Comparing Philip Rivers and Carson Palmer: Interpolating Some Data

Damali Binta – Apr 30, 2012

You can expect the rivalry between the Oakland Raiders and the San Diego Chargers to be as fierce as it has been in the past. The first game of the regular season in 2012 will be exhilarating. You can count on it!

Now you may categorize this discussion as a fantasy football discussion, but I see it as a simplistic model to get some comparisons of two quarterbacks: one who played 16 games and the other who played 10 games in 2011.

The data for Philip Rivers shows that he played 16 games in 2011. Carson Palmer played only 10 games. Hence, Rivers played 60 percent more games than Palmer.

A simplistic model to get a comparison could include a calculation of the number of yards for Palmer based on the 60 percent difference in playing time. Let's calculate 60 percent of the total yardage for Palmer and add that number to the reported 2753. This would give us 4404.8, assuming Palmer played six additional games, and assuming that all other variables are constant.

If this is done, we can say that Palmer's performance would be less than that of Philip's. In another category, we can see that Philip's had 27 touchdowns. Again, using the 60 percent, we can calculate that Palmer could have had 20.8 touchdowns, if he played 16 games in 2011, and, again, assuming that all other variables are constant.

Again the number of touchdowns for Palmer would be less than those of Philips.

The completion percentage for Palmer is extremely close to that of Philips. This suggests that Palmer is extremely accurate when the context of his situation is favorable.

With this in mind, if Palmer would have had more opportunities to throw the football, the data suggests that his completion percentage would have exceeded that of Philips. I conjecture that Palmer can hit an accurate target better than Philips. I also conjecture that Palmer needs better weapons or better wide receivers to grab his "bombs."

Historically, the average for the Oakland Raiders is above the average for the San Diego Chargers, if you observe the data throughout the history of the franchises.

Now that Palmer has had more time to adjust to the team, learn the playbook and get to know his teammates, I conjecture that some phenomenal plays are going to be completed in 2012.

Fasten your seat belts, Raider Nation, and get ready for an exciting journey for more victories in 2012.