Passer Rating vs EPA

Passer rating is the NFL's official formula: it combines completion %, yards per attempt, touchdown rate and interception rate, caps each piece, and scales the total so 158.3 is perfect. It is easy to compare across decades, but it ignores sacks, rushing and the situation (a 6-yard completion on 3rd and 5 counts the same as on 3rd and 10).

EPA (expected points added) measures how much each play changed the points a team could expect to score next. It counts sacks and scrambles, and it knows the down, distance and field position. That is why EPA per dropback is our primary ranking.

We show both. Passer rating is the number most readers know; EPA is the better measure of what each play did.