It's a meaningless statistic as noted above. It's made to seem relevant by bad writing and bad analysis.
There is no comparable 'baseline' that can be used for all of these players. Giving Sanchez a free year in the NFL compared to other QBs isn't any more fair than it would be to judge Sanchez and others based on their first year starting. You are throwing away the "transition" period where many QBs struggle in Sanchez's case, and not doing the same for others. Granted Sanchez was more 'raw' than the others but your comparison just brings the level of bias to the opposite end of the spectrum. By his second year, Sanchez had at least seen and had a chance to acclimate to NFL game-speed and talent. He may have struggled more so than others because of his youth and inexperience, but it is not fair to 'delete' that year and THEN make a comparison.
Don't put words in my post. I am not advocating deleting anything from Sanchez's record. If anything, it is important to keep that year in there to show that he DID improve from year 1 to 2. The percentage of improvement and the initial starting point of his development are further back compared to those others due to the fact that he started at a completely different point. You guys are trying to run a NASCAR race and track the progression of the cars where the starting points are completely different for Sanchez and everyone else. When he started as a rookie he was not at a comparable point as the others. To state or claim otherwise is to dispute irrefutable facts. Sure he had a bit of an advantage adjusting to the NFL speed and talent from year 1 to 2. But he also did not have 2-3 times as many college games/reps or sitting on the bench with a full season of NFL practice/pre-season games and off-season workouts when he took the field his first year. Progression for a QB will incrementally improve from Year 1-2-3 of playing NFL games. His potential ceiling and development projection rate is different because his track record (only 16 games and coming out as a junior in college) was far different than the peer group you are comparing him to. Most importantly, I am not saying Sanchez is or will be better. What I am saying is that IF you want to most accurately project his performance in the future, sliding his YEAR 2 stats and comparing it everyone else's YEAR 1 stats will give you a more accurate projection of both his current progress and his possible future potential.
there was no evidence to those stats. they also said eli had like what? 3 tipped ints? and we know that isnt true. what does a dropped interception mean exactly? a throw that hits a dback right in the hands? or one that is somewhat defended?
This is why I hate numbers. A QBs rookie season is something that I almost ignore entirely. Its a season of growing and learning how to play in the NFL. Sanchez's stock has steadily risen from average to above average by his decision making alone. He's now established himself as a QB you don't want to play in January. If he's this good in January, I wonder what an extra game in February can do for him.
lets all get together, and bash a rookie qb, who played very well in the playoffs. then lets bash the same qb in his 2nd year, who played better, and better in the playoffs again. good idea.
Once again, a stupid stat that really means nothing. a Stat like dropped INTs is the equivalent of saying that Roy Halladay isnt a good pitcher because people ALMOST hit the ball on the final strike.
I just don't agree that sliding Sanchez's performances back a year is any more accurate than making the comparison that we started with. The truth realistically should be somewhere in between, and therefore like I said, there simply is no baseline comparison that is fair to all parties.
To the OP could you provide the 3rd year numbers to give a baseline as to what we should expect from Sanchez. (Damn I feel like I am at work.)
Here ya go, chief. The chart for adjusted interceptions is on the link provided. http://www.footballoutsiders.com/extra-points/2010/fo-mailbag-dropped-interceptions
In order to really understand Sanchez and his abilities, you have to have watched him the past two years. In 2009, 12 of his interceptions came in 3 games and the blame goes mostly to Schotty for having a young QB throw more than he should have in those games. Then take those two ridiculous picks vs the Pack last year when the ball was ripped out of Jets' receivers arms when they were on the ground. He may have led the NFL in dropped interceptions (what the heck is that stat?) but I also would bet that the Jets were at the top of the league in dropped passes last year, which would have significantly raised Sanchez' completion percentage even if the Jets were merely in the middle of the NFL for that stat. Does FO count sack escapes, because I seem to recall Sanchez avoiding a huge number of sacks last year. Roethlisberger puts up average stats year after year and has had some post season stinkers, but is put among the NFL elite QBs because of his 3 SB appearances. He is labeled a "winner." Here is the only stat that matters to me. Sanchez is 4-2 in the playoffs, with all 6 games on the road and all six games the Jets played as underdogs and most as significant underdogs. In those 6 games, Sanchez is 95 of 157 for 1265 yards, 9 TDs and 3 Ints. He beat Palmer, Rivers, Manning, and Brady. Name me another young QB that has that on his resume in the first two years of his career. This game is about winning. Sanchez has been instrumental in leading his team to wins in post season games. He has not been Trent Dilfer in the playoffs, riding the defense to wins. Case closed.
If Halladay led the league in "almost hit the ball on the final strike" and the previous guys who led the league in that all regressed, it would be pretty interesting, no? I think it's an interesting stat, but one that doesn't mean too much for Sanchez because of the aforementioned experience issue. The single best predictor for QB performance is games started in college. Sanchez is behind the curve there, so it'll take him some time to catch up.
The article is up until week 14. What happened after week 14? We never got an update on FO and I searched for one. In addition, for the rest of the season/playoffs Sanchez threw 6 TD's to 2 INT's.
Sanchez doesn't need a free year. Compare him to the two QB's who came into the league recently and started as rookies, Flacco and Ryan. This is repeated from before but: If you account for Sanchez's rushing TD's, his regular season numbers look like this: 20 tds 13 ints Then, if you add in the playoffs, just for the sake of TD vs Int Ratio, you get: 25 tds 14 int (in 17 games) Nearly a 2:1 ratio which is good. Lets compare Sanchez to Flacco and Ryan in year 2. We will include playoff games and rushing TDs. Mark Sanchez Year 2: 25 tds (3 rush) 14 int (17 games) Joe Flacco Year 2: 21 Tds 15 int (18 games) Matt Ryan Year 2: 23 TDS (1 rush) 14 ints (14 games) Sanchez's numbers were basically identical to what Flacco and Ryan did if you consider the playoffs and the fact that Sanchez had 3 rushing TDs.
So Sanchez was the leader in almost ints, as well as almost sacks, on a team that was almost champions during a season that had 3 almost losses and post season that almost wasn't. I almost care. Excited to see how Sanchez improves. Feels like he just needs to get in sync with his new receivers asap.
I'd remove Rodgers from the comparison completely, he doesn't fit at all with the comparison with any of the QBs especially Sanchez in that Rodgers had 3 full years of practice to get used to the speed of the NFL game, Sanchez in contrast barely had college experience and started as a rookie
