Some quarterbacks have really fallen victim to their receivers dropping balls. Brandon Weeden had a horrid opener, but since then it’s tough to make any summary judgments on him because his receivers have played so poorly. The same can be said for Blaine Gabbert. It’s tough to expect a young quarterback to succeed right away when there are so few offensive weapons around him.
# Name Team Drop backs Att. Comp Drops TA BP SP HAT Acc. %
1 Robert Griffin III WAS 166 139 96 9 3 2 2 4 82.0
2 Aaron Rodgers GB 223 189 130 17 4 1 1 1 80.8
3 Alex D. Smith SF 161 137 94 10 5 2 0 1 80.6
4 Jake Locker TEN 115 106 67 12 2 2 0 3 79.8
5 Matt Ryan ATL 220 199 136 14 6 3 0 1 79.4
6 Matthew Stafford DET 187 173 114 16 4 2 2 0 78.8
7 Tom Brady NE 199 185 124 14 6 2 1 0 78.4
8 Peyton Manning DEN 209 197 130 17 4 3 1 1 78.2
9 Matt Schaub HST 156 152 97 13 7 2 0 2 78.0
10 Christian Ponder MIN 178 158 109 5 7 2 0 1 77.0
Looking at the foot of the list one can see how big an impact accuracy percentage has on an offense. The average points per game of the Top 10 is over five points higher than that of the Bottom 10. Some might not expect Joe Flacco to be this low, as his traditional completion percentage puts him 18th. Unfortunately, Flacco hasn’t evolved into an accurate quarterback so far this year and has really been helped by his receivers’ decreased drop rate. Another guy that hasn’t made the strides his team was hoping for is Mark Sanchez. Sanchez’ sub-50 completion percentage isn’t helped out much here as he is only on target 60% of the time. Jets fans calling for Tim Tebow should know, the only percentage we’ve seen lower than Sanchez’ this year was Tebow’s 2011 Accuracy Percentage.
# Name Team Drop backs Att. Comp Drops TA BP SP HAT Acc. %
29 Joe Flacco BLT 200 183 112 6 4 1 0 2 67.0
30 Josh Freeman TB 130 119 65 7 5 3 0 3 66.7
31 Ryan Fitzpatrick BUF 165 152 88 9 2 3 0 0 66.0
32 Andrew Luck IND 199 177 96 10 3 3 4 5 65.4
33 Mark Sanchez NYJ 169 159 77 10 4 5 1 4 60.0
Thanks to Pro Football Focus.