with so many variables (drops by receivers, drops by cornerbacks, missed tackles leading to more yardage and TDs, no controlling for strength of team or opposition or era) in play that are outside of the QB's control. I just think we could have benefited from more of an overview at the beginning of the series that provided that context or at least acknowledged that there was probably some thought put into those parameters and the minimum/maximum scores for each of the formula's terms. Looking forward to that "big picture" episode next time!

[@SecretBaseSBN]

with all due respect, that's simply not true. i spoke extensively about that dynamic in the 1st episode, talking about how the artificial bounds are in place to prevent wonky results in small samples, and about how no other rate metrics operates in the same way, because an inherent element of rate metrics is small-sample outliers. that's why rate metrics are often used in conjunction with minimum thresholds, like in this very video with 20 passes i specifically invoked stats like ops and field goal percentage. if a baseball player is retired 100 times in a row, we dont pretend their ops in that span was like .300 because maybe they had bad luck with bad umpiring calls or fantastic defensive plays or whatever. we call it what it is. and this idea of, in a team sport, one's statistics being affected by the level of proficiency of a teammate is not a novel concept. why should an nba player who creates an open look for a teammate get credited with an assist just because his teammate happened to make the shot, whereas another instance of a player demonstrating the same exact skills and abilities in generating an open look for a teammate doesnt get an assist if their teammate happened to miss their open shot? thats just the way it goes in team sports. but the way the formula operates is essentially saying, for instance, if a qb throws an int on more than 9.5% of his passes, they MUST not have all been his fault, and if a qb throws an int on less than 9.5 of his passes, then they all must have been. but obviously the opposite can be true. someone could throw 1 pick in which it wasnt their fault, or someone could throw 5 picks in which they were indeed all their fault. it's operating on baseless assumptions. dropped passes, missed tackles, etc. happen in all kinds of games, not just the outliers

[@ryanjapan]

@@SecretBaseSBN very valid response 🙏🏼 thank you

[@ryanjapan]

I think an important difference is that QB rating is not really a rate stat - it's (presumably) supposed to be an overall metric for appraising QB performance and it's built using rate stats -- but with its confusing and arbitrary scoring range it's not entirely clear what they are really trying to capture. There's definitely a case to be made that at the extremes there might not be a ton of utility in making a distinction between going 33 of 35 with 5TDs or going 35 of 37 with 4... just like there's not much of a difference between your QB going 3 for 30 with 5 INTs vs 5/30 with 6 -- the first 2 are both "had just about the best game you can ask for" and second two are similarly "basically worst case scenario" without the differences in the performances being very likely to contribute to the outcome of the game. I think that's the part I was having trouble with or felt like the videos haven't been as convincing to me -- is the "real" QBR really any more informative when comparing across really good or really bad performances? Does "real" QBR really settle any arguments about whether one great performance was "better" than another? Like I said I really appreciate your videos and thanks again for the thoughtful reply.

[@Reilly5]

I hope that the Goff vs Smith performance is pointed out in the next episode.

[@dfp_01]

These videos were probably recorded months ago, edited at minimum weeks ago, and are just now being released. Unless Alex is clairvoyant, I don't think he knows about it.

[@BENgalFan1369]

I was gonna say that this was a great Weeknd song, but its *worse* than zero 😮‍💨

[@timkokesh1968]

How bad would/could it get if you accounted for sacks and/or fumbles as part of the passer rating formula? After all, a lost strip-sack is roughly as awful as an interception.

[@Scorpio3002]

We've GOT to fix how interceptions are recorded. I'm sick of quarterbacks throwing perfect passes, only for receiver's to bumble it and allow it to bounce into a defender's arms. Call it a "Drop-Induced Fumble" out something, and credit it to the receiver, not the QB (although I'd be willing to assign it to the quarterback if it was a particularly errant throw). Aaron Rodgers only threw 6 interceptions in the entire 2014 season, and 5 of those only happened after the ball bounced out of the receiver's hands. Then again, I'd also be interested to see a stat created for "Dropped Interceptions" as well. I'll bet Aaron Rodgers wound be one of the all-time leaders of that stat, too; I've seen so many passes where the DB has him dead-to-rights, but the ball bounces off their hands. I actually think the way that Aaron overinflates his footballs has a lot to do with his low interception numbers, as well as explaining why veteran receivers like Jimmy Graham never really seemed to be able to catch what he threw to them.

[@tubfrog]

10:25 I’m sorry WHO

[@geoffroi-le-Hook]

Now wait a minute. I have more receiving yards than Brett Favre and more rushing yards than Cris Collinsworth. I suspect you do too.

