Top 5 Garbage Statistics in the NFL

[BullBuchanan]

Passing yardage when assessing QBs is almost meaningless. If a QB routinely gets under 200 yards a game, he's probably a big part of the problem, but It's definitely more of an offense stats than a QB stat.

Points scored and points allowed is pretty useless too.

[Buffalo ill]

Apparently all time sack and rushing doesn't matter either, since the leaders of each category are largely disrespected. 

[MJS]

22 minutes ago, DrBob806 said:

The NFL defensive rankings are kind of silly to me. It's based off of yards surrendered.

 

I think it should be points allowed. 

There is usually a correlation between the two, but I'd say it is pretty common to refer to both when discussing the success of a defense. Those are the two most common, and then people often discuss turnovers, sacks, red zone percentages, etc. They all tell a piece of the story.

[Gugny]

1 hour ago, mrags said:

I think the biggest overrated stat of all is how many M&Ms @Gugnycan fit into his mouth. Last year at one of the tailgates he tried to impress me, or hit on me I’m not sure. He was able to fit  94 peanut M&Ms into his mouth. 

 

94!?!?

 

You missed a “1” … and not at the beginning. 
 

Funny how they all have your initials on them. 
 

😘

[mrags]

7 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

94!?!?

 

You missed a “1” … and not at the beginning. 
 

Funny how they all have your initials on them. 
 

😘

Oh… I didn’t think it was funny. I also didn’t think it was a coincidence. 

[PetermansRedemption]

QB’s shouldn’t be awarded an INT if they make a good pass that gets dropped or tipped by the intended receiver and is then intercepted. 

[Mr. WEO]

when you are losing in the 4th Q and win the game in. regulation, they call it a 4th Q comeback....because that's what it is.

 

 

[Chaos]

7 hours ago, Limeaid said:

https://thehellgoingon.blog/top-5-garbage-statistics-in-the-nfl/

5. QB wins and QB Super Bowl wins

• This is one of those statistics that needs a major sample size to be meaningful, and even then it’s dubious. Are Tom Brady’s 7 Super Bowl rings indicative of his career greatness? Absolutely. At some point, you just can’t ignore it. But would he be any less great if Adam Vinatieri had missed the game-winning field goals in Brady’s first 2 wins, or if the Eagles got the onside kick and went down and scored in Brady’s 3rd win? Brady was watching powerless from the sidelines when those things happened, and they could’ve easily gone differently.  (And do not forget the games won due to cheating and 'just give it to them'.)

4. Tackles

• Second on both the solo and combined all-time lists is London Fletcher, who was impressive for 16 years, but not good enough for the Hall of Fame (yet). In fact, only 5 of the top 20 in all-time combined tackles is in the Hall (could reach 7 with Bobby Wagner and Lavonte David still active).

3. Turnover Ratio

• Turnovers are game-changing plays that, more often than not, come down to luck. In fact, a Harvard study on NFL turnover margin found that turnovers as a whole are roughly 55% luck (tipped pass, fumble bounce, etc.) and 45% talent (cautious QB, strip sack, etc.). Any stat you that can be drastically altered by unlucky bounces shouldn’t be relied on to suggest a team is somehow better or worse at creating and preventing turnovers.

2. 4th quarter comebacks

• I can’t even fully get into how much I can’t stand how this stat is recorded. You can literally take the lead halfway through the 4th quarter and flub the rest of the game, but if your defense holds the other team’s offense, you notch a 4th Quarter Comeback. Or you can lead a game-winning drive and leave 13 seconds left on the clock and watch your defense let the other team drive down and get a field goal. In 13 seconds.

1. Practice interceptions (and touchdowns)

• What we’ve reached is what I call a Clickbait Loop. Some hypothetical reporter somewhere counted how many interceptions a QB threw during practice and wrote a throwaway article about it, knowing it was meaningless. That article got picked up by fans desperately hoping said QB will fail in the upcoming season, so they blew it up like it was a super big deal. The reporter knows it’s a garbage statistic and the fans know it’s a garbage statistic, but they can’t stop feeding each other. Eventually, fans start thinking it actually is a big deal because all these other people are talking about it, and any blogger like me sees a keyword term like practice interceptions as an uncommon topic where we can rank higher. Sheer volume of content eventually convinces everyone that something is important.

