[PFF] Highest graded QBs in the NFL in 2018

[stitches]

PFF released their final QB ranking for the season:

 

https://www.profootballfocus.com/news/pro-final-list-of-pffs-highest-graded-quarterbacks-in-the-nfl-in-2018

 

Quote

 

3. ANDREW LUCK, INDIANAPOLIS COLTS

Overall Grade: 91.1

Finally healthy, Luck led his team into the postseason with stellar performances down the stretch of the regular season. He picked up 59.9% of his passing yards through the air, good for the third-highest-mark among qualifiers, and ranked 10th in total big-time throw percentage (5.0%) in the process.

 

 

[buccolts]

12 minutes ago, stitches said:

He picked up 59.9% of his passing yards through the air

 

I'm sorry, but is this suggesting our YAC was low?

Trying to make sense of the comment.

[stitches]

8 minutes ago, buccolts said:

 

I'm sorry, but is this suggesting our YAC was low?

Trying to make sense of the comment.

Yes. We are bottom of the league in YAC. We were dead last at some point, I haven't seen the updated stats, but they are probably very low still. Luck doesn't get a lot of help from his receivers both in their drop numbers being some of the highest in the league and their yards after catch being some of the lowest in the league. 

 

Edit: I found it, we are 3d lowest in the league in YAC. Only Cardinals and Bucs are worse. 

 

 

 

This is the drops stats as of Dec 17th. Again - third highest drop % in the league:

 

 

[TheMiz]

Newsflash, our wide receivers aren't very good. (Outside of Hilton)

[Mitch Connors]

Wow. Those numbers really paint the picture of how amazing Luck is this year.

 

Our receivers drop the ball or their bodies the second the football hits their hands.

[Superman]

1 hour ago, stitches said:

Edit: I found it, we are 3d lowest in the league in YAC. Only Cardinals and Bucs are worse. 

 

I saw this earlier and meant to post it. And even Hilton isn't that elusive with the ball in his hands. 

 

We definitely need more elusive receivers.

 

 

[Mel Kiper's Hair]

Andrew Luck has had an amazing season and I think that next year he will be even better! I really like the direction our team is heading in with a healthy #12 on the field!

[stitches]

5 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I saw this earlier and meant to post it. And even Hilton isn't that elusive with the ball in his hands. 

 

We definitely need more elusive receivers.

 

 

Here is the same stat(YAC) by player:

 

 

TY is top 10 in the league... but the rest of our receiving core is god awful... 

 

On an unrelated note - I really liked DJ Moore last year in the draft. He's going to be good going forward IMO. I remember I had some hopes we might get him at the top of the second but oh well... we still got pretty good haul from those picks. 

[Coffeedrinker]

1 hour ago, buccolts said:

 

I'm sorry, but is this suggesting our YAC was low?

Trying to make sense of the comment.

That's how I read it.  60% of Lucks 4,593 yards were the throw from him to the receiver, 40% of the yards are what the receiver gained after the he caught the ball.

[Superman]

1 hour ago, buccolts said:

 

I'm sorry, but is this suggesting our YAC was low?

Trying to make sense of the comment.

 

In this case, that's true, but the stat doesn't mean that on its own. Theoretically, if every pass goes into the end zone, there'd be no YAC. Or if every reception is highly contested, or another anomaly, etc. So it needs context, but in our case, we are bad at YAC.

[OffensivelyPC]

23 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I saw this earlier and meant to post it. And even Hilton isn't that elusive with the ball in his hands. 

 

We definitely need more elusive receivers.

 

 

Well, I mean, we could be better at the receiver position.  But we'd probably still be low as a team.  Much of our YAC production, or lack thereof is a function of the passing scheme.  Short, rhythmic throws in traffic.  I think it also speaks to Luck's accuracy throwing to WRs with little separation.  Not really disputing what you're saying, but it's tough looking at season long stats such as these (and I know you understand this) without all the context.  

[compuls1v3]

Hopefully all these stats are proof that we need help at WR....as posted in other topics.

[DrLuck]

39 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

I saw this earlier and meant to post it. And even Hilton isn't that elusive with the ball in his hands. 

 

We definitely need more elusive receivers.

 

 

This is one of TYs strengths... your crazy.

 

Looks like a poster a few down from your post proves this. He is top 10 lol.

[Superman]

4 minutes ago, DrLuck said:

This is one of TYs strengths... your crazy.

 

Looks like a poster a few down from your post proves this. He is top 10 lol.

 

No it isn't. 

 

There's a difference between getting behind the defense and running for 20 yards after the catch, and catching a short pass, making a tackler miss, and going for another 15 yards. Hilton is great at the first, not so good at the second.

[OffensivelyPC]

11 minutes ago, compuls1v3 said:

Hopefully all these stats are proof that we need help at WR....as posted in other topics.

I mean, I just think you need a pair of working eyes.  But it's even more obvious when the stats bear out what you see on TV lol.

[Superman]

19 minutes ago, OffensivelyPC said:

Well, I mean, we could be better at the receiver position.  But we'd probably still be low as a team.  Much of our YAC production, or lack thereof is a function of the passing scheme.  Short, rhythmic throws in traffic.  I think it also speaks to Luck's accuracy throwing to WRs with little separation.  Not really disputing what you're saying, but it's tough looking at season long stats such as these (and I know you understand this) without all the context.  

 

This is true, but my point was related to a different conversation stitches and I were having a few weeks ago about the kind of receiver the Colts really need.

