Teams that consistently move the sticks tend be the teams that win consistently. It follows that quarterbacks that move the sticks consistently are very good quarterbacks; quarterbacks that fail at this most basic of football tasks are usually not very good.
The simplest way to measure a QB’s ability to move the sticks is to add up his passing and rushing first downs and divide them by his number of dropbacks and runs. The resulting QB first-down percentage (or 1D%) may not be perfect, but it removes some of the inconsistencies that plague some other stats:
- It does not reward a QB for completing a 15-yard pass on 3rd-and-16 (like passer rating or YPA do)
- It does not reward the QB for throwing a screen pass that the RB takes 80 yards for a TD (like EPA and many other stats do).