Philip Rivers Stat Tracker: Week 13

Thanks to the nflFastR project and NFL NextGen Stats for the timely sources of data. Commentary will be brief but feel free to let me know in the comments that stats aren’t everything. (click charts for larger view)

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Well, that was lucky.

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HOW WELL?

Rivers had a good game. He was very efficient, with the 3 sacks being the worst drop backs he had.

Most of his numbers ticked up on the week.

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HOW FAR?

Passing depth retreated this week, but completion % was way up, more than making up the difference.

Short passing has been the norm most of the season, so for the rest of the season I’m guessing more of the same.

Rivers had a couple of long TD plays! Of course they came on passes of 5 and 7 yards, but I’ll take it.

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TO WHO?

Why, hello there Mr. Hilton. So good of you to come.

T.Y. Hilton now has above average value per target on the year.

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HOW ACCURATE?

Rivers accuracy returned to the positive side of cpoe.

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HOW FAST?

Short, quick throws were clearly the plan. 3 sacks was not.

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TO WHERE?

That is a lot of un-attacked areas of the field.

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GLOSSARY

Dropbacks (db): Attempted passes, Sacks or QB scrambles with QB spikes removed.

EPA per Dropback (EPA/db): For any given down, distance and field position, there is an average amount of points the team is expected to generate from that spot (EP). After the play the added EP (EPA) is calculated. EPA/db is the average of EPA for all QB dropbacks.

Passing Success Rate (PSR): This is the % of passes that were successful. Success is determined by dropbacks that have an EPA > 0. This is useful, as it evenly weights all dropbacks, so that extreme EPA events can’t bias the measure.

First Downs per Dropack (1st %): The percent of dropbacks that result in a first down.

Net Yards per Attempt (NY/A): Passing yards plus scramble yards minus sack yards divided by dropbacks.

Air Yards (ayd): The distance a pass travels through the air past the line of scrimmage. Passes behind the line of scrimmage have negative air yards. Batted down passes have 0 air yards.

Average Depth of Target (aDOT): Total air yards divided by attempts. It is a measure of how far, on average, a QB throws. Longer isn’t necessarily better but below a certain threshold and moving the ball is difficult.

Yards Before the Catch (YBC): The air yards on a completed pass.

Completed Air Yards per Attempt: This is average YBC. It’s like aDOT but excludes incompletions.

Yards After the Catch (YAC): The distance gained by a receiver after catching a pass.

Completion Percent Over Expected (cpoe): The percent of passes completed above expectation based on air yards, field placement and other variables. This is a proprietary stat provided by nflFastR.

Time to Throw (TtT): The number of seconds from snap to release on passing attempts.