Stampede Blue
Thanks to the nflFastR project, Pro Football Focus and NFL NextGen Stats for the timely sources of data.
For those of you new to this, I will publish key QB stats each week judging how well the Colts’ QB performed. Yes, O-Line, receivers, and play-calling impact these numbers but they are primarily QB measures. I will probably modify the charts throughout the season. Commentary will be brief but feel free to let me know in the comments that stats aren’t everything. (click charts for larger view)
For the 3rd consecutive week, Daniel Jones was one of the NFL’s most efficient passers, placing 2nd in EPA efficiency and 2nd in success rate — continuing a hot start that few saw coming. We’ve seen poorly performing quarterbacks change teams and catch fire before — Sam Darnold, Ryan Tannehill — but it’s an extremely rare phenomenon. Here’s to hoping Jones can sustain it all season.
Jones wasn’t just consistent throughout the game — he also limited his mistakes. His good plays were very good, and his bad plays weren’t all that costly. That kind of steady performance beats the occasional highlight reel every time.
For the trailing week comparison, I switched the view to only Daniel Jones rather than the Colts, so you can see how his first 3 games in an Indy uniform stack up against where he was on the Giants. As you can see, its night and day.
He’s posted a ridiculous completion rate this year, and it’s translating into big yards per attempt. Week 3 was no exception, as he piled up first downs all game long.
The high completion rate is that much more impressive because it is NOT coming off of checkdowns.
He continues to spread the ball around well.
Warren and Pittman are neck in neck in total yards, but the tight end wins the target count.
This is pretty much what you want to see — receivers with good EPA stretched across various depths.
On the season, all the receivers except Mitchell are adding positive EPA per target.
His completion percentage remains high, although his CPOE dipped a bit in Week 3 due to the slightly shorter average pass length.
Jones was never known as a strong deep passer before joining the Colts, but now he’s actually performing better on longer throws than on the shorter ones.
His time to throw ticked up this week while his passing depth dropped a bit — usually the opposite of what you want to see. But with good protection and minimal pressure, it’s not a major concern… at least for now.
He attacked the right side of the field this week, and it paid off for him.
On the season, his throws are now fairly balanced across the field, though the short passes over the middle haven’t really paid off.
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