Way back in 1931, Guy Lombardo's Royal Canadians scored one of their early hits, (There Ought to be a) Moonlight Saving Time.
Well there ought to be a new statistical category for rating NFL quarterbacks. It can be called the "Productivity Index" — designed to reward "gunslingers" while penalizing "game managers."
Here is how it would work:
Step 1 — Determine average number of attempts per game.
Step 2 — Add the average number of times sacked per game to average attempts per game.
Step 3 — Subtract the average number of yards lost on sacks per game from the average number of total passing yards per game.
Step 4 — Multiply the number of total attempts, including sacks, by the passer rating.
The result is the Productivity Index.
To see the Productivity Index in action, let's tell the tale of two quarterbacks at opposite ends of the attempts spectrum: Justin Herbert and Sam Darnold.
Herbert has dropped back to pass 391 times, including getting sacked 33 times. Since the Chargers have played 10 games (and are 7-3), that's an average of 39.1 pass plays per game — and 2,610 passing yards passing yards by Herbert minus 195 yards lost on sacks equals 2,415 net passing yards, or 241.5 yards per game. Multiply 39.1 by 96.7, Herbert's passer rating, and the result is 23,353.
Meanwhile, Darnold has been involved in 238 pass plays (26.4 per game), including 10 sacks for 62 yards' worth of losses. Since the Seahawks have played nine games (and at 7-2, lead the NFC West on tiebreakers over the Rams), and because Darnold has thrown for 2,262 yards, he has exactly 2,200 net yards passing (244.4 per game). Multiply 238 by his passer rating of 116.5 and the result is 27,727.
But if the Justin Herbert vs. Sam Darnold comparison does not seem to validate the Productivity Index, then the comparison between Dak Prescott and Jalen Hurts does.
Prescott has dropped back to pass 344 times (38.2 pass plays per game), including the 15 times he has been sacked, at a cost of 98 yards. With "America's Team" having played nine games, his 2,221 net passing yards comes out to 246.8 yards per game. Multiply 344 by 98.8, Prescott's passer rating, and the result is 33,987 (in these and all other examples, the index is always rounded to the nearest full point).
Hurts has participated in just 266 pass plays (29.6 per game; he has been sacked 25 times for 135 lost yards). The Eagles, who are 7-2 and lead the NFC East by a comical three and a half games (Dallas is 3-5-1), are averaging 206.7 net yards passing per game, which would have led the league by a country mile in 1977, the last year before the "chuck rule" was adopted, but is "good" for 25th so far this season (Hurts has taken every snap for Philadelphia in 2025). Multiply 266 by Hurts' passer rating of 112.0, and the result is 29,792.
So clearly Prescott is having a more productive season than Hurts — which will no doubt please Dallas fans no end.
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