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Total QBR system gave the Denver Broncos' Tim Tebow a higher rating than the Green Bay Packers' Aaron Rodgers in their respective Week 5 contests in 2011. Noting that Rodgers completed 26 of 39 passes for 396 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Atlanta Falcons, while Tebow completed four of 10 passes for 79 yards and a touchdown, and six rushes for 38 yards and a touchdown, in a loss to the San Diego Chargers. Rodgers himself was surprised: "I saw the [QBR stats] and chuckled to myself. I played a full game, [Tebow] played the half. He completed four passes, I completed 26. The weighting of it doesn't make a whole lot of sense." ESPN's Stats and Information Group explained that Tebow's higher rating was the result of him staging a partial comeback, taking no sacks, and having positive rushing yards and a rushing touchdown, among other factors.However, Doug Farrar of Yahoo! Sports wrote that the QBR system lacks a minimum performance frequency floor that players must meet before they can be rated, and thus it essentially penalizes Rodgers because he played throughout the entire game, while rewarding Tebow because he came off the bench in the second half in an attempt to stage a comeback.
QBR has been "improved" a few times since its introduction in 2011, according to ESPN. But what does that mean? Nobody knows the formula. They can change it to anything they want, anytime they want, and no what knows what they are doing. Think about that? We are just supposed to take their word for it that their numbers are calculated correctly or that the inputs are correct as well.
Here's the deal. It's perfectly acceptable to have proprietary formulas in many industries. However, you are judged much more critically on your results. If your results show major flaws, as in the Tebow/Rodgers comparison, or the Charlie Batch greatest QBR of all time example, then your product is dumped and you're probably out of business.
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“The consciousness of good intentions disdains ambiguity.” - Alexander Hamilton
