Era-Adjusted TD/INT Ratios: Worst Seasons And Career List

by Chase Stuart on August 16, 2016

in Statistics

Yesterday, I looked at the best seasons in TD/INT Ratios after adjusting for era. Today? The worst, using the same formula.

Only one quarterback has ever qualified for the league passing crown but also failed to throw a touchdown: Bobby Hoying in 1998. That season is the only thing keeping rookie Ryan Leaf from the bottom of this table.

Here’s how to read it, using Leaf as an example. Leaf threw 2 TDs and 15 INTs in 1998, a 0.13 TD/INT Ratio on 245 passes. Leaf averaged 0.82 TD passes per 100 attempts – a laughably low number that is one of just four below 1.00 seasons — when the league average was 4.23. As a result, meaning he was at just 19% of league average. He threw 6.12 interceptions per 100 attempts, when the league average was 3.27, so he was at just 53% of league average. Multiply those two numbers (19%, 53%) and Leaf has a value of just 0.10, second worst in NFL history. That said, Hoying was so bad he would have needed two touchdown throws to move out of the cellar:

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Rk	QB	Team	Year	TD	INT	TD/INT	Att	TD/A	LgAvg	TD+	INT/A	LgAvg	INT+	VALUE
1	Bobby Hoying	PHI	1998	0	9	0.00	224	0.00	4.23	0%	4.02	3.27	81%	0.00
2	Ryan Leaf	SDG	1998	2	15	0.13	245	0.82	4.23	19%	6.12	3.27	53%	0.10
3	Jim Ninowski	DET	1960	2	18	0.11	283	0.71	5.34	13%	6.36	7.13	112%	0.15
4	Trent Dilfer	TAM	1995	4	18	0.22	415	0.96	4.12	23%	4.34	2.81	65%	0.15
5	Andrew Walter	OAK	2006	3	13	0.23	276	1.09	3.89	28%	4.71	3.05	65%	0.18
6	JaMarcus Russell	OAK	2009	3	11	0.27	246	1.22	4.23	29%	4.47	3.08	69%	0.20
7	Joe Kapp	BOS	1970	3	17	0.18	219	1.37	4.34	32%	7.76	5.02	65%	0.20
8	Jimmy Clausen	CAR	2010	3	9	0.33	299	1.00	4.47	22%	3.01	2.78	92%	0.21
9	Frank Tripucka	2TM	1952	3	17	0.18	186	1.61	5.51	29%	9.14	7.01	77%	0.22
10	Dan Darragh	BUF	1968	3	14	0.21	215	1.40	5.08	27%	6.51	5.61	86%	0.24
11	Mike Phipps	CLE	1975	4	19	0.21	313	1.28	4.38	29%	6.07	5.02	83%	0.24
12	Jack Jacobs	GNB	1948	5	21	0.24	184	2.72	6.66	41%	11.41	6.93	61%	0.25
13	Mark Malone	PIT	1987	6	19	0.32	336	1.79	4.62	39%	5.65	3.69	65%	0.25
14	Dan Pastorini	HOU	1973	5	17	0.29	290	1.72	5.06	34%	5.86	4.48	76%	0.26
15	Peyton Manning	DEN	2015	9	17	0.53	331	2.72	4.59	59%	5.14	2.32	45%	0.27
16	Dick Wood	MIA	1966	4	14	0.29	230	1.74	5.41	32%	6.09	5.09	84%	0.27
17	Bud Schwenk	CRD	1942	6	27	0.22	295	2.03	5.51	37%	9.15	6.79	74%	0.27
18	Randy Wright	GNB	1988	4	13	0.31	244	1.64	4.05	40%	5.33	3.63	68%	0.28
19	George Herring	DEN	1961	5	22	0.23	211	2.37	5.12	46%	10.43	6.27	60%	0.28
20	Joe Namath	NYJ	1976	4	16	0.25	230	1.74	4.24	41%	6.96	4.73	68%	0.28

Showing 1 to 20 of 300 entries

Finally, we can also create a career list, although I’d be a little careful about this. For starters, this only includes qualifying seasons, so we are not looking at full career totals. And players who are still in their prime get a boost, as we are not yet including their down seasons. And this method (rather than a 100-95-90 method) gives no extra credit to top seasons, the way we typically do when we think about quarterbacks.

That said, here’s the list of the 150 quarterbacks with the most attempts. Note that this is attempt-weighted:

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Quarterback	Att	TD%	INT%	TD/INT
Brett Favre	10165	123%	104%	134
Peyton Manning	9380	136%	122%	173
Dan Marino	8208	122%	121%	147
Drew Brees	8058	124%	116%	147
Tom Brady	7778	129%	165%	222
John Elway	7250	102%	118%	122
Warren Moon	6786	105%	105%	113
Drew Bledsoe	6482	93%	106%	97
Fran Tarkenton	6467	109%	136%	149
Eli Manning	6030	111%	93%	105
Vinny Testaverde	5959	104%	89%	99
Kerry Collins	5775	84%	106%	89
Ben Roethlisberger	5423	117%	116%	136
Joe Montana	5347	119%	151%	179
Carson Palmer	5314	112%	100%	115
Philip Rivers	5309	123%	114%	141
Dan Fouts	5106	111%	106%	119
Donovan McNabb	5002	107%	145%	159
Boomer Esiason	4917	116%	103%	123
Matt Hasselbeck	4815	97%	110%	109

Showing 1 to 20 of 149 entries

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