Mike Missanelli is on 97.5 FM The Fanatic every week day from 2 to 6 p.m. He’s also on Comcast Sports Net’s Breakfast on Broad on Mondays and Wednesdays. Follow him on Twitter @MikeMiss975.
Sam Bradford’s Awful Stats
The numbers tell the same story as your eyes: The Eagles QB is playing poorly.
Sam Bradford and Chip Kelly (USA Today Sports).
Sam Bradford looked better last week in a loss to the Carolina Panthers. Bradford appeared to be more mobile in the pocket, stepping out of harm’s way a few times, running away from pressure to throw a ball out of bounds, and even running for a couple of short gains.
But the overall Bradford is a complete wreck.
The following statistics are courtesy of my stats guy at ESPN, Paul Hembekides, a Philadelphia native. Hembekides has a vested interest in these stats, since he is an Eagles fan. So it was probably just as difficult for him to send them as it was for me to read them.
So read them and weep.
Bradford owns a Quarterback Rating (QBR) of 29.6 (on a 1-100 scale), the lowest number of any qualified passer in the NFL. To break that down further:
• He’s completing 48 percentof his passes on third down, second-lowest in the NFL (ahead of only Blake Bortles of Jacksonville).
• He’s averaging 8.4 yards per completion on third down, second-lowest in the NFL (ahead of only Ryan Mallett, who was recently released by the Houston Texans).
• His “off-target” percentage on third down (32 percent) is second worst in the NFL (ahead of only Andrew Luck).
• He’s completing 43 percent of his passes in the red zone, fourth-lowest in the NFL among qualified QBs.
• He’s the only QB in the NFL with three red zone interceptions.
• He’s thrown two touchdowns and seven interceptions when throwing the ball between the painted numbers. No other QB has more than five interceptions on such throws.
And in addition to the preceding, Bradford has been ineffective in targeting every position group. His QBR when targeting running backs is 30, which is 27th in the league. His QBR when targeting wide receivers is 43, which is 32nd in the league. And his QBR when targeting tight ends (where Zach Ertz is probably his best receiver) is 35, which is 25th in the league.
And he is doing this poorly despite being pretty well protected. Bradford has only been pressured, according to league statistics, on only 17.7 percentof his dropbacks. Andy Dalton and Eli Manning are the only quarterbacks in the league that have been pressured less. Meanwhile, the Eagles offense has controlled the line of scrimmage on 57 percent of his dropbacks, the best mark in the NFL.
So, would backup Mark Sanchez be a better option? As a starting QB under Chip Kelly, Sanchez owns a better completion percentage, has averaged more yards per completion, has a better touchdown-to-interception rate, and a higher QBR despite being pressured on six percent more dropbacks. Though these numbers may be skewed by the fact that Bradford has less talent at receiver this year than did Sanchez last year, the Eagles are averaging 5.2 yards per play this season with Bradford on the field. They averaged 5.7 yards per play with Sanchez on the field last season (and for what it’s worth, half a yard in that statistic is fairly significant).
And this final note, according to stat analysts at ESPN, Bradford’s play this season has cost the Eagles 21 points in relation to a league-average QB, 10 point worse than any QB in the NFL. Meaning, if the Eagles even had a league-average QB, in theory, they would have scored 21 more points this season (and likely won one, if not two more games).
The Eagles are resting for several days before they start their preparations for their next game, away in Dallas. If Bradford doesn’t play well, the hook might have to come out.
