A fan used stats that go against reality to suggest Geno Smith is a bad quarterback. Smith had himself the last laugh, though.
“Fake stats” are the new “fake news”. Unfortunately, some of those fake stats are really catching on in the ether of sports analysis and being used improperly to look down on players.
Look, I love data, and am totally guilty of going way too deep analyzing topics and finding various stats and even inventing new stats up to distill narratives down to a single number or set of numbers.
But we have to be willing to admit that some stats are just straight-up bogus when used improperly, and I have to say, Geno Smith is right about one stat being used to defraud his performance last year with the Seahawks.
Geno Smith calls out a fan for using a fake stat to defraud his 2022 Seahawks performance
A fan replied to Geno Smith breaking down some coverage last season and said, “Your 43 INT worthy throws certainly shows your mastery of reading coverages” with two laughing emojis.
Smith replied, “Not a real stat”.
Not a real stat https://t.co/uAzkAmsDDf
— Geno (@GenoSmith3) March 24, 2023
The conversation started with another fan replying to a film breakdown video of a deep touchdown pass from Smith to Tyler Lockett last season saying it was, “dumb luck.”
The stat the fan is referring to is “turnover-worthy throws”, a stat popularized by Pro Football Focus. It’s a great context-adding stat, but it’s unfair to use such a downstream stat as a determinant of a player’s results. Stats like this are better used in the periphery.
It’s ironic because fans that will cherry-pick any stat like this to prove their narrative will also fall back on the argument that results are the only thing that truly matters if a team or player is losing a lot with great stats.
Smith led the Seahawks to a 9-8 record last year and led the league in completion percentage, with 30 touchdowns and 11 interceptions.