For another forum I made a stats-based comparison of Cassel and Thigpen, which I thougt you might enjoy here. Basically the conclusion is that based on last years stats, Cassel really isn't any improvement, but probably not worse either. Obviously with having taken over his franchise tag, the new contract makes sense, but whether it was a good idea to get him in the first place remains to be seen.

Disclaimer: I am a Colts fan. As a Dane I've liked the Chiefs ever since Morten Andersen played there, though, so this is in no way meant as Chiefs bashing.

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Inspired by shake n bake's look at ANAY/A as a measure of actual QB efficiency, I decided it would be interesting to look at something in the opposite end of the spectrum, namely how much of a QB's production is due to YAC production by the recievers, rather than the QB's own throwing ability.

The result can, in a way, be viewed as a measure of how overrated a QB is. If a large amount of the production is due to YAC, rather than air yards, the QB will most likely look better than he actually is. However some systems are heavy on short passes and YAC production, whereas others are more vertical, and so this should not be considered the final say.

In the table below I have YAC, total yards (TY), the quotient, and percentage above average (PAA) for this quotient. So if someone (say, Matt Cassel...) has a PAA of 25, that means the part of his TY accounted for by YAC is more than one fourth more than what could be expected from an average passing offence.

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When comparing Manning and Brady (as many seem to enjoy doing these days) you often come across the problem that they are playing for different teams, with different coaches, and that kind of makes it difficult to actually saying anything. However at one occasion they did play for the exact same team. At the 2005 Pro Bowl (following the 2004 season, that is), both Manning and Brady played (at two other Pro Bowls they were both selected, but only Manning actually attended) for the AFC team. So this should be the best basis for any comparison.

Now for the actual stats. Brady completed 4 of 9 passes for 48 yards and an interception. That's a rating of a whopping 21.8. At the same time Manning completed 6 of 10 for 130 yards and 3 touchdowns (yes, that's a touchdown for every 2 completions). His rating was 143.8, and he was the game MVP.