2020 Season
Joe Flacco: Week 9 vs. New England Patriots
Joe Flacco: Week 11 at Los Angeles Chargers
Week 12 vs. Miami Dolphins
Week 13 vs. Las Vegas Raiders
Week 14 at Seattle Seahawks
Week 15 at Los Angeles Rams
Week 16 vs. Cleveland Browns
Week 17 at New England Patriots (with ranking of all game grades throughout career)
Explaining the Darnold Grades
So that’s what I did. Digging through the All-22 film, I went back and graded every play (pass attempt, sack, rushing attempt) from every one of Darnold’s games, scoring each on a scale of 0-10 (5 representing an average play).
Anything and everything is taken into account. Ball placement. Should-be turnovers. Unlucky turnovers. Protection quality. Play-calling effectiveness. The number of open targets available and their locations on the field relative to the quarterback. Impact of the route-running and ball-tracking by the intended receiver. Down and distance. Field position. Game situation.
Every layer of decision-making is considered. Did Darnold choose the best available option? Did he scan the field to check all possible options? Did he take an over-aggressive shot when a first down was available underneath? Did he check down too early with a potential big play open down the field? Should he have tucked-and-run? Did he take a sack he should not have? Should he have thrown the ball away? Was there absolutely no option available for him to pick up yards, excusing a lack of production?
Simple statistics do not account for any of those factors. Using a manual, play-by-play grading system, many crucial variables that usually go overlooked are being properly valued. Sprinkle in this essential context, and we get a grade that is much more representative of the quarterback’s true performance level than standard box score numbers.
Darnold’s final scores are scaled from 0-to-100, with 50 representing the approximate league average (based on the analysis of other quarterbacks).
Breakdowns of every Sam Darnold performance from 2019-20 can be found at the links above, featuring my overall grade for each game. You will also see:
- Comparisons between my grade, Darnold’s advanced metrics, and his traditional statistics.
- Metrics showcasing how well the team supported Darnold (pressure, drops, run game, field position, etc.).
- Clips of Darnold’s best and worst moments from each game.
- A synopsis of Darnold’s performance explaining how I arrived at the grade.