O'Brien Award Snubbed Tyrod

By: Joe Lanza

PUBLISHER

on October 25, 2010, 11:57 PM | 9 comments

The Davey O'Brien Foundation released their semifinalists for the 2010 Davey O'Brien National Quarterback Award today. It came as a surprise to me that Tyrod Taylor was not among the final 16 quarterbacks. Through eight games I believe Tyrod can hold his own against any quarterback in America. No, he isn't going throw for 3,500 or even 2,500 yards in a season, he doesn't play in an offense that generates gaudy or even flashy statistics. However, he makes the most of his opportunities and produces big plays.

	Passing												Rushing
Name	Team	CMP	ATT	CMP %	YDS	AVG	TD	TD %	LNG	INT	INT %	RAT	ATT	YDS	AVG	LNG	TD	TD %
Andrew Luck	STAN	133	200	66.5	1728	8.6	19	9.5	81	5	2.5	165.43	35	253	7.2	52	2	5.71
Andy Dalton	TCU	127	194	65.5	1635	8.4	14	7.22	52	5	2.58	154.92	59	374	6.3	47	4	6.78
Blaine Gabbert	MIZZ	181	269	67.3	1899	7.1	11	4.09	68	3	1.12	137.85	41	0	0	12	2	4.88
Cam Newton	AUB	90	138	65.2	1364	9.9	13	9.42	94	5	3.62	172.08	157	1077	6.9	71	14	8.92
Colin Kaepernick	NEV	120	176	68.2	1480	8.4	10	5.68	48	5	2.84	151.89	97	669	6.9	57	12	12.37
Darron Thomas	ORE	109	179	60.9	1539	8.6	17	9.5	84	5	2.79	158.87	42	269	6.4	35	2	4.76
Denard Robinson	MICH	97	143	67.8	1319	9.2	9	6.29	74	5	3.5	159.09	137	1096	8	87	9	6.57
Kellen Moore	BSU	105	151	69.5	1567	10.4	16	10.6	58	1	0.66	190.35	8	-11	-1.4	6	0	0
Kirk Cousins	MSU	141	212	66.5	1948	9.2	14	6.6	55	4	1.89	161.72	28	-71	-2.5	8	0	0
Landry Jones	OKLA	195	292	66.8	2094	7.2	17	5.82	46	5	1.71	142.81	22	-96	-4.4	18	0	0
Matt Barkley	USC	138	211	65.4	1869	8.9	20	9.48	61	4	1.9	167.3	14	13	0.9	27	0	0
Ricky Stanzi	IOWA	124	182	68.1	1732	9.5	16	8.79	66	2	1.1	174.88	33	-14	-0.4	17	2	6.06
Robert Griffin III	BAY	180	270	66.7	2373	8.8	18	6.67	94	4	1.48	159.53	76	384	5.1	36	6	7.89
Ryan Mallett	ARK	145	215	67.4	2040	9.5	15	6.98	85	7	3.26	163.65	21	-31	-1.5	7	2	9.52
Taylor Martinez	NEB	66	111	59.5	1046	9.4	8	7.21	79	3	2.7	156.99	100	870	8.7	80	12	12
Terrelle Pryor	OSU	134	203	66	1775	8.7	18	8.87	65	6	2.96	162.81	79	408	5.2	66	3	3.8
Tyrod Taylor	VT	106	166	63.9	1602	9.7	15	9.04	69	3	1.81	171.13	85	527	6.2	72	3	3.53

Let's ignore accumulator statistics and focus on averages instead.

Yards per attempt (AVG): 3rd
Touchdowns per attempt (TD %): 6th
Interceptions per attempt (INT %): 12th (lower is better)
QB rating (RAT): 4th
Yards per rush (AVG): 8th
Touchdowns per rush (TD %): 13th
Completion percentage (CMP %): 15th

When compared to the 16 semifinalists Tyrod rates favorably. He's not last in any category, but he's one of the least accurate passers and does rate last in touchdowns per rush among the semifinalists with a rushing score. However, his top three rank in yards per attempt, in my opinion, nullifies his low completion percentage. If Tyrod's throwing for more yards on fewer completions then he's making bigger plays. That's good by me. He's only had a handful of designed rushing plays called for him in the red zone, so the low touchdowns per rush isn't shocking.

To put it bluntly, Tyrod is taking care of the football, scoring points and burning defenses with his legs. He should have been a semifinalist.

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