The NFL referee looks in the direction that the offense is going and points at the endzone. Refs will often use a little flair and momentum with this signal. The players often celebrate with a similar gesture. This is the much sought after “first down” accomplishment. These are critical in the game to keep the offense on the field and progressing to the end zone. The team is rewarded with a new set of downs. The number of first downs is a recorded statistic. From the data I have created a chart of how the quarterbacks perfom in getting first downs.
The chart is based on quarterback passing first downs per pass attempts and quarterback rushing first downs per rush attempt. This comes out to a percentage for each. I then combined the two by counting 75% of the passing percent and 25% of the rushing percent. Based on this I sorted the table and divided the quarterback list into quarters – the top quarter performed best, the bottom the worst and the two others in between. I did this for each of the last three seasons. There is a color code for the quarterback for each season showin how they did. The quarterbacks are then ranked on the sum of their quarters. For quarterbacks that did not have a full three seasons, I extended their earliest season back.
You can get the spreadsheet here QBs by First Down
Here is a graphic of the chart
Feature image: BrokenSphere, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
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