[lex24]

Something to keep in mind is that this exercise, because we're talking about what to expect from McKee, looked at QBs in their third year. As it happened, Elway's third year was his worst as a starter. Elway's second and fourth years would have been behind only Luck, Costello, and Hogan's third years. Elway slumped in 1981. Throwing an interception on every 28th pass does not strike me as doing a great job protecting the ball.

And Chryst's third year was better than his fourth year, so this exercise shows Elway at his worst and Chryst at his best. Notably, Chryst took much better care of the ball. Elway had a 20 to 13 touchdown to interception ratio and threw an interception on every 28th pass. Chryst had a 10 to 2 touchdown to interception ratio and threw an interception on every 68th pass. Aside from ball protection, Elway obviously did far more damage than Chryst did.

This brings up something I always notice when looking at old timer stats: I think it's pretty obvious that in yesteryear football players/coaches didn't understand the importance of possession. Jim Plunkett's career touchdown to interception ratio, for instance, was 53 to 48. He threw an interception every 21 passes. Was he just throwing the ball up there three flies up style and seeing who came down with it? These ratios would be horrendously unplayable in today's game, yet he is our only Voldemort winner ever and obviously one of our greatest players ever. Times change. This is what I was referring to with the evolution in the game over the last 50 years.

Nonetheless, I think QB rating tells us something about what these QBs were doing in terms of the combination of completion percentage, yards per attempt, overall yards, touchdowns, and interceptions. I don't see how one can look at the results and think Elway as a third year player was a better college player that one season than Costello, for instance. Again, that was a bad year for Elway and the high point for Costello. I am not saying Costello was a better college player generally. But this stat has some insight.

 I don’t think you can compare QB stats from the 80’s to today.  Different game. QBs didn’t make half their throws within about 5 yards from LOS.  

Also, don’t care how great QB is.  Supporting cast matters.  Elway’s junior year he didn’t have the receivers he did in other years.  (He also had a bad ankle much of the year)

Passing game has become increasingly horizontal.  60% was a good percentage in 80.  Not today, with so many long handoffs……

[lex24]

Something to keep in mind is that this exercise, because we're talking about what to expect from McKee, looked at QBs in their third year. As it happened, Elway's third year was his worst as a starter. Elway's second and fourth years would have been behind only Luck, Costello, and Hogan's third years. Elway slumped in 1981. Throwing an interception on every 28th pass does not strike me as doing a great job protecting the ball.

And Chryst's third year was better than his fourth year, so this exercise shows Elway at his worst and Chryst at his best. Notably, Chryst took much better care of the ball. Elway had a 20 to 13 touchdown to interception ratio and threw an interception on every 28th pass. Chryst had a 10 to 2 touchdown to interception ratio and threw an interception on every 68th pass. Aside from ball protection, Elway obviously did far more damage than Chryst did.

This brings up something I always notice when looking at old timer stats: I think it's pretty obvious that in yesteryear football players/coaches didn't understand the importance of possession. Jim Plunkett's career touchdown to interception ratio, for instance, was 53 to 48. He threw an interception every 21 passes. Was he just throwing the ball up there three flies up style and seeing who came down with it? These ratios would be horrendously unplayable in today's game, yet he is our only Voldemort winner ever and obviously one of our greatest players ever. Times change. This is what I was referring to with the evolution in the game over the last 50 years.

Nonetheless, I think QB rating tells us something about what these QBs were doing in terms of the combination of completion percentage, yards per attempt, overall yards, touchdowns, and interceptions. I don't see how one can look at the results and think Elway as a third year player was a better college player that one season than Costello, for instance. Again, that was a bad year for Elway and the high point for Costello. I am not saying Costello was a better college player generally. But this stat has some insight.

 I don’t think you can compare QB stats from the 80’s to today.  Different game. QBs didn’t make half their throws within about 5 yards from LOS.  

Also, don’t care how great QB is.  Supporting cast matters.  Elway’s junior year he didn’t have the receivers he did in other years.  (He also had a bad ankle much of the year)

Passing game has become increasingly horizontal.  60% was a good percentage in 80.  Not today, with so many long handoffs……