Passer Rating, QBR, and ANY/A

Passer Rating, QBR, and ANY/A

NFL Passer Rating
NFL Passer Rating is the official quarterback metric used by the NFL. It has been the league's standard measure of passing efficiency since 1973.

Passer rating is calculated using four components drawn from a quarterback's box score stats:
  1. Completion percentage
  2. Yards per attempt
  3. Touchdown percentage (TDs per attempt)
  4. Interception percentage (INTs per attempt)
The exact formula can be found here. PFR also has a passer rating calculator where you can plug in a QB's statistics.

QBR
ESPN introduced its Total Quarterback Rating in 2011 as way of addressing some of the shortcomings of the traditional passer rating formula. Unlike passer rating, which is capped at 158.3, QBR is measured on a 0-100 scale. 

While the exact formula is propietary and thus not publicly known, it uses play-by-play data to factor in things like QB rushing, sacks, and game situations (i.e. garbage time stats count for less in the QBR formula, whereas all passes are treated the same using traditional passer rating).

ANY/A (Adjusted Net Yards per Attempt)
ANY/A is a rate stat that estimates how many yards a quarterback contributes per pass attempt, after adjusting for touchdowns, interceptions, and sacks. Unlike passer rating and QBR, ANY/A is presented as a yards per attempt statistic rather than a scale with a fixed upper bound. It is calculated using the following formula:

(Passing Yards + 20 × TD − 45 × INT − Sack Yards) ÷ (Pass Attempts + Sacks)

Comparison Table

CategoryPasser Rating
QBR
ANY/A
Scale0–158.30–100Yards (typically 4–10)
Includes rushing?NoYesNo
Includes sacks?NoYesYes
Accounts for leverage/clutch?NoYesNo
Methodology public?YesPartiallyYes
Historical availability1932–present2006–present1932–present
Data requiredBox scorePlay-by-playBox score

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