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Yesterday, howtheyscored had an excellent post up that calculated some projections for potential QBs this coming season. If you haven't already read it, head on over right now and give it a meticulous look. It's the exact type of analysis I wish I could do with advanced statistics. Unfortunately I lack the skill, so howtheyscored can have the limelight for now. But if you ever need jokes that aren't funny or so many Magic: The Gathering references that even Francis would tell me to tone it down, then I'm your man! Anyway, I digress. The post is good and you should go check it out.
But, it does raise a lot of interesting points, one of which I wish to highlight here for discussion. Howtheyscored mixed in quite a few different stats, from the traditional passing yards to the sublime, and personal favorite of mine, ANY/A. This is great. These are smart choices, especially when comparing different types of QBs across the league. We need common ways of discussing every QB. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to have really important conversations about where in the list of QBs we place Alex Smith relative to Joe Flacco.
But, I find it interesting that certain QBs might be pushing the statistics barrier. Guys like Colin Kaepernick and Russell Wilson can do a lot of damage with their feet. Some guys even do more damage with their feet than we realize. And shouldn't that factor into the evaluation of a QB? I think Kaepernick is one of the best pure passers in the game -- or at the very least he has shown the capability and the potential to be. But, his game against Green Bay was so amazing precisely because he combined great passing with transcendent rushing. Eventually, we are going to have to start talking about that when we look at QB stats.