Atlanta at Miami - Preseason - Tua's last stand

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

I'm not really trusting the source.

With a domain name of "screwball" how could you possibly call into question the reliability of a stat that literally nobody else tracks?

[Spider-Dan]

I'm not really trusting the source. It shows Tua with 6.7 air yards per attempt last year. ESPN stats give him a 6.9 total yardage average per attempt. Something doesn't sound right.

What doesn't sound right?  "Air yards per attempt" shouldn't match "yards per attempt."

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

What's the problem?  Air yards per attempt literally cannot be higher than yards per attempt.  You think the numbers are... too close?

That would require that every receiver was tackled the moment he caught the ball.

[Phishfan]

That would require that every receiver was tackled the moment he caught the ball.

Ding ding

[Spider-Dan]

Let us suppose, to simplify the numbers, that all these passes are on designed rollouts where the pass is thrown nearly at the line of scrimmage.

1st down: QB throws an incomplete pass that travels 25 yards in the air.
2nd down: QB throws an intermediate sideline completion for 11 yards that the receiver catches as he runs out of bounds.
3rd down: QB throws a screen pass for 3 yards that the receiver takes for a total of 29 yards.

total air yards: 39
air yards per attempt (average depth of target): 13.0

total passing yards: 40
yards per attempt: 13.33

The receiver was not (necessarily) tackled right when he caught the ball.

I don't understand what the problem is supposed to be with the cited stats.  Let's not beat around the bush, here: is the claim being made that "air yards per attempt" correlates to good QBs?  I'm pretty sure I can find more stats on (say) Mahomes' air yards per attempt, but I'm not going to bother if we can't even agree on what that stat is supposed to tell us.

P.S. Just to address an earlier statement:

Air yards per attempt literally cannot be higher than yards per attempt.

This was a mistake by me.  Air yards per completion cannot be higher than yards per attempt, but we aren't measuring air yards per completion.

[Phishfan]

Three cherry picked  scenarios to prove a season worth of averages .  I love how math works.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Oh.  I thought we were measured completed air yards per attempt.

Yeah, any stat that would be improved by the QB throwing a fifty yard interception is not worth using. 

[Spider-Dan]

Three cherry picked  scenarios to prove a season worth of averages .  I love how math works.

I provided you stats and you couldn't come up with anything more than "I don't like how those stats look because ESPN has different numbers on a totally different stat."

You seemed to be claiming that the stat implies every catch is tackled immediately and I explained why that interpretation is wrong.

At this point, you should probably present some actual evidence yourself... either that the stats I cited are inaccurate, or (even better) that "air yards per attempt" is a stat that anyone should even care about in the first place.

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

You seemed to be claiming that the stat implies every catch is tackled immediately

That was actually me.  

[Spider-Dan]

I am referring to when Phishfan replied "ding ding" to your explanation.
You didn't "seem to" make that claim, you directly made it.

[Phishfan]

I don't care to look at it any further. It just doesn't feel right. Not worth any more effort.

[Spider-Dan]

You weren't making any "it doesn't feel right" objections when preseason stats were saying the noodle-armed mushbrain (who, uh, previously led the league in passing yardage) is ACTUALLY the biggest checkdown merchant in history.

so maybe people are just seeing what they want to see

[Phishfan]

You weren't making any "it doesn't feel right" objections when preseason stats were saying the noodle-armed mushbrain (who, uh, previously led the league in passing yardage) is ACTUALLY the biggest checkdown merchant in history.

so maybe people are just seeing what they want to see

Because that isn't what was said . You could have been a character in Wizard of Oz,  the Strawman.

[CF DolFan]

Unlike Spider, Atlanta clearly was not impressed with Tua's performance. They waited until the last minute to see if Penix would physically be able to play. The guy was in a QB battle with someone not even competing. Hahaha

[MyGodWearsAHoodie]

Unlike Spider, Atlanta clearly was not impressed with Tua's performance. They waited until the last minute to see if Penix would physically be able to play. The guy was in a QB battle with someone not even competing. Hahaha

Holy strawman!  Spider never said Tua had an impressive pre-season.  Just that your bullshit stat was a bullshit stat.