by Chase Stuart
on March 17, 2013
Wait, how many USC quarterbacks are starting?
There was a streak in jeopardy in week 17 of the 2012 season. With former Trojan
Carson Palmer injured, the Raiders skipped over his
former USC teammate,
Matt Leinart, and started ex-Ohio State Buckeye
Terrelle Pryor at quarterback for the season finale. Since the Chiefs had previously benched
Matt Cassel for
Brady Quinn, if it wasn’t for
Greg McElroy missing the Jets last game against the Bills — which reinserted
Mark Sanchez into the starting lineup for New York — USC’s streak of consecutive weeks with a starting quarterback in the NFL would have ended. Instead, the streak is now up to 81 weeks with at least one of Sanchez, Palmer, Cassel and/or Leinart starting.
As impressive as that might sound, it’s not even halfway to the record. You can take a second to think about which school had the longest run with at least one of its former players starting at quarterback, but first, another bit of trivia: I noticed that in week 12 of the 2009 season, Matt Leinart, Matt Cassel, Mark Sanchez, and Carson Palmer all started. But believe it or not, that’s not a record, either.
In week 13 of the 2000 season, five quarterbacks from the University of Washington — Warren Moon, Mark Brunell, Damon Huard, Chris Chandler, and Brock Huard — were starting in the NFL. Add in Washington State’s Drew Bledsoe and Ryan Leaf, and seven quarterbacks that played college in the Evergreen State were starting in the NFL that weekend.
[continue reading…]
Tagged as:
Alabama,
Bart Starr,
Carson Palmer,
Joe Namath,
Ken Stabler,
Mark Sanchez,
Matt Barkley,
Matt Cassel,
Matt Leinart,
USC
{ }
by Chase Stuart
on July 18, 2012
No, this article isn’t an article about quarterbacks squaring off against ancient Greek mathematicians. Today, we’re going to look at quarterback win-loss records and see how they compare to their Pythagorean win-loss records.
Over 30 years ago, Bill James wrote that, on average, baseball teams’ true strengths could be measured more accurately by looking at runs scored and runs allowed than by looking at wins and losses. Since then, sports statisticians have applied the same thinking to all sports. The formula to calculate a team’s Pythagorean winning percentage is always some variation of:
(Points Scored^2) / (Points Scored ^2 + Points Allowed^2)
With the exponent changing from 2 to whatever number best fits the data for the particular sport. In football, that number is 2.53. We can look, for example, at the Pythagorean records for each team in the league last season, and line it up against their actual record:
| Year | Tm | Record | Win% | PF | PA | Pyth Wins | Diff |
| 2011 | KAN | 7-9 | 0.438 | 212 | 338 | 3.76 | 3.24 |
| 2011 | GNB | 15-1 | 0.938 | 560 | 359 | 12.08 | 2.92 |
| 2011 | DEN | 8-8 | 0.500 | 309 | 390 | 5.71 | 2.29 |
| 2011 | OAK | 8-8 | 0.500 | 359 | 433 | 6.14 | 1.86 |
| 2011 | NWE | 13-3 | 0.813 | 513 | 342 | 11.78 | 1.22 |
| 2011 | NYG | 9-7 | 0.563 | 394 | 400 | 7.85 | 1.15 |
| 2011 | ARI | 8-8 | 0.500 | 312 | 348 | 6.9 | 1.1 |
| 2011 | TAM | 4-12 | 0.250 | 287 | 494 | 3.23 | 0.77 |
| 2011 | TEN | 9-7 | 0.563 | 325 | 317 | 8.25 | 0.75 |
| 2011 | NOR | 13-3 | 0.813 | 547 | 339 | 12.33 | 0.67 |
| 2011 | BAL | 12-4 | 0.750 | 378 | 266 | 11.34 | 0.66 |
| 2011 | ATL | 10-6 | 0.625 | 402 | 350 | 9.39 | 0.61 |
| 2011 | SFO | 13-3 | 0.813 | 380 | 229 | 12.52 | 0.48 |
| 2011 | CIN | 9-7 | 0.563 | 344 | 323 | 8.64 | 0.36 |
| 2011 | PIT | 12-4 | 0.750 | 325 | 227 | 11.4 | 0.6 |
| 2011 | MIA | 6-10 | 0.375 | 329 | 313 | 8.5 | -2.5 |
| 2011 | MIN | 3-13 | 0.188 | 340 | 449 | 5.3 | -2.3 |
| 2011 | PHI | 8-8 | 0.500 | 396 | 328 | 9.87 | -1.87 |
| 2011 | CAR | 6-10 | 0.375 | 406 | 429 | 7.44 | -1.44 |
| 2011 | SEA | 7-9 | 0.438 | 321 | 315 | 8.19 | -1.19 |
| 2011 | IND | 2-14 | 0.125 | 243 | 430 | 3.05 | -1.05 |
| 2011 | HOU | 10-6 | 0.625 | 381 | 278 | 11.03 | -1.03 |
| 2011 | SDG | 8-8 | 0.500 | 406 | 377 | 8.75 | -0.75 |
| 2011 | CLE | 4-12 | 0.250 | 218 | 307 | 4.74 | -0.74 |
| 2011 | WAS | 5-11 | 0.313 | 288 | 367 | 5.62 | -0.62 |
| 2011 | DAL | 8-8 | 0.500 | 369 | 347 | 8.62 | -0.62 |
| 2011 | BUF | 6-10 | 0.375 | 372 | 434 | 6.46 | -0.46 |
| 2011 | NYJ | 8-8 | 0.500 | 377 | 363 | 8.38 | -0.38 |
| 2011 | CHI | 8-8 | 0.500 | 353 | 341 | 8.35 | -0.35 |
| 2011 | STL | 2-14 | 0.125 | 193 | 407 | 2.1 | -0.1 |
| 2011 | JAX | 5-11 | 0.313 | 243 | 329 | 5.08 | -0.08 |
| 2011 | DET | 10-6 | 0.625 | 474 | 387 | 10.01 | -0.01 |
[continue reading…]
Tagged as:
Bart Starr,
Dan Marino,
Eli Manning,
Jake Plummer,
Peyton Manning,
Pythagorean,
Steve Young,
Terry Bradshaw,
Tom Brady,
Troy Aikman
{ }
