North Dakota Preps

Listening to KFAN this morning and they were discussing how much an interception impacts the stats of a QB. It plays a large part in separating QB's and the level they are looked at. They then discussed when a WR misses, deflects, or has a ball bounce off them that could have been caught and the ball is intercepted, should it go against the QB or WR? It could be taken a step further and dropped balls could also be counted against WR vs. Incomplete Pass against the QB. Thought this might be a fun one to debate.

The question: Should there be new statistical categories created for this?

They keep track of dropped balls, although I'm not sure it is an official stat. I don't think anything needs to be added or changed, and I doubt it will. Most fans realize every interception isn't the QBs fault and incomplete passes aren't always a QBs fault or even a negative play for that matter.

I will play the Devil's advocate on this one. At the end of the year, when all the hardware is being handed out and voters are determining the best QBs and the best WRs, I am guessing 90% of them have no clue how many dropped passes, or interceptions because of missed catches these individuals had. All they have to go on are the statistics. Let's say Drew Brees and Tom Brady were equal in every category (including depth in playoffs) but one had 3 more interceptions, who would you vote for? However, that same QB also had younger WR's who happened to have many more dropped passes and also had 5 passes go through their hands which resulted in interceptions, would it change your mind? Taking it a step further, they are both up for MVP of the league which of course means a lot of money for endorsements, etc. Would you still feel the same way?

If we're talking about drops, where these hurt QBs the most is commpletion percentage. Example, QB completes 55% of his passes. Considered an ok game. But, there were 6 drops. If all these balls are caught he's completing around 80% of his passes and its considered a great game.