[compuls1v3]

Just now, OffensivelyPC said:

I mean, I just think you need a pair of working eyes.  But it's even more obvious when the stats bear out what you see on TV lol.

 

True, but numbers on TOP of the eye test are always good to have!

[OffensivelyPC]

1 minute ago, Superman said:

 

No it isn't. 

 

There's a difference between getting behind the defense and running for 20 yards after the catch, and catching a short pass, making a tackler miss, and going for another 15 yards. Hilton is great at the first, not so good at the second.

Plus he's always adopted the Marvin patented "protect your body first after you secure the ball" and going down or out of bounds when contact is imminent.  He rarely fights for extra yards, which is generally acceptable given he does well enough at all levels of the field.  If he was dontrelle Inman and going down without a fight, he'd never gotten his second contract in Indy.

[Rackeen305]

1 hour ago, Superman said:

 

I saw this earlier and meant to post it. And even Hilton isn't that elusive with the ball in his hands. 

 

We definitely need more elusive receivers.

 

 

So you mean YAC depends on elusiveness/agility? How about speed because TY has plenty of speed.

[Superman]

12 minutes ago, Rackeen305 said:

So you mean YAC depends on elusiveness/agility? How about speed because TY has plenty of speed.

 

It's related to all three factors. I wouldn't say it depends exclusively on any of those three factors.

 

And yes, Hilton has plenty of speed, which is the primary reason he's a league leader in YAC.

[Chucklez]

3 hours ago, Superman said:

 

No it isn't. 

 

There's a difference between getting behind the defense and running for 20 yards after the catch, and catching a short pass, making a tackler miss, and going for another 15 yards. Hilton is great at the first, not so good at the second.

Nonsense, he’s caught many screen passes or slants and taken them down the field this year. You sir are misremembering.

[Superman]

4 minutes ago, Chucklez said:

Nonsense, he’s caught many screen passes or slants and taken them down the field this year. You sir are misremembering.

 

Point them out to me.

[DrLuck]

3 hours ago, Superman said:

 

No it isn't. 

 

There's a difference between getting behind the defense and running for 20 yards after the catch, and catching a short pass, making a tackler miss, and going for another 15 yards. Hilton is great at the first, not so good at the second.

 

There is a reason he is our go to for those WR screens. He's pretty elusive. It isn't in the juke people out style of a T Hill or anything, but there are different ways of gaining yards.

 

I will add that we could use more elusive receivers. 

 

6 minutes ago, Superman said:

 

Point them out to me.

How about the 50 yard screen he just had against the Titans? With a bum ankle?

[Mr.NotSoCreative]

4 hours ago, Superman said:

 

In this case, that's true, but the stat doesn't mean that on its own. Theoretically, if every pass goes into the end zone, there'd be no YAC. Or if every reception is highly contested, or another anomaly, etc. So it needs context, but in our case, we are bad at YAC.

Sure is no way to sugar coat it lol. 

[AZColt11]

I do think Cain will help next year, but how much is anybody's guess.  Hoping he is even 50% of what the other rookies in his class have turned out to be.

[Superman]

6 hours ago, DrLuck said:

 

There is a reason he is our go to for those WR screens. He's pretty elusive. It isn't in the juke people out style of a T Hill or anything, but there are different ways of gaining yards.

 

I will add that we could use more elusive receivers. 

 

How about the 50 yard screen he just had against the Titans? With a bum ankle?

 

@Chucklez said "many." That definitely means more than one, right?

 

Hilton is not typically going to catch a short pass, make a defender miss, and rip off a big gain. He's not typically going to break tackles or break a defender down in the open field. 

 

He has at times, but it's not a big part of his game. He typically gets his YAC by using his speed to run away from defenders, not by being elusive.

 

And by the way, that long play against the Titans isn't a good example of elusiveness. He used a couple blocks and got in the open field, and if he was 100% he might have scored. But he didn't have to make anyone miss, break a tackle, or anything like that.

 

Here's what I'm talking about when I mention "elusiveness":  

 

 

I don't expect Hilton to break ankles like AB, but when I say he's not elusive with the ball in his hands, this is what I'm referring to. And the Steelers have put a premium on players with this ability for a while now, which is why they have JuJu and even Switzer right behind AB; before him, they had Sanders. 

[Colts1324]

6 hours ago, Chucklez said:

Nonsense, he’s caught many screen passes or slants and taken them down the field this year. You sir are misremembering.

I think he is trying to say that we don’t really have any “make you miss” receivers on this team, including TY. You can’t argue that Hilton always runs out of bounds a few yards before he would ever face contact. It’s smart, but we do need a solid receiver or two that are elusive and willing to sacrifice their body. Hence, our YAC will increase. 

[Defjamz26]

Wonder what he’d be ranked with better receivers? There’s 3 or 4 INTs he got credited with that were people not knowing how to catch a football. Also a bunch of drops in general.

[lollygagger8]

And none of those other QB's can run like Luck either. Dude is deceptively fast. 

[Superman]

9 hours ago, Defjamz26 said:

Wonder what he’d be ranked with better receivers? There’s 3 or 4 INTs he got credited with that were people not knowing how to catch a football. Also a bunch of drops in general.

 

Those get washed with the near-miss almost interceptions, including a couple that receivers had to rake away from defenders.

 

I haven't seen a side by side of that statistic, but that would be nice. How not-at-fault picks were attributed to the QB, vs how many near-miss picks would have been on the QB. I bet there are more near-mess picks than not-at-fault picks, league wide and historically.