 

 

 

 

 

All of these are useful, to people who understand how to interpret them. 

[Nephilim17]

Does Time To Throw for a QB allow all plays or only the ones when he's within the tackle box? I was always wary if it included scramble plays and if so, that's more of an indictment of the O-line than praise even though the time to throw is longer.

 

If interceptions are 55% luck and that's too much to allow for turnover ratio, by extension, interceptions largely don't matter as well (forget about the TDs and ratio part). 

 

But I don't entirely buy that. Good QBs historically throw fewer INTs than not so good QBs. Is it the be-all-end-all? No, but it matters in context.

Edited September 7, 2023 by Nephilim17

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

7 hours ago, Limeaid said:

https://thehellgoingon.blog/top-5-garbage-statistics-in-the-nfl/

5. QB wins and QB Super Bowl wins

• This is one of those statistics that needs a major sample size to be meaningful, and even then it’s dubious. Are Tom Brady’s 7 Super Bowl rings indicative of his career greatness? Absolutely. At some point, you just can’t ignore it. But would he be any less great if Adam Vinatieri had missed the game-winning field goals in Brady’s first 2 wins, or if the Eagles got the onside kick and went down and scored in Brady’s 3rd win? Brady was watching powerless from the sidelines when those things happened, and they could’ve easily gone differently.  (And do not forget the games won due to cheating and 'just give it to them'.)

4. Tackles

• Second on both the solo and combined all-time lists is London Fletcher, who was impressive for 16 years, but not good enough for the Hall of Fame (yet). In fact, only 5 of the top 20 in all-time combined tackles is in the Hall (could reach 7 with Bobby Wagner and Lavonte David still active).

3. Turnover Ratio

• Turnovers are game-changing plays that, more often than not, come down to luck. In fact, a Harvard study on NFL turnover margin found that turnovers as a whole are roughly 55% luck (tipped pass, fumble bounce, etc.) and 45% talent (cautious QB, strip sack, etc.). Any stat you that can be drastically altered by unlucky bounces shouldn’t be relied on to suggest a team is somehow better or worse at creating and preventing turnovers.

2. 4th quarter comebacks

• I can’t even fully get into how much I can’t stand how this stat is recorded. You can literally take the lead halfway through the 4th quarter and flub the rest of the game, but if your defense holds the other team’s offense, you notch a 4th Quarter Comeback. Or you can lead a game-winning drive and leave 13 seconds left on the clock and watch your defense let the other team drive down and get a field goal. In 13 seconds.

1. Practice interceptions (and touchdowns)

• What we’ve reached is what I call a Clickbait Loop. Some hypothetical reporter somewhere counted how many interceptions a QB threw during practice and wrote a throwaway article about it, knowing it was meaningless. That article got picked up by fans desperately hoping said QB will fail in the upcoming season, so they blew it up like it was a super big deal. The reporter knows it’s a garbage statistic and the fans know it’s a garbage statistic, but they can’t stop feeding each other. Eventually, fans start thinking it actually is a big deal because all these other people are talking about it, and any blogger like me sees a keyword term like practice interceptions as an uncommon topic where we can rank higher. Sheer volume of content eventually convinces everyone that something is important.

 

 

 

 

 

On SB wins…Football is a TEAM game in the end. I wish the other great players on the Patriots would get a little more respect. Brady was a huge percentage of it, but the Pats had some dominant players on defense especially during those first 3 rings. 

Wilfork, Harrison, Bruschi, Richard Seymour, Willie McGinest, Asante Samuel, Ty Law, Vrabel, Lawyer Milloy, (those are just off the top.) And a brilliant defensive mind to put it altogether. 

[ColoradoBills]

Wins and losses are the only stat that matters.

 

If I had to choose the next it's Points For and Points Against.

[HiMark]

First quarter and/or third quarter stats.

They are almost always tilted toward one team, if that team got the ball first, scored, and got the ball back.  those quarters are often two possessions to one, and the discrete confines of the 15 minute period is utterly arbitrary, since the half continues with another 15 minute period.