PFF: Dropped Passes & QB Completion Percentage

[Playoffs]

ProFootballFocus posted an interesting quick look at one of their Signature Stats which you can see here: Dropped Passes per QB

...One of the things I really hate is when people make excuses for quarterbacks by saying they had a lot of dropped passes… as if their quarterback is the only guy.

Well, fortunately, we here at Pro Football Focus track these dropped passes with the staff applying simple criteria in deciding what constitutes one: could he get his hands on it and was it catchable.

It means that right now we can tell you which quarterback has suffered from the most dropped passes in the league and how that impacts their completion percentage.

Lions Not Helping Their QB

Few would argue that Matthew Stafford is having a year as good as his 2011, but then he’s not exactly getting a lot of help with his receivers and backs...

The article leads to a statistic I always wanted to see: an ‘adjusted completion percentage’. You treat the drops as completions and you’ve got an improved completion percentage.

Here are some selected numbers:

# Name Team ................. Att. Comp Drops Adjusted Comp. %
1 Peyton Manning DEN...... 372... 255 ... 29 ... 76.34%
2 Aaron Rodgers GB ......... 354... 238 ... 31.... 75.99%
3 Robert Griffin III WAS .... 277 ... 186 ...24 ....75.81%
4 Alex D. Smith SF ........... 217 ...152.... 12.....75.58%
5 Matt Ryan ATL ............. 397 ... 268 ...22 ... 73.05%
6 Tom Brady NE .............. 393 ... 256 ...29 ... 72.52%
7 Tony Romo DAL ............ 394 ... 265 ...20 ... 72.34%
8 Matt Schaub HST ........ 330 ... 216 ...20 ... 71.52%
9 Ben Roethlisberger PIT ... 316 ... 209 ...16 ... 71.20%
10 Philip Rivers SD ........... 340 ... 228 ...13 ... 70.88%

13 Drew Brees NO ............401 ...250 ....30 ....69.83%
14 Matthew Stafford DET ..427 ...265 ....33 ....69.79%

20 Eli Manning NYG ...........364 ...223 ....23 .....67.58%

27 Andrew Luck IND ..........412 ...235 ....30 ....64.32%

31 Cam Newton CAR .........300 ...171 ....15 ....62.00%

33 Josh Freeman TB ..........320 ...180 ....16 ....61.25%
34 Mark Sanchez NYJ ........314 ...168 ....22 ....60.51%

[thunderkyss]

So, does it matter? Just looking at that list it looks like those guys would still be at the top of the completion percentage list.

[klockWork]

Yeah, if Sanchez was in the top 5 in the list then I would have to look at how I watch football completely.

[drs23]

Dayum, I missed a melt down. I swear Mr. klock was green when I last visited this post.

I kinda saw it comin' though...