Hidden stat - NFL yards per completion leader

[KSpan]

Heard tonight that Jake has the highest average yards per completion in the NFL @ 13.something yards per completion. #2 - Matt Ryan.

[Doc Holiday]

can't find anything to confirm that but, he is tied for 4th with Matt Ryan in YPA with 7.9

[KSpan]

I didn't spend a ton of time looking last night because I was tired, but here is something: http://www.atlantafalcons.com/News/Articles/2008/12/21-31/Quarterback_Matt_Ryan_named_NFL_Rookie_of_the_Year.aspx

"This season, Ryan totaled a streak of nine consecutive 200-yard passing games from Weeks 6-15 and notched eight contests with a 65.0 completion percentage or higher. He also ranked second in the league in yards per completion with a 12.98 average.

Jake completed 246 passes for 3,288 yards - an average of 13.37 yards per completion. Interesting.

[AZPanther]

Thats an interesting stat that confirms what Mike Lombardi at nationalfootballpost.com has been stating for quite some time. We are not a running/power football team but we are a big play team. Jake goes for big plays (on first or second down:)) and Dwill and JStew make big runs. By limiting Smitty's touches we will be hard pressed to control the game.

Mike is one of the smartest guys in football and makes some great observations around the league. I believe Smitty averages more yards per reception than anyone in the league and Dwill averages more per carry.

[Darth Biscuit]

This probably is very related to the fact (as I saw on the ESPN crawl earlier) that Steve Smith led the league in catches of 20+ yards.

[KSpan]

By limiting Smitty's touches we will be hard pressed to control the game.

Reference: Giants game, second half :out:

[AZPanther]

Reference: Giants game, second half :out:

correct and exactly what I was thinking when I wrote that

[Tar Heel Blues]

This probably is very related to the fact (as I saw on the ESPN crawl earlier) that Steve Smith led the league in catches of 20+ yards.

DeAngelo was also one run away from tying the record for most 30 yard TD runs in a season.

I've always known that Jake has been a vertical passer though. It's where he is at his best, and more importantly it's where our receivers are at their best.

[Darth Biscuit]

I've always known that Jake has been a vertical passer though. It's where he is at his best, and more importantly it's where our receivers are at their best.

Yeah, pretty much Jake just has to throw it up downfield and Smitty will go get it.

[Vagrant]

I wouldn't get too excited, guys. All this does is confirm two things.

1. Steve Smith is the most explosive WR in the game and he can take a five yard dump pass and turn it into sixty.

2. We don't run any screen plays to HBs.

If we did the latter, we'd probably have a lower yards per completion ratio. Plus, Jake never goes for the check down. Most of the time due to the opposition stacking eight in the box we have one on one coverage on the outside with Smith and Moose with some over the top help. Jake will either not throw the ball and get sacked or he'll take a chance and go down field.

[Fireball77]

I wouldn't get too excited, guys. All this does is confirm two things.

1. Steve Smith is the most explosive WR in the game and he can take a five yard dump pass and turn it into sixty.

2. We don't run any screen plays to HBs.

If we did the latter, we'd probably have a lower yards per completion ratio. Plus, Jake never goes for the check down. Most of the time due to the opposition stacking eight in the box we have one on one coverage on the outside with Smith and Moose with some over the top help. Jake will either not throw the ball and get sacked or he'll take a chance and go down field.

Screens are HUGE YAC plays, they are used to get your best players in space out into space. It's one of the reasons the Pats have TWO guys in the top 5 for individual YAC in Welker and Faulk. Those are their screen guys. With all those YAC screens, Cassel still had .7 less YPA than Jake did.

Steve Smith ended up at #12 in the NFL YAC this year about 12 yards ahead of Hines Ward. The NFL leader, Wes Welker had almost double Smitty's YAC with Cassel throwing only about 100 more passes than Jake did. Saints were best in team YAC, Carolina was 28th in the NFL there.

Carolina led the NFL in yards per CATCH for WRs though.

As for Jake's being a product of Smitty, in 2004 he had a YPA of 7.3 which is pretty good. Certainly Smitty helps a good deal, but it all isn't as much just Smitty as people think.

[monstercat]

Yeah, there is no doubt that Jake has gotten the vast majority of his yardage by throwing it down the field this year. I wish we could get more yardage from screens, but we don't seem to be very good at it aside from the smoke screens, and none of them have really gone for big yardage this year, like they did in 05.

[Davidson Deac II]

You guys who think its just Smith are wrong. We are 10th in the league in passes of 20 yards or more, and Smith only has half of them. Moose is having one of his better seasons irt yards per catch. And our tight ends, despite only having 40 catches all year, still had 5 of them greater than 20 yards.

We like to throw the ball down the field. This is the style of play that John Fox has wanted for a while now. Run the ball well and throw it down the field. We were able to do it in 2003, but haven't had the running game to do it since then.