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QBs in Focus: Weeden, Campbell, Hoyer

qb-month-brownsThough we certainly miss football during the offseason, it’s always a good time to take a step back and analyze our plethora of data.

We’re often so busy grading and collecting data during the season that we’re unable to put a lot of the information to good use. With that said, we’ve decided to declare June as “QB Month” as we break down NFL quarterbacks every which way.

We’re going to examine quarterbacks from a number of situations before looking at each of them individually. The grades and numbers should reveal each quarterback’s strengths and weaknesses from the 2013 season.

As we go through this series, it’s important to understand the relationship between QB Rating (NFL’s version) and PFF Grade.

While QB Rating is obviously supposed to be a QB statistic, it’s actually a better gauge of what the entire offense did in a given situation. This is the type of information that is actually extremely valuable to our NFL team customers as their game planning efforts must go towards stopping an entire passing offense, not just the quarterback.

If the quarterback throws an easy dump off pass to the RB who then weaves through the defense for the touchdown, it’s certainly not a great indicator of quarterbacking skill as it is the running back and defense accounting for the majority of the work on the play. Of course the QB Rating will look quite shiny in that situation.

On the other hand, PFF Grade is a good indicator of how well the quarterback actually performed in a given situation. Whether they throw an accurate pass that was dropped, or perhaps an inaccurate one that should have been intercepted and the defense dropped, the PFF grade will account for those situations with a positive and a negative grade respectively while QB Rating will simply reflect the 0-for-1 passing.

It’s important to distinguish between QB Rating and PFF grade, though there’s a good chance they’ll match up in most situations.

After taking a look at the entire league in various situations, it’s time to break down each quarterback individually.

Brandon Weeden

Brandon Weeden

Brandon Weeden (2)

Brandon Weeden (3)

All categories with a * are normalized so that the league average is 0.0.

Positives

•  Graded at +5.2 on 2nd-and-medium
•  Showed well on passes in the 11-to-20-yard range (+3.7).
•  Graded at +2.3 on passes thrown outside the numbers to the right.
•  Graded at +7.5 when given a clean pocket.
•  Fifth-highest grade on passes thrown in two seconds or less (+6.2).
•  Graded at +6.6 when throwing to outside wide receivers.
•  Graded at +4.0 on out routes and +3.4 on slants.

Negatives

•  Graded at -3.9 on passes in the 1-to-10-yard range and -2.6 on passes thrown 31 to 40 yards.
•  Struggled on throws outside the numbers to the left (-2.5).
•  One of the league’s worst when pressured (-14.7), particularly from a traditional rush (-13.0).
•  Graded at -8.1 on drop-backs of 9 or more yards.
•  Graded at -5.6 on drop-backs in the 2.1-to-2.5 second range and -7.6 on drop-backs lasting at least 3.6 seconds.
•  Graded at -4.8 on passes to running backs.
•  Among the league’s worst on crossing routes (-3.3).

Tendencies

•  81.1% of drop-backs came out of the shotgun; well above the league average of 75.1%.
•  48.2% of drop-backs went at least nine yards; highest in the league.
•  28.9% of drop-backs lasted 2.6-3.0 seconds; highest in the league.
•  Threw screens only 5.0% of the time; second-lowest in the league.

 

Jason Campbell

Jason Campbell

Jason Campbell (2)

Jason Campbell (3)

All categories with a * are normalized so that the league average is 0.0.

Positives

•  Graded at +1.6 on passes thrown in the 5-10-yard range.
•  Graded at +3.0 on drop-backs lasting two seconds or less.
•  Was better from under center (+3.6).
•  Showed well on slants (+2.5) and out routes (+4.3).

Negatives

•  Graded at -3.5 on second down.
•  Struggled on passes thrown at least 20 yards in the air (-7.4).
•  Graded at -6.5 on passes in between the numbers and -3.9 on passes thrown outside the numbers to the right.
•  Struggled on drop-backs of 9 or more yards (-11.5).
•  Below average on all passes lasting more than two seconds.
•  Graded at -4.8 when throwing to tight ends in the slot.
•  Graded at -3.9 on crossing routes and -2.0 on go routes.

Tendencies

•  57.6% of attempts thrown in the 1-to-10-yard range; well above the league average of 49.3%.
•  Threw 32.3% of passes outside the numbers to the left; highest in the league.
•  Below average percentage of passes thrown in less than 2.5 seconds.
•  63.3% of drop-backs went at least 9 yards; far greater than the league average of 24.6%.
•  18.4% of attempt were crossing routes; well above the league average of 10.0%.
•  Threw 26.4% of passes to running backs; above the league average of 19.6%.
•  Faced third down blitzes 51.6% of the time; well above the league average of 37.5%.

 

Brian Hoyer

Brian Hoyer

Brian Hoyer (2)

Brian Hoyer (3)

All categories with a * are normalized so that the league average is 0.0.

Positives

•  Graded at +5.1 on third downs.
•  Above average on passes thrown in 1-to-10-yard range (+3.7).
•  Graded at +4.6 on drop-backs in the 7-to-8-yard range.
•  Graded at +2.6 on drop-backs lasting two seconds or less.
•  Showed well on out routes (+3.0) and slants (+2.1).

Negatives

•  Below average on all passes thrown beyond 10 yards.
•  Struggled on drop-backs of 9 or more yards (-4.2).
•  Graded at -3.0 on drop-backs lasting 3.1 to 3.5 seconds.
•  Graded at -2.1 on hitches and -3.0 on go routes.

Tendencies

•  32.7% of drop-backs came from under center; well above the league average of 24.9%.
•  Threw only 19.3% of passes in the 5-to-10-yard range; third-lowest in the league.
•  Faced pressure only 28.8% of the time; well below the league average of 35.5%.
•  Was blitzed on 35.6% of drop-backs; tied for sixth-most in the league.
•  46.2% of drop-backs were at least 9 yards (league average: 24.6%).
•  Well above average on all passes thrown in less than three seconds.
•  Well below average percentage of drop-backs lasting more than three seconds.
•  Threw only 14.8% of passes to slot receivers (league average: 14.8%).

 

For the entire set of “Quarterbacks in Focus” posts, click here.

 

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