More BTA Rankings: Quarterback | Running Back | Wide Receiver | Tight End
Better Than Average (BTA) was developed to show which players were truly better than their peers when the advantage of the schedule was removed. . This is a true 1:1 measurement because it only considers how well players did against all others who faced a particular defense. It counts up three occurrences:
“8” – When a QB produced one of the top 8 game performances for fantasy points allowed by a defense.
“4” – When a QB scored in the top 4 game performances for fantasy points allowed by a defense.
“1” – Who had the best fantasy game against a defense over the past year. There could only by 32 such events since each defense can only allow one “best game”.
BTA – Simply adding up the 1, 4 and 8 values for a numerical expression of how effective a quarterback truly was last year against all other players in his position. The strength of schedule doesn’t matter. Only what a player produced against all other players in that position against that defense. It is a measurement of player ability against the others in his position.
| Multiple “Best Games” | |
|---|---|
| Peyton Manning | 5 |
| Drew Brees | 5 |
| Andy Dalton | 2 |
| Nick Foles | 2 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 2 |
| Aaron Rodgers | 2 |
Once again, the Manning/Brees difference was profound last year and the rest of the field was merely “good”. Andy Dalton and Colin Kaepernick rose higher in this ranking meaning they were better than the other quarterbacks that faced their opponents even if the overall total wasn’t tops in the league. Surprising was Tony Romo who was no better than Geno Smith or Ryan Fitzpatrick in terms of performance against what opponents were allowing quarterbacks.
This was the year of Brees and Manning. The rest of the position did not often make that much difference and it was an all-time low with only six quarterbacks who had more than one occasion of scoring more fantasy points on a defense than they allowed all year to all other opposing quarterbacks. The position only had minimal injuries really so overall – there was less incidence of “truly better than the rest of the quarterbacks” than ever before. Nick Foles and Andrew Luck were two new comers with promise worth noting.
| NAME | BTA | 1 | 4 | 8 | NAME | BTA | 1 | 4 | 8 | NAME | BTA | 1 | 4 | 8 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Peyton Manning | 29 | 5 | 11 | 13 | Russell Wilson | 13 | 1 | 4 | 8 | Michael Vick | 6 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Drew Brees | 27 | 5 | 9 | 13 | Robert Griffin III | 12 | 1 | 4 | 7 | Mike Glennon | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 |
| Andy Dalton | 20 | 2 | 8 | 10 | Aaron Rodgers | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | Brandon Weeden | 5 | 1 | 2 | 2 |
| Colin Kaepernick | 18 | 1 | 4 | 13 | Alex Smith | 11 | 0 | 3 | 8 | Jake Locker | 5 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
| Andrew Luck | 17 | 1 | 6 | 10 | Ryan Tannehill | 11 | 0 | 4 | 7 | Matt Cassel | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Matt Ryan | 16 | 0 | 6 | 10 | Geno Smith | 10 | 1 | 2 | 7 | Sam Bradford | 5 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| Cam Newton | 15 | 1 | 5 | 9 | Tony Romo | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | Terrelle Pryor | 5 | 0 | 0 | 5 |
| Matthew Stafford | 15 | 0 | 6 | 9 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | 9 | 1 | 3 | 5 | Case Keenum | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Nick Foles | 15 | 2 | 5 | 8 | Jay Cutler | 8 | 0 | 2 | 6 | E.J. Manuel | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Tom Brady | 15 | 1 | 5 | 9 | Joe Flacco | 7 | 0 | 1 | 6 | Eli Manning | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Philip Rivers | 14 | 0 | 4 | 10 | Matt Schaub | 7 | 1 | 3 | 3 | Matthew McGloin | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
| Ben Roethlisberger | 13 | 2 | 4 | 7 | Jason Campbell | 6 | 0 | 3 | 3 | Brian Hoyer | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 |
| Carson Palmer | 13 | 0 | 5 | 8 | Josh McCown | 6 | 0 | 2 | 4 | Chad Henne | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 |
