Weeks ago the 32 Observations series looked at an interesting tidbit about each starting quarterback in the league. Many weeks have passed which means some quarterbacks have played better, some have played worse and some are around the same. This week the 32 observations will again be about quarterbacks, and either how their performance has changed over time, or just another interesting note to impress your friends. Any reference to the first half of the season refers to Week’s 1-6 while the second half is Week’s 7-12.
AFC East
Buffalo Bills: Ryan Fitzpatrick’s average depth of target has diminished from 7.1 over the first half of the season to 5.2 over the second half.
Miami Dolphins: Ryan Tannehill averages 11.8 yards per attempt on play-action passes, compared to 6.3 yards per attempt on non-play action passes.
New England Patriots: Of Tom Brady’s 3,299 yards this season, 399 of them have come on passes where the time to throw was 1.5 seconds or less. He has completed 50 of 54 passes during this short time period for three touchdowns.
New York Jets: Typically, a quarterback has a lower completion percentage on deeper passes than short ones. However, Mark Sanchez has a completion percentage of 54.9% on passes where the ball is in the air for 5 yards or less, and 55.9% on passes that are in the air for 6 yards or more.
AFC North
Baltimore Ravens: Over the first half of the season Joe Flacco averaged 8.2 yards per attempt. Over the second half that has decreased to 6.3. The 1.9 yard drop off is the largest in the league.
Cincinnati Bengals: While Andy Dalton was having a fine season over the first nine weeks, with a touchdown on 4.9% of throws and an interception on 3.9%, he has really stepped up his game over the past three games. Over those games he has had a passing touchdown on 10.0% of his attempts, and an interception on 0.0% of his pass attempts.
Cleveland Browns: One way the Browns' offense has improved the second half of the year so far is they are dropping less passes. Over the first half, 10.4% of Brandon Weeden’s passes were dropped, but over the second half it has decreased to 5.4%.
Pittsburgh Steelers: Ben Roethlisberger has the lowest time to sack at 2.3 seconds.
AFC South
Houston Texans: Matt Schaub has seen his average depth of target increase from 6.7 over the first half of the season to 8.2 over the second half.
Indianapolis Colts: Andrew Luck has more yards than any other quarterback on third downs, with 944.
Jacksonville Jaguars: One reason Blaine Gabbert’s numbers didn’t improve all that much in 2012 was that 9.7% of his passes have been dropped, the most by any quarterback over the past five years.
Tennessee Titans: Prior to his injury, Jake Locker had an average depth of target of 6.6 yards. Since coming back from his shoulder injury, that has increased to 8.6 yards.
AFC West
Denver Broncos: Even though six teams have attempted more receiver screens than the Broncos, Peyton Manning has more passing yards on receiver screens than any other team, at 311. This has come on 27 completions and 31 attempts.
Kansas City Chiefs: There have been 12 times this year where Matt Cassel attempted a pass where the ball was in the air for 29 yards or more. He has yet to complete a pass on those attempts, and has one interception.
Oakland Raiders: Carson Palmer had an interception rate of just 1.5% over the start of the season, but over the second half more than doubled that to 3.5%.
San Diego Chargers: In the first quarter of games, Phillip Rivers had 8.9 yards per attempt, eight touchdowns and zero interceptions. Over the rest of the games, he has 6.6 yards per attempt, 10 touchdowns and 14 interceptions.
NFC East
Dallas Cowboys: Tony Romo leads the league on slant attempts, completions and yards at 39, 30 and 333. However, 22 quarterbacks this year have scored a touchdown on a slant pass and Romo is not one of them.
New York Giants: While Eli Manning has been under pressure 99 times this year, which is close to average, he gets sacked on only 11.3% of the plays he is under pressure. That is the lowest rate in the league.
Philadelphia Eagles: There have been 63 plays where a defender logged a hit during a Michael Vick pass attempt without getting a sack. On those 63 attempts, Vick has completed 22 of those passes for 321 yards. He has been hit 10 more times than any other quarterback, despite missing the past two and a half games.
Washington Redskins: Over the first half of the season, Robert Griffin III averaged a touchdown every 3.1% of his pass attempts. Over the second half of the season, that has more than doubled to 7.6%.
NFC North
Chicago Bears: Jay Cutler has seen his average depth of target go from 9.1 over the first half of the season to 6.7 over the second half.
Detroit Lions: Matthew Stafford has 1,284 yards, eight touchdowns and one interception in the fourth quarter of games. In all other quarters he has 2,145 yards, six touchdowns and nine interceptions.
Green Bay Packers: Aaron Rodgers has 506 passing yards on plays with four or five wide receiver sets, which is the most in the league. He has done that on 73 attempts for 53 completions and five touchdowns.
Minnesota Vikings: Of Christian Ponder’s 2,186 passing yards, 455 of them have come on passes where he threw the ball behind the line of scrimmage, which is the most in the league.
NFC South
Atlanta Falcons: Matt Ryan has a 72.4% completion percentage in the first half of games which is much higher than his 63.4% in the second half. However he has 10.8 yards per completion in the first half compared to 12.9 in the second half.
Carolina Panthers: Cam Newton averages 9.8 yards per attempt on his first down passes, but 7.0 on the remaining downs.
New Orleans Saints: Drew Brees is a perfect seven for seven on corner routes this year, for 130 yards and two touchdowns.
Tampa Bay Buccaneers: Josh Freeman has become the king of throwing go routes. While he is tied for the most attempts at 48, he also has the most completions at 18 and yards at 700.
NFC West
Arizona Cardinals: Of the three Cardinals quarterbacks, Ryan Lindley has both the lowest time to throw at 2.4, and the highest depth of target at 8.8.
St. Louis Rams: Quarterback Sam Bradford has an 83.8 Quarterback Rating by both the NFLs method as well as the PFF Quarterback Rating that takes into account dropped passes, throw aways, spikes and yards in the air.
San Francisco 49ers: Over the season, Alex Smith was having 5.5% of his pass attempts dropped, which is better than the average quarterback. Colin Kaepernick is having 12.1% of his pass attempts dropped, which is the most in the league.
Seattle Seahawks: Over the first seven games of the season, Russell Wilson averaged 1.1 touchdowns and 1.0 interception per game. Over the past four, he has averaged 2.25 touchdowns and 0.25 interceptions per game.
Follow Nathan on Twitter: @PFF_NateJahnke
© 2024 PFF - all rights reserved.