Dean Oliver, Director of Analytics at ESPN Stats and Info, joins the show to discuss ESPN’s quarterback measurement tool, QBR. Dean led the development of QBR, and has shepherded its development since its release in 2011.
Dave and Dean begin the show with a trip back in time to Dean’s childhood in Hawaii, where he explains how he first became interested in statistics and developed his own baseball simulation dice games to play with friends.
They then discuss QBR in depth, looking specifically at the types of questions it is designed to answer. Dean explains how QBR’s component parts work together to describe a Quarterback’s contributions to his team’s success. He also discusses why certain QBs may surprise people with their ratings, and why we’ll be talking about Andrew Luck for years to come. Finally, they end the episode by covering how the stat has changed and improved since its inception, and look at how the college version of QBR differs from its professional counterpart.
