Quote:THIS.

 

Stats are skewed by EVERYTHING.

 

A QBs stats are directly linked to the Oline and WR (and RBs and TEs)

If they drop a pass, it reflects negatively on the QB. If they miss a block, the QB is hurried into a poor throw, etc. etc.

 

High completion % can be had by throwing 30 passes a game under 10 yards.

 

RBs can only get so many yards on their legs alone, they need a line to block, wide outs to block...

 

Stats are only part of a tale. And truly a smaller part of REAL football.

Stats are much more important in fantasy football. 

 

Yup! A lot of folks like to throw around the line about "football is the ultimate team sport!" but seem to miss the concept that that means that a lot of moving parts go into making even the simplest football play function correctly. And the bulk of most football statistics are tied into the teamwork in an almost inseparable way.

 

Now, when folks try to isolate out a player and throw a statistic on his performance, think the QBR or a PFF grade, they are missing what I think is really the most important aspect of the play; what was he supposed to do? Blocking schemes on an NFL level are crazily complicated and often change from play to play. It's not simply "find your man, hit your man" although that is a part of it. The count can change based on a ton of things and that's just the line. Next, how much freedom is a player given on that specific play? Is he allowed a Run-Pass option? Is he allowed to run? Does he have more than one passing option? Did he overload a blocker to a side and cover a wideout?

 

These kinds of things are what prompted Jim Mora Jr to tell a group of media personnel that unless you are there every day while the teams plays are developed and the individual gameplan is set up, "you don't know. You don't know and you never will."

 

While I applaud the effort behind the folks trying to develop the statistic, I sometimes wonder if they aren't simply chasing a dragon that they're never going to catch.

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