Explaining Our New Player Ratings System

You may have noticed the new page at the top of the site, entitled “Player Ratings”. If you visited the page, you read a small description about the ratings, but this post will explain it even more. It’s really not that complicated, but as a weird guy, I like to make it sound more complicated than it is. Don’t worry, though, it really is easy. Read on to find out.

Click “Continue Reading” to see the logic and genius behind EbonyBird.com’s mind-blowing player ratings system.

So, let’s try to get this done as quickly and easily as possible. Here’s how our ratings are determined:

• Overall Effectiveness: The most important part of the ratings, this part of the ratings, naturally coined “OE”, is a very general rating. In essence, it’s basically how will you remember this player’s performance in the big picture? If they had an incredible, career game that was the best of the season, it would be a 10. If they were just terrible, it might be closer to that 1 part of the ratings spectrum. While there’s no specific mathematical formula balancing the separate factors, the OE will be the most important factor, unless one of the others is just beyond amazing.
• Big Play Factor: This factor, called “BPF”, will be determined by, you guessed it, how common they were involved in “big plays”. We won’t say this is a set yardage gain of over 20 yards or anything statistical like that, but it’s pretty safe to say that any knowledgeable fan will know when to say “THAT was a BIG PLAY!!!”. Whether it’s a massive gain or a huge defensive stop (see Ray Lewis in San Diego last season), the BPF can be a big factor if the big plays were absolutely essential to a good performance in the game.
• Lack of Mistakes: This factor can be a big one. If Joe Flacco throws five interceptions in a game, or if Domonique Foxworth produces an 88-yard pass interference penalty, you can bet this will be a big factor. It will be called “LM”, and will be especially important for rookies, guys with a lack of experience, or guys who are consistently inconsistent.
• Noticeability: This factor will never be the #1 factor in a player’s rating, but can be a big factor in putting the player’s rating over the edge between an average rating and a very good one. It will be called “NOT”, and a high rating is earned by consistently being involved in plays, doing well when involved, and basically setting off a reaction of “Wow, he’s been all over the place today.” A receiver with a good amount of receptions could get a high rating, a defensive lineman with lots of pressure on the quarterback, or Sam Koch booting a healthy amount of effective punts. (But since he’s Superman and all, his punts will be downed on the 1-yard line every time.)

Now, that was a lot of words for a pretty basic ratings system, but let me give you a quick example. Here’s just a pretend write-up I’ll do for a hypothetical performance from Ray Rice:

Ray Rice runs for 102 yards on 18 carries, but the rushing stats are slightly deceptive because of a 61-yard touchdown rush he had early in the 2nd quarter. With 6 receptions for 38 yards, he was a last-look completion for Joe Flacco and helped relieve some pressure on the unibrowed passer. With the 61-yard touchdown and an additional 14-yard receiving touchdown, Rice was smelling the endzone in today’s game. Apart from the successes, Rice lost a fumble in the third quarter inside the redzone and missed a key pass block on a third down which resulted in a Joe Flacco sack, Sam Koch punt and a eventually, a touchdown for the opposition.

Here’s what I’d give Ray Rice in terms of ratings for this game, just by reading this write-up:

• OE: 7.5
• BPF: 9
• LM: 3
• NOT: 8
• Overall Rating: 8.5

So a solid game from our favorite Rutgers alum. Now that you’re comfortable with the ratings system, I hope that we’ll have spirited debate this season about the ratings the staff agrees upon, and we’ll be starting with the first pre-season game against the Carolina Panters.