Passer rating is a measure of the performance of quarterbacks or any other passers in American football and Canadian football. There are at least two formulae currently in use: one officially used by the National Football League and the Canadian Football League, and one used in college football. Navy quarterback Aaron Polanco sets up to throw. ... United States simply as football, is a competitive team sport that is both fast-paced and strategic. ... Diagram of a Canadian football field. ... NFL redirects here. ... “CFL” redirects here. ... A college football game between Colorado State and Air Force. ...

Passer rating is calculated using each quarterback's completion percentage, passing yardage, touchdowns and interceptions . The NFL's current "passer rating" or "quarterback rating" system (the former term being the official one) was conceived by Pro Football Hall of Fame's retired vice president Don Smith in 1973; it was then applied retroactively to all previous seasons. The system is of a sliding scale design, where outstanding performances meet diminishing returns faster than sub-par ones. The best passer rating that a quarterback can obtain is 158.3 (technically 158¹⁄₃), while the worst is zero. The architects of the passer rating had 66²⁄₃ in mind as the "average" score, but as styles of play have changed, so have average passer ratings. The cumulative league-wide average passer rating for the years 2000 through 2003 , all inclusive, was 78.9 (the figure is typically rounded to the nearest 1/10 of a point); however in 2004 the league average was 82.8, the highest ever recorded. For a landing Touchdown in aviation, see Touchdown (aviation) For the song by T.I. featuring Eminem, see Touchdown (song). ... In Canadian or American football, an interception occurs when a quarterbacks pass is caught by a player on the opposing team. ... The Pro Football Hall of Fame is the hall of fame of the National Football League (NFL). ... For the song by James Blunt, see 1973 (song). ... Sliding scale fees are variable costs for services or products based on the buyers ability to pay, and the providers ability to make a variable profit or have the cost subsidized by other means. ... In economics, diminishing returns is the short form of diminishing marginal returns. ...

Passer rating, known formally in college football as passing efficiency or pass efficiency, is based on player performances between 1965 and 1979. A college football game between Colorado State and Air Force. ... Passing efficiency, also known as pass efficiency, is an abstract number, derived from several statistics, intended as a measurement of the effectiveness of a quarterback passing the ball in NCAA or NFL football. ...

Calculation

NFL and CFL

Passer rating is determined by four statistical components, each of which is computed as a number between zero and 2.375. The benchmarks for these statistics are based on historical averages. If any of the components are less than zero, they are reckoned as zero; if any are over 2.375, they are reckoned as 2.375.

• The component for completion percentage, C, is calculated as:

• The component for yards per attempt, Y, is calculated as:

• The component for touchdowns per attempt, T, is calculated as:

• The component for interceptions per attempt, I, is calculated as:

The four components are then added, divided by 6, and multiplied by 100. Thus, the formula for passer rating can be given as:

.

The CFL appears to use the same formula as the NFL.^{[citation needed]} “CFL” redirects here. ...

Perfect rating

Since each component of passer rating can be at most 2.375, the maximum passer rating is

.

A perfect passer rating therefore comprises:

• a completion percentage of at least 77.5%:

• at least 12.5 yards per attempt:

• at least .11875 touchdowns per attempt, or at most 8.42 attempts per touchdown: and

• zero interceptions:

Criticisms

Passer rating has many critics, who have objected to it on several different grounds.

The most frequently-voiced objection is that plays on which the quarterback is sacked do not count toward compiling the rating, thereby giving a quarterback, who is about to be sacked, an incentive to deliberately take the sack rather than throw the ball away and have an incomplete pass lower his completion percentage, touchdown passes-per-attempt ratio and his yards-per-attempt ratio. However, many defenders have pointed out that no professional quarterback would intentionally take a sack to the detriment of his team in order to preserve a passer rating, not to mention that sacks often have more to do with the offensive line than the quarterback.

