Being a “high percentage” passer doesn’t have the impact it used to. A lot of teams now have a variety of short routes and swing passes that are basically extended handoffs. The quarterback may be completing a pass…but he’s competing a pass for a handful of yards that could just as easily have come on the ground from a running back.

Here are a few examples from last Sunday that drive home the point:

*In the NY Jets/Buffalo game, Chad Pennington was a very sharp 32-39 in the air, while rookie Trent Edwards was 22-28, earning plaudits for excellence under fire. Those numbers sound great. But, we’re talking about a game that was scoreless at the half, and ended 17-14. Neither offense gained more than 350 yards. It wasn’t a high scoring shootout. It was a conservative game with both QB’s throwing a lot of extended handoffs.

*Jon Kitna of Detroit was 20-24 passing against Chicago. That’s as sharp as it gets. Yet, the Lions gained only 310 yards on the day offensively. They were just two of ten on third down conversions. The fact that they cashed in some cheap points from Bears turnovers helped create the illusion of a big offensive day led by a hot quarterback. Sharp offenses convert better than 20% of their third down tries, and they put more than 310 yards on the board.

*Joey Harrington of Atlanta was 23-29 in the air against Houston. He got credit on the studio shows for leading the Falcons to victory. But, the offense only gained 304 yards on the day, and saw five different drives stall with field goal attempts. Hey, a win is better than a loss. But, it wasn’t exactly the coming out party for Harrington that the media would have you believe.

Don’t handicap based on highlight shows and fantasy stats!

Be very careful evaluating NFL quarterbacks in light of these new aerial approaches. Completion percentage doesn’t mean what it used to with certain quarterbacks. In fact, some teams are hiding weaknesses by NOT throwing downfield. The truly dangerous offenses are those with lesser percentages but more high impact yardage.

Evaluate quarterbacks with these key stats: passer rating, TD/INT ratio, yards per attempt, yards per completion, third down conversion percentage, team total points, team total yardage. The cream will rise and the rocks will sink.

You wouldn’t credit quarterbacks from past eras for successfully completing handoffs. Don’t go overboard with current signal callers who are just completing extended handoffs while not doing much to light up the scoreboard.

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