where's th'fish
Scout Team
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One thing to remember about that statistic, is that it is skewed towards better run games. For example, if we have 2 QB's who always throw the ball 10 yards through the air, here's how it would play out.
Team A has a great run game, so first down, they gain 6 yards. Then on 2nd and 4 the defense puts 8 men into the box, and the QB throws against a run defense, completing a pass traveling 10 yards in the air ... that's +6 ALEX, because it's 4 yards to the first down, then +6 because the pass traveled 10 yards in the air (10-4=6).
Team B has no run game, so on first down they run and gain 2 yards. Then on 2nd and 8 the defense either blitzes or drops 6 guys into coverage, both of which make for a harder situation facing the QB. Still, the QB completes a pass traveling 10 yards in the air, so he has a +2 ALEX, because it is 8 yards to the first down, then +2 because the pass traveled 10 yards in the air (10-8=2). So, the QB on Team B actually had a significantly harder situation because his team's run game was not as good ... and even though he did well, he is rewarded less than the QB that completed an identical pass with the same yardage through the air.
Those sort of stats are the ones that fail to take into account other things, like the team's run game. If you can compare teams with very similar run games, then it has a good usage. But until we compare some of those externalities, it's hard to judge.
This is where it's usually better if we can see the down and distance, score, and know more about the teams. On it's own, it's very hard for any metric to really capture individual performance in such an interdependent team game.
ALEX can be a useful statistic, but it's really a general tool more than a specific one. If I were only allowed one stat, I might consider yards per attempt or TD/INT ratio ... but none of them really capture how well a QB is doing very effectively. Still, good to look at all of them as part of the analysis.
I forgot to mention ALEX is only for 3rd and 4th down plays, so running game doesn't really come into it.