Another criticism is the fact that rushing yards gained by a quarterback do not result in his getting a higher rating — a particularly important contemporary issue due to the recent emergence of many excellent running quarterbacks in the NFL, most notably Randall Cunningham, Steve Young, Donovan McNabb, John Elway, Michael Vick, and Vince Young, and players like Damon Allen and Kerry Joseph in the CFL. On the other hand, Vick holds the NCAA freshman record for passing efficiency and Steve Young is the former NFL record holder for passer rating in a season. However, "It is important to remember that the system is used to rate passers, not quarterbacks. Statistics do not reflect leadership, play-calling, and other intangible factors that go into making a successful professional quarterback." [1] NFL logo For other uses of the abbreviation NFL, see NFL (disambiguation). ... For former United States Representative Randall Duke Cunningham, see Duke Cunningham. ... Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA), is a former quarterback for the National Football Leagues San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Los Angeles Express of the short-lived United States Football League. ... Donovan McNabb (born November 25, 1976 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American football quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League. ... John Albert Elway, Jr. ... Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980 in Newport News, Virginia) is an American football quarterback for the National Football Leagues Atlanta Falcons franchise. ... Vincent Paul Young, Jr. ... For the figure skater, see Damon Allen (figure skater). ... Kerry Joseph (born October 4, 1973 in New Iberia, Louisiana) is a quarterback playing for the Saskatchewan Roughriders of the Canadian Football League. ... CFL is an acronym for: Canadian Football League Compact fluorescent light bulb Continental Football League Courant, Fredericks and Lewy This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ...

Some observers have proposed replacing yards per attempt with yards per play as one of the rating's components, counting both sacks and rushing attempts (in addition to passes actually thrown) as plays, thereby resolving both of the above issues.

A third complaint concerns the placing of artificial limits (both upper and lower) on the points that can be earned in the various categories. Critics claim, for example, that it is unfair not to give a quarterback a higher rating for completing 90% of his passes than for completing 77.5%, or for averaging, say, 15 yards per attempt as opposed to only 12.5, although this is likely to affect only the rating for a single game and not for an entire season. As well as encountering problems when approaching the arbitrary limits for performance, the system is biased inasmuch as some of the "benchmarks" are more achievable than others: A 2.00-worthy performance in Completion % is far easier to obtain than a 2.00 in the Touchdown % category. In fact, until recent years, the league norms in each non-Completion % category were below the formula's expected "average" figures.

Yet another criticism is that the formula overemphasizes Completion Percentage. While Completion % in and of itself makes up 25% of the rating's calculation, the use of Yards per Attempt rather than Yards per Completion adds to the weight of Completion %, since incomplete passes are penalized under yds/attempt. Thus, many critics feel that the Passer Rating formula automatically is skewed in favor of quarterbacks who play in a West Coast scheme that favors many high-percentage (but low-yardage) pass plays, e.g. Steve Young, who held the single-season record until 2004. In American football, West Coast Offense (WCO) is one of two similar but distinct offensive-strategic-systems of play: (A) the Air Coryell system; or (B) more commonly the pass play system popularized by Bill Walsh. ... Year 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Evidence for the possible overemphasis on completion percentage may be seen in the following simple example in which each quarterback has three passing plays. The first two quarterbacks completed fewer passes but got a first down for their teams while the third quarterback is rated the highest, despite only gaining five yards, due to a high completion percentage:

A counterargument to the example above is that the formula should not be applied to a sample as small as 3 passes. The minimums and maximums for each of the four passing categories attempt to modify the formula to apply to small samples. But the actual merits of the formula are best examined when the samples become large enough for the minimums and maximums to become unnecessary in calculation.

The simplest complaint may be that the weighting of each category is, on the whole, arbitrary. There is no evidence to suggest that Completion %, Yards/Attempt, Touchdown %, and Interception % are of equal value (25% each) in terms of an offense's efficiency (or if those stats, in that combination, have any correlation to scoring, or winning, at all).

The system also does not account for changing offensive conditions in the NFL over time; for example, when the formula was devised, a score of 66.7 was supposed to represent an average quarterback (50% completions, 7 yard average gain, 5.5% interceptions, 5% touchdowns), while a rating of 100 would be considered exceptional. And in 1970, the average passer scored a 65.6, a figure almost perfectly in line with the rating-creators' vision. But in 1980 , the average was 73.7; in 1992, the average quarterback had a rating of 75.3; and in 2004, a record-setting year for passers, the league's mean passer rating was 82.8. The great Johnny Unitas finished his hall of fame career with only a 78.2 rating, having played in an era when interceptions were more common than touchdown passes.

The system also counts all interceptions equally regardless of the circumstances. Not all interceptions are the fault of the quarterback as a result of a bad decision or pass. Some of the interceptions were caused by factors beyond the quarterback's control such as dropped or tipped passes by the receivers that end up being caught by a defensive player. [2]

At least part of the reason for the increase in passer ratings is that the NFL has consistently made rule changes favoring the offense. Thus, scores must be interpreted with care when doing cross-era analysis.

