Professional Football Researchers Association Forum

http://www.thegridfe.com/2016/05/26/reg ... djustment/

REGULAR SEASON QBGOAT IX: CAREER SOFT INFLATION ADJUSTMENT

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Trying to compare QB's from different eras using ratings is tricky. I came up with a normalized Passer Rating system and wrote an article about it in the Coffin Corner in 2010 if I remember correctly. I was pleased with the results in that it made for a good blend of passers from all eras. Here were the list of top 25 in career Passer Rating and career Normalized Passer Rating thru 2009:

BEST CAREER PR BEST CAREER NPR

RK PASSER PR RK PASSER NPR
1 STEVE YOUNG 96.66 1 OTTO GRAHAM 94.08
2 PEYTON MANNING 94.72 2 SID LUCKMAN 92.00
3 KURT WARNER 93.17 3 SAMMY BAUGH 89.52
4 TOM BRADY 92.94 4 STEVE YOUNG 89.51
5 JOE MONTANA 92.26 5 LEN DAWSON 87.97
6 CARSON PALMER 90.12 6 ROGER STAUBACH 85.77
7 DUANTE CULPEPPER 89.35 7 JOE MONTANA 85.65
8 CHAD PENNINGTON 88.81 8 PEYTON MANNING 83.69
9 MARK BULGER 88.08 9 TOM BRADY 82.03
10 DREW BREES 87.94 10 NORM VAN BROCKLIN 81.60
11 JEFF GARCIA 87.24 11 SONNY JURGENSEN 80.48
12 TRENT GREEN 86.91 12 KURT WARNER 80.36
13 OTTO GRAHAM 86.63 13 FRANKIE ALBERT 80.16
14 DAN MARINO 86.38 14 KEN ANDERSON 79.95
15 MATT HASSELBECK 86.23 15 BOB GRIESE 79.80
16 BRETT FAVRE 85.78 16 FRAN TARKENTON 79.67
17 DONOVAN MCNABB 85.78 17 DAN MARINO 78.40
18 JAKE DELHOMME 85.22 18 BART STARR 77.82
19 RICH GANNON 84.75 19 DARYLE LAMONICA 77.81
20 JIM KELLY 84.39 20 BERT JONES 77.38
21 MARK BRUNELL 84.21 21 JEFF GARCIA 77.08
22 BRIAN GRIESE 83.77 22 JOHN UNITAS 76.57
23 ROGER STAUBACH 83.46 23 DUANTE CULPEPPER 76.54
24 BRAD JOHNSON 83.09 24 YA TITTLE 76.43
25 LEN DAWSON 82.92 25 NEIL LOMAX 75.87

The column to the right has a much higher percentage of HOF calibre QB's than the column to the left and is a definite improvement upon the Passer Rating system.

I was able to use the NPR system and some basic algebra to develop what I call the QB Time Machine, where you take Peyton Manning's career and instead of starting it in 1998, you start it in, say, 1935, and it converts his stats relative season to season, where it converts his 1998 stats to 1935, taking into account the number of games played, the differences between the NFL of 1998 and 1935, and then converts his 1999 stats to 1936, 2000 stats to 1937, and so on, and at the end it will generate career stats that will look radically different from his actual stats. I haven't worked out all the bugs in the system, it's still in it's development stage, but it's fun to play around with, seeing how Otto Graham's stats would translate to the modern era.