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what does pff rank mean

by Dario Turner Published 4 years ago Updated 3 years ago

PFF grading takes into account the quality of the play made to get the sack, and excellent plays to defeat blocks will be graded higher than sacks where the quarterback just happened to be flushed past a player as he was being blocked only to get taken down.

What does PFF stand for?

Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United States.

What is the difference between PFF and other ratings?

In contrast to the purely quantitative ratings released by sources like Football Outsiders, TeamRankings, and numberFire, PFF uses qualitative and opinion-based grading as the root of its 0–100 Player Grades – not its advanced statistics.

What is PFF advanced statistics?

Advanced Statistics. PFF covers every player on every play of every game at the NFL and major college football level. Such in-depth coverage of the game of football has developed and built the most comprehensive analysis of the sport in terms of player and team performance.

What is the PFF grading system?

The PFF grading system evaluates every player on every play during a football game. We believe that #EveryPlayCounts and that attention to detail provides insights and data that cannot be found anywhere else.

What does PFF stand for?

Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a sports analytics company that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United States.

Does the NFL use PFF?

PFF Team Services (Teams, Media, Agents) PFF now works with all 32 NFL teams and a rapidly growing 80+ FBS team clients to gain an edge in their weekly preparation.

What is a good PFF score?

PFF on Twitter: "The Player Grading Scale: 100-90 Elite 89-85 Pro Bowler 84-70 Starter 69-60 Backup 59-0 Replaceable" / Twitter.

What is PFF elite?

All ELITE subscribers get access to Premium Stats 2.0, a stats database that includes PFF's advanced stats and player grades for every NFL player with at least one snap played since 2006. ELITE subscribers can also turn back the clocks and view AAF and XFL player grades and advanced stats.

How accurate is PFF?

Their mathematical rating system isn't exactly foolproof. They try and assign values on a pseudo normalized distribution -2 to +2 range. This implies that two -1 graded plays and a +2 graded play are equivalent to three 0 graded plays where in reality the first set of plays is more valuable.

Who has the highest PFF grade in the NFL?

2021 Snaps: 1,261 | 2021 PFF Grade: 93.5. Donald has been the top-ranked player on this list in four of the last six seasons, and he almost made it once again. Including the postseason, Donald once again topped 100 pressures, accomplishing that feat in four of the last five seasons.

Who has the highest PFF grade?

Taking out the pass-blocking and receiving grades, Indianapolis Colts runner Jonathan Taylor had the highest PFF run grade (88.2) as he led the league in first-down or touchdown rate on the ground.

What is a good PFF grade for an offensive lineman?

Each starter played at least 1,036 of a possible 1,182 snaps over the season, with Ali Marpet the only one to miss a game. If anything, the line was even better in the run game, where every member earned at least a 70.0 PFF grade.

What is a PFF rating?

PFF's wide receiver rating is an individualized statistic that plays off the general knowledge of the passer rating statistic. A quarterback receives a passer rating based off a formula of completions, attempts, yards, touchdowns and interceptions – so at PFF with our unique play-by-play data, we take into account those factors for a wide receiver. In turn, whenever a receiver is targeted, his wide receiver rating (or his passer rating when targeted) is generated. The formula takes into account the total targeted passes to one receiver, the amount of receptions, yards, touchdowns and interceptions on those throws, and gives a rating on a scale of 0.0 to 158.3, the higher the rating the better.

When are safeties given coverage metrics?

The same coverage metrics outlined above are also given to safeties when they are the primary defender in coverage, either pre-snap or post snap after the coverage adjusts per scheme.

Is PFF premium stats?

All of PFF's Signature Stats are available in Premium Stats. Join PFF ELITE and get full access to Premium Stats and more.

Does PFF track missed tackles?

Instead of the normal box score tally of total tackles and assists, PFF also tracks missed tackles similar to how we track missed tackles forced. Did a defender miss a would-be sure tackle on a play? Was it against the run or after the catch? Tackling efficiency gives us a figure for both facets on defense as well as a combined number of total tackle attempts by a defender compared to the amount of missed tackles a player recorded over the course of a game or season.

What is the PFF website?

Pro Football Focus (also written as ProFootballFocus, and often referred to by its initials, PFF) is a website that focuses on thorough analysis of the National Football League (NFL) and NCAA Division-I football in the United States.

Where is PFF located?