No matter what system is used, a large part of a quarterback's success is related to the talent around him. A poorly thrown pass can be overcome with a great catch, and the perfect pass can be dropped. The offensive line also has quite a lot to do with the quarterback's success.

Leaders

Steve Young currently holds the NFL record for the highest career passer rating with a mark of 96.8. The highest passer rating for a complete season is 121.1 set by Peyton Manning in 2004. Also in 2004, rookie Ben Roethlisberger posted a mark of 98.1, setting a new record for first-year passers. Jon Steven Young (born October 11, 1961 in Salt Lake City, Utah, USA), is a former quarterback for the National Football Leagues San Francisco 49ers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, and the Los Angeles Express of the short-lived United States Football League. ... Peyton Williams Manning (born March 24, 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana)[1] is an American football quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts NFL franchise. ... Ben Roethlisberger (born March 2, 1982, in Findlay, Ohio[1]), is an American football quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the NFL. He led his team to a victory against the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL in just his second year in the league and is the youngest quarterback...

In CFL football Dave Dickenson of the BC Lions has produced some of the highest professional passing efficiency numbers. Although limited by injuries in 2005, he set two regular season records with a 74 percent completion percentage and an efficiency rating of 118.8. His numbers for the year were: 253/342, 3338 yards, 74% completion rate, 21 TDs, 5 INTs. He opened the 2006 CFL season by setting a CFL single-game passing efficiency rating record of 150.61. He capped 3 of the 4 criteria for passing efficiency and was 28/34, 362 yards, 5 TDs, 0 INTs. CFL is an acronym for: Canadian Football League Compact fluorescent light bulb Continental Football League Courant, Fredericks and Lewy This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... David Dickenson (born January 11, 1973 in Great Falls, Montana) is a professional Canadian football player. ... The British Columbia Lions are a Canadian Football League team based in Vancouver, British Columbia. ... Diagram of a Canadian football field. ...

NCAA

The NCAA passer rating formula is: (100 * Completion %) + (8.4 * Yds per att) + (330 * Td %) - (200 * Int %), where all "percentages" are expressed as fractions (decimal values between 0 and 1). The NCAA passer rating has an upper limit of 1,261.6 and a lower limit of -200. The upper limit value results if every pass thrown is a 99 yard touchdown and the lower limit if every pass thrown is intercepted. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA, often pronounced N-C-Double-A or N-C-Two-A ) is a voluntary association of about 1,200 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States. ...

In NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision, the career record for passing efficiency is held by Ryan Dinwiddie of Boise State, who had a career mark of 168.9 between 2000 and 2003 . The single-season record belongs to Colt Brennan of Hawaii, who amassed a passer rating of 186.0 over the 2006 season, while the freshman record belongs to Michael Vick of Virginia Tech, whose rating during the 1999 season was 180.4.[3]. Current NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision passing efficiency ratings can be found here. Ryan Dinwiddie (born November 27, 1980) is a professional American football quarterback currently with the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL. Dinwiddie was a three-year starter at Boise State from 2001 to 2003, and one of the most prolific passers in college football history. ... Boise State University is a state university located near downtown Boise, the capital city of Idaho. ... Colton James Brennan (born August 16, 1983 in Laguna Beach, California) is an American football quarterback at the University of Hawaii. ... Official language(s) English, Hawaiian Capital Honolulu Largest city Honolulu Area  Ranked 43rd  - Total 10,931 sq mi (29,311 km²)  - Width n/a miles (n/a km)  - Length 1,522 miles (2,450 km)  - % water 41. ... Michael Dwayne Vick (born June 26, 1980 in Newport News, Virginia) is an American football quarterback for the National Football Leagues Atlanta Falcons franchise. ... This article or section should include material from Virginia Bioinformatics Institute. ...

See also

• NFL quarterbacks who have posted a perfect passer rating
• NFL quarterbacks who have posted a passer rating of zero

In the National Football League, the highest official passer rating that a quarterback can achieve is 158. ... In the National Football League, the lowest official passer rating that a quarterback can achieve is a 0. ...

External links and references

• NFL.com QB Rating Page
• Online passer rating calculator for NFL/CFL, NCAA and AFL formulas
• All-Time Top NFL Passer Ratings List
• New York Times - The N.F.L.'s Passer Rating, Arcane and Misunderstood - January 14, 2004