Offline
I put these together because I wanted to try to make sense of the statistical factors that have led to a few different perceptions about our QB situation this was done more for myself but felt I would share.
All the statistics here were pieces together from Pro Football Reference and Football Outsiders.
2018 Brees vs 2019 Bridgewater
Pass Comp Rate 74.44% vs 69.43%
WR Drop Rate 4.5% vs 8.28%
Yards per Comp 10.97 vs 9.99
Air Yards per Comp 5.95 vs 4.46
2018 Saints vs 2019 Saints
Offensive False Starts per Game .66 vs 1
Offensive Holding per Game 1 vs 2.33
Offensive Passing Interference per Game .05 vs 0
Pass as % of Offensive Plays 54% vs 59%
Average Yards per Carry 4.2 vs 4.2
Average Starting Field Position Own 31.5 vs Own 23
Average Drive Length 39.89 vs 33.31
2018 Saints vs Saints Last 4 Games
Points Allowed per Game 21.8 vs 14.3
Points Scored by Def + ST per Game .78 vs 3.5
Point Differential Avg 9.53 vs 5.5
When you play from a position of the lead or you have a stout defense that is keeping points off the board offensively you are going to just take less risks and with less risks you traditionally have less rewards. The rewards here being points.
Statistically speaking the offense is producing around 14 points less per game on average when you factor in the game's point differential last year versus this year and the relative points scored by the defense and special teams.
[7.5 pt per game fewer allowed + 2.72 more points per game scored = 10.22 points from Defense and Special Teams]
[Point differential between last year and the last four games fell by 3.93 points]
[10.22 + 3.93 = 14.15 points per game]
Looking at the quarterback play alone, I don't see a 14 point difference between Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater in the statistics a full year of Drew shows that his yards per attempt is only 10% better than Teddy's but our drives have fallen off by 20%.
Couple the drops with a significant increase in offensive penalty yards (nearly triple) and you have a fairly strong explanation for why we're not sustaining drives as long. If you aren't sustaining drives as long but, your starting with worse field position your going to score less points.
So my point in all this is more to say that the scoring issues we have right now potentially may not be solved regardless of whom is playing QB. We need our offense to stop putting itself in the hole as frequently as they do. We need our wide receivers to drop fewer catch-able passes. We need our return specialist to be less feast or famine and get us better field position on returnable kicks. When those three things happen and if we can continue to allow fewer points on defense like we have while scoring points on special teams and defense, we're going to be an unstoppable force regardless of who is playing QB.
All the statistics here were pieces together from Pro Football Reference and Football Outsiders.
2018 Brees vs 2019 Bridgewater
Pass Comp Rate 74.44% vs 69.43%
WR Drop Rate 4.5% vs 8.28%
Yards per Comp 10.97 vs 9.99
Air Yards per Comp 5.95 vs 4.46
2018 Saints vs 2019 Saints
Offensive False Starts per Game .66 vs 1
Offensive Holding per Game 1 vs 2.33
Offensive Passing Interference per Game .05 vs 0
Pass as % of Offensive Plays 54% vs 59%
Average Yards per Carry 4.2 vs 4.2
Average Starting Field Position Own 31.5 vs Own 23
Average Drive Length 39.89 vs 33.31
2018 Saints vs Saints Last 4 Games
Points Allowed per Game 21.8 vs 14.3
Points Scored by Def + ST per Game .78 vs 3.5
Point Differential Avg 9.53 vs 5.5
When you play from a position of the lead or you have a stout defense that is keeping points off the board offensively you are going to just take less risks and with less risks you traditionally have less rewards. The rewards here being points.
Statistically speaking the offense is producing around 14 points less per game on average when you factor in the game's point differential last year versus this year and the relative points scored by the defense and special teams.
[7.5 pt per game fewer allowed + 2.72 more points per game scored = 10.22 points from Defense and Special Teams]
[Point differential between last year and the last four games fell by 3.93 points]
[10.22 + 3.93 = 14.15 points per game]
Looking at the quarterback play alone, I don't see a 14 point difference between Drew Brees and Teddy Bridgewater in the statistics a full year of Drew shows that his yards per attempt is only 10% better than Teddy's but our drives have fallen off by 20%.
Couple the drops with a significant increase in offensive penalty yards (nearly triple) and you have a fairly strong explanation for why we're not sustaining drives as long. If you aren't sustaining drives as long but, your starting with worse field position your going to score less points.
So my point in all this is more to say that the scoring issues we have right now potentially may not be solved regardless of whom is playing QB. We need our offense to stop putting itself in the hole as frequently as they do. We need our wide receivers to drop fewer catch-able passes. We need our return specialist to be less feast or famine and get us better field position on returnable kicks. When those three things happen and if we can continue to allow fewer points on defense like we have while scoring points on special teams and defense, we're going to be an unstoppable force regardless of who is playing QB.