Opposing QB Stat Tracker: Week 2

Thanks to the nflFastR project and NFL NextGen Stats for the timely sources of data.

For those of you new to this, I will publish key QB stats each week judging how well the Colts passing game performed. Yes, O-Line, receivers, and play-calling impact these numbers but they are primarily QB measures. I will probably modify the charts throughout the season. Commentary will be brief but feel free to let me know in the comments that stats aren’t everything. (click charts for larger view)

NOTE: All references to rankings are of the top 32 QBs by attempts through current week.

DASHBOARD

Trevor Lawrence has not been a very good QB, but he seems to be improving in some key areas. First, here is his production from the last 17 games (including week 1).

He has faced basically average defenses with a game plan that leans more towards handing the ball off to a not-so-great run game (19th opd, 20th edp, 19th arsr).

Lawrence is a little slow to pull the trigger, but that is warranted as he attempts longer than average passes (9th ttt, 11th adot). However, his accuracy has not been very good, so he has primarily connected on shorter passes (29th cpoe, 22nd ay/c). His inaccuracy, in part, has led to poor receiver yac (29th yac, 31st yacoe), but receiver talent is certainly a factor too. His short completion length, inaccuracy, and short yac adds up to poor yardage efficiency (29th ypa).

He has faced a bit higher than average pressure, which he addressed primarily by throwing the ball away and scrambling, minimizing his sacks (15th pr%, 7th ta%, 13th scr%, 24th sk%). However, even though he has a low sack rate, that didn’t help lift his net yardage efficiency (29th ny/d).

His total abandoned attempts are a bit above average, but perfectly in line with the amount of pressure faced, so it’s not like he has pocket jitters (14th aa%, 15th pr%).

He has turnover issues and ranks dead last in TD rate (10th tp%, 32 td%). On top of that, he doesn’t throw many first downs (29th 1st%), which is a bad combination that leads to horrible overall efficiency (28th epa/d).

He’s hasn’t been the worst QB in the league, but overall he has played near the bottom.

HOW WELL?

Despite Lawrence's poor overall numbers, he seems to be trending in the right direction. Last week, he finished basically average in the top 4 stats I care about and his 5 game trend lines are all pointing up.

HOW FAR?

His completion depth (right chart) is much improved. Again, his trends are getting better (longer completions).

TO WHO?

Christian Kirk had a 100+ yard day last week.

For the next chart, the upper right quadrant is where you want your receivers to live and for Lawrence, so far so good.

HOW ACCURATE?

His accuracy improved to about league average in week 1 and he has been steadily getting better over the last 10 or so games.

HOW FAST?

His time to throw was a bit too long relative to his passing depth.

TO WHERE?

His deep passing wasn’t great, but 0-20 yards was respectable in week 1 . . .

. . . not so much over the last 17 games.