How do you determine passer rating

Because, it turns out, the formula mathematically whacks guys who try to throw long. Imagine two quarterbacks - Joe Montana and Broadway Joe Namath - who both drive their teams 30 yards to a touchdown in three plays.

Montana does it with three yard passes. Broadway Joe throws two incomplete passes, then on a clutch third and long he finds a receiver in the end zone - touchdown! For the exact same result, his rating is Notice also that even complete passes that lose yardage the drawback of the West Coast scheme can, in some weirdball situations, boost a quarterback's rating. There are four individual steps in making the calculation - here is the math for each step: Step 1: Start with completion percentage.

Subtract 30 and. Step 2: Yards per attempt. Subtract 3 and divide by 4. Step 3: Touchdown passes divided by pass attempts and multiply by Alternatively, divide the touchdown percentage by 5. Step 4: Start with 2.

Subtract from that the interception percentage. Note: Sum of each step cannot be greater than 2. Add the sum of , multiply by and divide by 6. The rating formula simplifies to:. Note that the weights on interception percentage and yards per attempt are greatest in magnitude, closely followed by touchdown percentage. The weight on completion percentage is a distant fourth in magnitude. To earn a 1. These numbers were the mean for the football year, when Smith devised the formula.

To earn a 2. The fact that each component is limited to a maximum of 2. But the kind of season required to get that kind of a rating is virtually impossible. The maximum a passer can receive in any category is 2. For example, to gain a 2. The NFL record is The record is To gain 2. The 2. For the last formula, take 2. Finally, take the sum of Equation 1, Equation 2, Equation 3, and Equation 4 and divide that number by 6.

Then, multiply that number times to calculate the QB's passer rating. Completion percentage in a game is the most important passer rating variable. This leads to quarterbacks who throw screens or other short passes will usually have a higher rating. It also neglects major parts of a quarterback's performance like sacks , fumbles , and running statistics. However, what passer rating does reveal is that a game where a quarterback has over yards does not mean they will have a good rating.

Completion percentage: Subtract 30 from the percentage of passes that are thrown for completions, then multiply by. Yards per attempt: Subtract yards per passing attempt by three, then multiply by. Touchdown percentage: Multiply the percentage of touchdown passes per passing attempt by. Interception percentage: Multiply the percentage of interceptions per passing attempt by. The scores for each category are added together.

That sum is divided by six and multiplied by , which converts it into a rating on a scale from zero to The same four base metrics are considered, but slot into an alternate formula. This is not a joke: Matt Schaub's career passer rating of So, there's that.