Why do I bother myself with ESPN's made up QBR "stat"? Colin Kaepernick was awful last night

[callahan09]

This is really looking at Colin Kaepernick's performance last night as a way of making a point about the ESPN stat they've been touting for a couple of seasons now.

 

Last night, Kaepernick was 13/28 for 127 yards, no touchdowns and 3 INTs.  He was also sacked 3 times for a loss of 20 yards and he lost 1 fumble.  He tacked on 9 rush for 87 yards.

 

Now, I was watching this game intently, and Kaepernick was at fault for a lot of what was going on there.  His offensive line held pretty firm, he had quite a bit of time in the pocket for the most part.  Some of his sacks, and certainly the one that included his fumble, were just an example of terrible pocket presence and an uncharacteristically bad example of footwork and mobility.

 

Two of his three interceptions were very poor throws and bad decisions (one of them was just a pretty excellent play by Sherman).

 

He couldn't get anything going for his offense all game, but his defense kept the team in it until the 4th quarter.

 

Except that in the 4th quarter, Kaepernick threw two crucial interceptions that led to points for the Seahawks and essentially lost the game for the 49ers.  He also held onto the ball too long in the end zone at one point leading to a holding penalty for a Safety, and he got his team into a crucial 4th and long situation in the 4th quarter that he failed to convert.

 

It was just an all-around abysmal game.  He had a couple of bright spots in the form of a couple of scrambles, but one of his best statistical plays of the game was a 14 yard scramble when they needed 17 yards to get a first down... so that's actually not a good play at all.

 

He just looked hesitant out there, he was making bad decisions, holding onto the ball too long, poor pocket awareness, poor accuracy, and he was the #1 factor in the 49ers losing that football game with simply atrocious and un-clutch play in the 4th quarter.

 

You would think with all of this that his game would get one of the lowest scores of all time from ESPN's stat tracker, which supposedly places extra importance on "clutch situations" (in which Kaepernick failed miserably) and tries to even out the blame for bad plays to teammates who might have also been responsible (of which there were really no examples in this game... it was a poor showing for Kaepernick, not really at the fault of his teammates).

 

But they gave him a 14.0, which really doesn't compare to the awful scores they have given to many similar or probably not even as bad performances.

 

For instance, ESPN has Flacco's paltry 8-attempt, 2 drive performance in part of the first quarter at the Bengals last year as a 7.7.  Really?  They're going to tell me that Flacco's mistake-free but unremarkable couple of pass attempts in the beginning of that meaningless game represent a worse performance than the absolute garbage-fest that Kaepernick laid out on the field last night?

 

As another comparison, ESPN gave Chad Henne a 1.6 last year for a game against the Raiders where he came in as the backup when Gabbert got injured, and he threw 9/20 for 71 yards.  No turnovers.  He didn't do enough to win the game, but he didn't turn the ball over in the 4th quarter leading directly to the points that made the game a loss the way Kaepernick did.  I can really think of plenty of games that don't deserve to be rated lower than Kaepernick from last night.  It was honestly one of the worst performances I have ever seen.

 

This is why I can't take it seriously.  They gave Flacco a 0.3 for that game in Houston last year, when his offensive line was the very definition of the word 'sieve' and he had no time to set his feet or make a decent throw.  He had JJ Watt in his face about a quarter of a second after the snap throughout most of the game.  He made the only decisions he could make, and didn't really have any choices on the bad plays that happened.  I remember watching that game and distinctly thinking that no quarterback could have possibly succeeded on that day, with that O Line, and those receivers being completely blanketed as they were by that defense.  It was impossible.  I thought that QBR was supposed to account for the things that a QB can't control and don't deserve the blame for?  Because based on giving Flacco the lowest rating of all time in that game, it's almost like they are doing the opposite... they are *blaming* him for the failed responsibilities of his teammates: to protect him and get open.

 

End of rant.

[Moderator 3]

Let this be a lesson to you. Ignore ESPN's QBR like most of us do. It's pure crap.

[berad]

Callahan, what you do puts espns qbr to shame.

Espn tells you what they want you to know. Or, more accurately, what they want to market.

[AsianRice]

lol, I have all the good of ESPN channels and none of them I watch.... It's sort of a waste but they came in the package; what can I say.....

 

 

Going to ESPN like going to a car dealer........

[Stephenjr]

Wish our secondary could be as dominate as Seattle's!! They are fun to watch!! With our D-line fixed,Secondary is still a work in progress.I do truly believe that The Seahawks will represent the NFC in the Super Bowl.

[beanfigger]

Kaepernick only got a 14! Oh, no, now ESPN has to create a new stat that "truly" measures his impact. He will have a floor score of 63 in this new stat, while the other, less glorious QBs will have a floor of -4. That will be the true measure of greatness.

[NaveSenrag]

I can't think of anyone who, having looked at both QBR and passer rating, thinks QBR is superior.

[beanfigger]

I can't think of anyone who, having looked at both QBR and passer rating, thinks QBR is superior.

 

Only ESPN employees.

[NaveSenrag]

Only ESPN employees.

Yeah, but most of them don't have a choice. With the exception of Skip Bayless and Trent Dilfer, I don't think any of them genuinely like QBR.

[T3hRaven]

I hope this isn't a new revelation to people. I've been saying ESPN's QBR is nonsense for quite some time. It artificially inflates the contributions of running QBs because that is what the network loves. I think it was designed to make that Tebow nonsense seem like something more than sheer dumb luck.