All season Tyrod Taylor has received plenty of criticism for what some call “inconsistency” passing from within the pocket, the time-tested indicator of quality quarterback play.
To me, a faction of that thought has arisen simply as an unavoidable byproduct of Tyrod’s amazing elusiveness and scrambling ability being compared to his in-the-pocket passing.
I was curious about Tyrod’s in-the-pocket passing numbers this season, so I reached out to Pro Football Focus writer and analyst Mike Renner, who graciously provided me with Taylor’s 2016 in-the-pocket passing statistics.
Yesterday on Twitter, we asked Rumblings readers to take their best guesses at Tyrod’s in-the-pocket passing statistics in the following categories:
Completion %
Yards Per Attempt
TDs / INT
We promised we’d provide Tyrod’s the passing statistics heading into Week 16’s game against the Dolphins. Here they are.
Completions/Attempts: 210/320
Completion %: 65.6
Yards: 2,363
Yards Per Attempt: 7.38
TDs: 12
INTs: 5
QB Rating: 93.5
Drops By Pass-Catchers: 18
Surprised? Yeah, I was too.
To give some perspective on Tyrod’s in-the-pocket figures, here are the quarterbacks and statistics (on all passes) to which he most closely compares.
Completion %: Russell Wilson, 65%. Matthew Stafford, 66.3%
Yards Per Attempt: Stafford, 7.34. Ben Roethlisberger, 7.44.
TD %: Trevor Siemian, 3.8%, Blake Bortles, 3.8%
INT %: Matt Ryan, 1.5%, Matthew Stafford 1.6%
QB Rating: Ryan Tannehill, 93.5
(Counting all 18 drops as catches... Tyrod’s completion percentage jumps to 71.5%. Even if half those drops were receptions, his completion percentage would be 68.1%.)
No one hit the nail directly on its head, but it seems like Mr. John Conti gave the best guess:
@BuffRumblings 67%, 6.5ypa, 8TD/2INT
— John Conti (@conti_in_stereo) December 20, 2016
As you can probably imagine, the majority of the guesses pegged Tyrod as a much worse quarterback when passing from inside the pocket.
However, the statistics say he’s actually been productive and efficient in the most “traditional” element of playing quarterback during the 2016 season.