The world truly is ending. Spike of "5 Wide *******" fame is suggesting yards don't matter!
To me, however, numbers DO matter and, being me - I did my usual half-assed statistical dive. And you may be surprised at what it demonstrates.
Ben's rookie year, he was essentially asked not to screw up. He rarely threw more than 20 times a game. Indeed, when he did throw under 20X a game, he tended to have his BEST passing games statistically. Of course he had the Bus. And the Bus drew a lot of attention.
Ben averaged
187.2 yards a game his rookie season. He was very effective.
However, he DID make quite a few mistakes. (He threw
11 interceptions. Keep in mind however that he also played 14 or 15 games that season. More statistically clear, he averaged an
interception on 3.7% of his throws.
he threw
17 TDs, with a
TD% of 5.8
Always good for moving the ball downfield, Ben averaged
8.4 yards per attempt, and
13.4 yards per catch. (This, in his rookie year which is one of the many reasons Ben Roethlisberger is in the top 10 all time for yards per attempt and completion.)
And finally, for his rookie year, Ben put forward a
98 QB rating.
Now Mason Rudolph is interesting.
If you want to see how much the league has changed from 2004 to 2019, Ben Roethlisberger had 295 passing attempts his rookie season (Rember, 14 to 15 games.) Mason Rudolph had 263 attempts in 9 games. And we are all of the opinion that the coaches are shackling MR and DH... Interesting...
Mason averaged
181.8 yards a game. But as we have already pointed out, he's also thrown the ball a LOT more than Roethlisberger did his rookie year. Not nearly as efficient as Ben was. (Not saying anything, just showing numbers...)
Mason unfortunately had a couple really terrible games in terms of ints. (He threw
9 interceptions. Again to be statistically clear, he averaged an
interception on 3.4% of his throws. (Actually BETTER than Roethlisberger.)
he threw
12 TDs, with a
TD% of 4.6 (Ironically, had he not gone into his slump and started throwing ints like they were Halloween candy, he probably would have thrown more TDs than Ben, but again, totally different atmosphere these days.)
Less of a deep[ threat (saying it nicely) Mason averaged
6.2 yards per attempt, and
10.1 yards per catch. We all know he didn't do a great job going downfield for whatever reason.
And finally, for games he's played so far this year, Mason put forward a
80.3 QB rating.
Now for the anomaly.
Of the two QBs who have played in relief of Roethlisberger this year, Hodges looks a LOT more like Ben did his rookie year. Although nobody is going to call them identical twins.
Hodges averaged
136.4 yards a game. In this era of easy passing yards, that's not good. It's actually terrible. He's only had a few games though so there is room for this to improve. (Lots of room. Cowboys Stadium room...)
Hodges is doing better than Rudolph OR Ben in terms of ints. (again, in limited action.) (He's thrown
2 interceptions. By the numbers, he wins, averaging an
interception on only 2.5% of his throws. (Much BETTER than Roethlisberger.)
he's thrown
4 TDs, with a
TD% of 5 (Better than Rudolph, but not as good as Ben. Still, 1 in 20 throws is a TD. A guy will take that.)
One thing we can say is that Hodges has thrown it deeper than Rudolph. He's averaged
8.5 yards per attempt, and
12 yards per catch. Again, not as good as Ben, but hell yaz!
And finally, Hodges is thus far doing EXACTLY what you want a backup to do for you. He's playing very very efficiently. So far this year, Hodges put forward a
103.2 QB rating. (Yep, better than Roethlisberger by 5 points.
Of course Hodges has only 5 games where's he's even seen the field this year. His statistical pool is pretty darn shallow. However, so far he has proven to be safe, efficient and he's unarguably playing better than Rudolph. I'm sorta sorry for Mason. I think he was doing alright until he got creamed by the Ravens. After that he completely came apart in terms of reads, hesitation and crap throws. I think he's bright and physically talented but it looks like the game is too fast for him.
I don't know that the game is any slower for Hodges, but he seems comfortable just flinging the ball out there and giving the receivers a shot at it. They have been rewarding him with solid play. The Steelers NEED Hodges to be a little more effective moving the ball downfield. Particularly as they approach the most important games of the season. But there is every reason to believe that Hodges at least will (as Tomdong says)
not kill us.
And because you animals need tables... (Sorry, it's down a ways...)
<table>
<tr>
<th class="tg-0lax">Player</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">Yards</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">YPA</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">YPC</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">TD</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">TD%</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">Comp %</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">Int</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">Int%</th>
<th class="tg-0lax">QBR</th>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tg-0lax">BR</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">187.2</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">8.4</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">13.4</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">17</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">5.8</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">66.4</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">11</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">3.7</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">98</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tg-0lax">MR</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">181.8</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">6.2</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">10.1</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">12</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">4.6</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">61.6</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">9</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">3.4</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">80.3</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="tg-0lax">DH</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">136.4</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">8.5</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">12</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">4</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">5</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">71.3</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">2</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">2.5</td>
<td class="tg-0lax">103.2</td>
</tr>
</table>