[@JaredHathaway]

What would Pastorini's passer rating be including those 4 dropped INTs?

[@brandonsheumaker2673]

I like that in this series, you've actually shown and demonstrated WHY there are artificial boundries for the Passer Rating stat. Take the Staubach game... two of the interceptions were because the RECEIVER dropped/batted the ball and a defender happened to come down with it. How is that the fault of the passer or of the pass? I argue that it's simply unfair to nail the passer for a receiver's poor performance or because of an act of chaos. On the flip side, when Santorini threw a screen pass that got tackled for a 5 yard loss... what would have happened if the receiver had slipped the tackle and taken it to the house? Well, then Santorini would get credit for a 60+ yards passing and a touchdown, when, again, his actual pass had NOTHING to do with the outcome of the play. It would be the runner's great move or a defender's poor tackle that made the play what it was. Why should the QB get credit for a touchdown pass? I think the limits put on the Passer Rating are an effort to reign in some of the nonsense that is the other passing stats. It's all imperfect, and the current calculation takes that into account. If you remove the barriers, the calculation would in many cases resemble GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out).

[@SecretBaseSBN]

every other qb thats playing a reasonably normal game gets dinged for picks that arent their fault too, why should those who have otherwise been awful enough to be that low not get dinged? that makes no sense...you cant pick and choose the instances where picks that arent the QB's fault get properly incorporated into the formula and other instances of picks that arent the QB's fault dont get properly incorporated...why does an nba player who creates an open look for a teammate get credited with an assist just because his teammate happened to make the shot, whereas another instance of a player demonstrating the same exact skills and abilities in generating an open look for a teammate doesnt get an assist if their teammate happened to miss their open shot? everyone knows not all INTs are the fault of the QB, but that's way too slippery a slope to throw a bone to those who stunk the rest of the game that those who didnt dont get to receive. there's no way a formula can know who was at fault for an INT, and in the same way that its possible that someone threw a bunch of picks in which some werent his fault, its also possible that they all could have indeed been the QB's fault. you cant have a formula that assumes things one way or another

[@brandonsheumaker2673]

@@SecretBaseSBN That's exactly my point. Many stats don't accurately reflect the true effect of an athletic performance, in football or in other sports, so why should the passer rating be "perfected" when the info going into it is suspect? The boundries in place are an effort to reign in the chaos and restore some semblance of sanity to statistical analysis. Personally, I feel that the official scorer of football games should have some measure of judgment when it comes to INTs or even TD passes, similarly how a baseball scorer can decide between a hit or an error or a fielder's choice. If that were the case, then there would be less of a need for the boundries on Passer Rating.

[@SecretBaseSBN]

just because passer rating is by nooooo means perfect even without the artificial boundaries, that doesnt mean they should just make it worse and be deceitful for no reason (and no, baselessly assuming all picks from low-pick games were earned while baselessly assuming not all picks from high-pick games were earned, which is in a way exactly what the formula does, is not a valid reason) in the same way that someone could have a game with 4 or 5 picks in which 1 or 2 werent their fault, someone could have a game with 4 or 5 picks in which all of 'em were indeed their fault in the same way that someone could have a game with 1 pick in which their lone pick wasnt their fault, someone could have a game with 1 pick in which the lone pick was their fault. yet the player with 4 or 5 picks in which 1 wasnt their fault is granted a mercy that the player who throws 1 pick in which the 1 wasnt their fault is not granted again, removing the boundaries would not be some magical answer that would make the passer rating formula some perfect be-all and end-all way to assess QB play, but it would sure as hell mitigate some issues, give it a hell of an improvement, remove the disingenuousness, and make it an even playing field

[@willhennessy864]

1:26 yeah, if you're throwing multiple interceptions to the defensive line, I think you deserve a rating less than zero. Just my opinion. 😂

[@bjd4]

dude, we believe you

[@j-rich]

4:49 #41 got a vert on him

[@danielwatts4120]

So Houston football has always sucked even before the Texans?

[@PrimarySweeper13]

Expect Daniel Jones to be on this list if Nabers gets hurt this season

[@eddieredmann3]

I'm surprised Brett Favre didn't make this list. He had some real stinkers.

[@shellder11]

Lynn Dickey strikes again!!!

[@AlonsoRules]

Ryan Leaf 1/15 for 4 yards with 5 turnovers - just how?

[@philiptallini5232]

Does anyone know why we even have passer rating in the first place? No other position has a grade.