Least hit QBs

Manning shows up high on the good list

As part of our ongoing Stat of the Day series, we’re digging deep into our spreadsheets to run a new stat every weekday until Super Bowl XLIV. Today, we’re going to look at quarterback hits from the perspective of the offense. A quarterback hit is any play where a defender knocks the quarterback to the ground after a pass attempt. I’m not counting sacks here, but our count of hits does include plays canceled by penalties. (Often, that penalty is the hit itself.) Official scorers are really hit-and-miss on this stat, so a lot of them get added to the official PBP after the fact when we send the league a list of “PBP mistakes” compiled by FO game charters.

By the way, I’ve noticed that the discussion threads on these Stat of the Day posts seem to be roughly one-third to one-half complaints that each stat doesn’t take every play into account or is otherwise imperfect. I have to chuckle at these inevitable complaints, but I do hope one thing is clear: At Football Outsiders, we try to be honest about our limitations. We don’t claim that our stats measure things they don’t measure. Stats that come straight out of play-by-play only include things that are listed in play-by-play. Stats from game charting are going to be subject to charter bias and are limited by lame TV camera angles. That’s just how it is. Some of us still find these things interesting.