Tim Tebow: What Can the Denver Bronco Tell Us About NFL QB Stats?

 One of the troubles football has opposed to say baseball or basketball is that statistics aren’t always self-evident.

It’s one thing to know what C.C. Sabathia’s ERA is or to know what Dwayne Wade’s scoring average is.

Those numbers are a snapshot and tell you in an instant what those players have done for their teams.

With the NFL, that’s less true. And nowhere is that more true than in the stat known as quarterback rating.

Quarterbacks have to throw completions, generate yardage, produce touchdowns, dodge sacks, avoid interceptions and accumulate wins. There’s no one number that really sums that production all up.

And yes, we’re including the vaunted "QB rating’’ statistic that football pundits drop when talking about the elite of the position. It’s so problematic that the QB rating used by the NCAA is calculated differently.

We’ll make our case about the flaws of quarterback rating by talking about Tim Tebow of the Broncos. He needed more than a month to get his first start, and the numbers he’s put up haven’t written the record books.

He came into Sunday ranked 36^th among all quarterbacks, although much of that has to do with the fact that he’d only started four games. (And it must be pointed out that quarterback ranking and quarterback rating are two different things).

Tebow’s completion percentage was terrible (46.4) and actually went down (to 44.3) when he completed just two passes in nine tries against the Chiefs Sunday in a 17-10 win.

Those are, quite frankly, brutal numbers. But his quarterback rating in Sunday’s game was 102.6, in large part because he didn’t throw any interceptions and one of the two completions went for a touchdown, and those are stats the rating system values.

His QB rating coming into the game was 89.3, which would have been 13^th in the league if he’d had enough game action to qualify in the ratings.

The thing is, Tebow is 3-1 in his four starts for the Broncos. And there is nothing that quarterbacks are judged on more than wins and losses.

Cam Newton of the Carolina Panthers came into Sunday with more or less the same QB rating (87.1) and after a blowout 30-3 loss at home against Tennessee, he and the Panthers have two wins (and seven losses).

It’s clear that quarterback rating doesn’t accurately rate the stat that is most tied to quarterbacks—winning.

The NFL is fond of tinkering with the game from one season to the next. Maybe it’s time to rework the QB rating system.