PFF was founded by Neil Hornsby in the United Kingdom. Dissatisfied with some limitations of standard statistics, Hornsby began grading players in 2004. The staff gradually expanded over the next few years, and the site was launched in 2007. The 2006 NFL season is the first season for which PFF has complete data. For the 2011 season, PFF provided customized data to three NFL teams, agents, media and NFL players. In 2014, sports commentator and former NFL player Cris Collinsworth bought a majority interest in the service, which moved its operations to Cincinnati, near where Collinsworth lives in Ft. Thomas, Kentucky. PFF began collecting data for every NCAA Division-I college football game in 2014.

How many grades does an offensive lineman get?

Beyond just an overall grade, an offensive lineman receives one grade for pass-blocking and one for run-blocking. The average grade is meant to be zero, and raw grades are normalized. In watching every game, PFF is also able to record information and create data that is typically unavailable.

Is PFF a quantitative rating?

As such, the 0-100 Player Grades are not truly quantitative and could be seen as being prone to bias, poor sample sizing, or other issues.

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How does PFF grade?

PFF grades are based on film study, so they are - without question - subjective on at least some levels; one guy who views the game film might come up with different grades than another guy who views the same game film. That's going to be true of any film grading system; it simply can't be completely avoided. However, when you read PFF's explanation of how they grade, you can see that they have clearly defined rules that their analysts use to grade the film. And while just one analyst (out of many employed by PFF) does the main grading for each game, their grades are reviewed by at least two other people before they are final.

What is PFF interested in?

PFF is only interested in the result of the play - not what was supposed to happen.

What is the common criticism of PFF grades?

A common criticism of PFF grades is that they are published before All-22 game film is available. As MNChiefsfan put it in a comment the other day:

What does C mean in PFF?

C, a designed cutback. So while it is fair to take PFF grading with a grain of salt because it is - by definintion - subjective, it's also fair to say that PFF is making the effort to make their grades as objective as they can through detailed definitions of how grading should be done.

Is PFF weighted equally?

This is a problem with overall PFF grades: performance in all PFF categories is weighted equally, without regard to their relative importance for that position. PFF actually acknowledges this in a backhanded way:

Is PFF grade available before the coaches film?

You're right, Seth... it's not. It is true that PFF grades are available before the coaches film is available. Here's what PFF says about All-22 film:

Is the simple overall grade the most frequently quoted?

So it is up to the individual to evaluate the relative importance of each grading category, which makes the simple overall grade - which, unfortunately, is the one most frequently quoted for a given player - less significant.

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The Grading Scale

  • Each player is given a grade of -2 to +2 in 0.5 increments on a given play with 0 generally being the average or “expected” grade. There are a few exceptions as each position group has different rules, but those are the basics. The zero grade is important as most plays feature many players …
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Who Is Doing The Grading?

  • PFF employs over 600full or part-time analysts, but less than 10% of analysts are trained to thelevel that they can grade plays. Only the top two to three percent of analysts are on the team of “senior analysts” in charge of finalizing each grade after review. Our graders have been training for months, and sometimes years, in order to learn, understand and show masteryof our process th…
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You Don’T Know The Play Call?

  • We are certainly not in the huddle, but we are grading what a player attempts to do on a given play. While football is extremely nuanced regarding the preparation and adjustments that go into each play call, once the ball is snapped, most players are clear in what they’re trying to accomplish on each play, and we evaluate accordingly. Of course, there are always some gray areas in footb…
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Converting The Grades

  • The plus-minus grades are then converted to a 0-100 scale at the game and season level. This makes it easier to compare players across positions relative to their peers, though it doesn’t account for positional value, i.e. which positions are most valuable when trying to predict wins. Season-level grades aren’t simply an average of every game-grade a player compiles over a seas…
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Player Rankings

  • The grades allow for easy player comparisons, whether using an overall grade or a facet grade. While we believe the grade is an excellent baseline for how well a player performed his given role, we also believe the using the entire context is crucial when evaluating players. Perhaps a slot receiver had to playmore than expected on the outside or a nose tackle was forced to play more …
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Grades vs. Stats

  • We aren’t grading players based on the yardage they rack up or the stats they collect. Statistics can be indicative of performance but don’t tell the whole story and can often lie badly. Quarterbacks can throw the ball straight to defenders but if the ball is dropped, you won't see it on the stat sheet. Conversely, they can dump the ball off on a sequence of screen passes and end u…
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How Do We Use It?

  • The PFF grading dates back to 2006 for NFL and 2014 for college football, and we’ve gleaned many unique insights along the way. As mentioned, context is key as each position group comes with its own challenges when trying to isolate each player from a grading perspective. We understand that PFF grade is not perfect, but it’s also a unique look at a player’s production, and …
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