[Amnorix]

Thought this was interesting in the context of this discussion.


http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com...qb-stat/33726/

The NFL is a very simple game at the end of the day. You win when your quarterback plays well. You lose when he doesn't.

It's one reason why Russell Wilson has an upper hand with the Seattle Seahawks in his bid to become the top-paid QB in the NFL: he's already won two conference titles and a Super Bowl in just three seasons.

Why so much success? Because Russell has quietly become one of the most efficient passers in NFL history (98.6 rating), especially for such a young player.

Pair a historically efficient passer like Wilson with a shutdown pass defense like the Legion of Boom, which habitually renders opposing passers INefficient, and you have the foundation of a team that can consistently compete for championships for years to come.

The Seahawks simply can't afford to let go such a deadly efficient performer.

All the proof in the world of the importance of efficient quarterbacking is provided by our groundbreaking Quality Stat, Passer Rating Differential -- an indicator so powerful we call it The Mother of All Stats.

Sure, a lot of complex factors go into one quarterback excelling over the other game in and game out. Coaching, blocking, tackling, scheme, the quality of the defense each QB is paired with, even a lucky bounce here and there.

But more often than not, the team with the more efficient, more effective quarterback wins. The team with the less effcient, less effective quarterback loses.

By extension, great, efficient quarterbacks win more games. Lousy, inefficient quarterbacks lose more games.

We've demonstrated the correlation between Passer Rating Differential and championship potential year after year, throughout all of NFL history. A little refresher is right here:

27 of 75 NFL champions since 1940 (36%) finished the year No. 1 in Passer Rating Differential
45 of 75 NFL champions since 1940 (60%) finished in the Top 3 in Passer Rating Differential
60 of 75 NFL champions since 1940 (80%) finished in the Top 5 in Passer Rating Differential
It's a pretty remarkable set of results. Armed with no information other than the annual PRD leaderboard, you can name better than 1 in 3 NFL champions over the past three quarters of a century. There is probably no stat more important in all of North American sports.
The 2013 Seahawks were a prime example: they finished No. 1 in PRD for the first time in franchise history. No coincidence they won the Super Bowl for the first time in franchise history. (The 2014 Patriots, for the record, finished No. 5 in PRD, well within the range of championship potential.)

You may not know that we also track the game-to-game importance of Passer Rating Differential each season with our "Big Boards," which measure every team performance every game in each of our Quality Stats. You can see the 2014 Passer Rating Differential Big Board right here.

We've posted the top 47 performances of 2014 below, for a reason that will soon be obvious. The game-to-game data merely reconfirms what the historic data has long told us: teams win when they win the battle of passing efficiency; and teams dominate when they dominate the battle of passing efficiency.

Teams might sneak a win here and there despite losing the battle of PRD. But it's IMPOSSIBLE to consistently win on the scoreboard consistently if you don't consistently win the battle of passing efficiency.

Some nuggets from the 2014 Passer Rating Differential Big Board:

The top 47 teams in PRD were a perfect 47-0 (1.000) in the win-loss column
The top 102 teams went 99-3 (.971)
The top 200 teams went 178-22 (.890)
Bottom line: the NFL is all about the quarterback. It's always been all about the quarterback. Efficient quarterbacks win games; inefficient quarterbacks lose games, to the point that almost nothing always matters.

But don't just take our word for it. Check out the sortable 2014 PRD Big Board here. Play around with it. And prove to yourself that Passer Rating Differential is the Mother of All Stats.