Joe Burrow Dives Into Analytics Discussion: 'EPA, I Don't Know What That Is'

Cincinnati's signal caller did enough to eke out a win this past Sunday.

Oct 20, 2024; Cleveland, Ohio, USA; Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow (9) throws a pass during the first half against the Cleveland Browns at Huntington Bank Field. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-Imagn Images / Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

CINCINNATI — Joe Burrow is one of the league's best quarterbacks in traditional and advanced metrics. The latter of which Burrow hasn't had much time to dive into yet in his career.

He discussed the top statistic that matters to him when evaluating his own play, and some of the advanced numbers he's less familiar with.

"Completion percentage, I would say is the biggest, for the most part, indicator of how you're playing," Burrow noted. "If you can just find completions, get the ball in your guys' hands, then you're going to give them more opportunities to go make plays after the catch, go score touchdowns, get the ball in your playmakers' hands. 

"It's not always going to be the coverage that you expect versus the concept that you call for. It's can you still get a positive gain in those looks? Some of the best plays turn out to be two, or three, or four-yard gains, but maybe you got pressure and you had to slide in the pocket, you get hit, but you find the (running) back, just trying to keep the ball in your guys' hands, give them more opportunities to go make plays."

Burrow ranks fifth among all passers in adjusted EPA/play this season, a number he needs to see the full weighting behind before assessing its value.

"Yeah. QBR," Burrow said about the metrics he doesn't quite understand yet. "I know passer rating is weighted heavily towards touchdowns. Touchdowns don't really necessarily mean you're playing great. You could throw a dime and get tackled at the one and then you run it in. I think yards per attempt is also weighted pretty highly in that and that's pretty dependent on how you play offense. EPA, I don't know what that is. I've never seen the formula for that. Those are the three like advanced analytics that I know. I don't know the other ones."

Burrow is understandably busy trying to pull the Bengals back into the AFC Playoff picture, but everyone else can dive into a definition of EPA here.

Top-10 quarterbacks in total adjusted EPA this season, with a breakdown of adjustments by category pic.twitter.com/qzMJpsYVGo

— Kevin Cole (@KevinCole___) October 23, 2024

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