Tebow Was Better Than Rodgers Last Week

I really like the advanced stats widely available on the internet, but ESPN's new quarterback rating looked off when it said that Tim Tebow played better last week than Aaron Rodgers. From the ESPN NFC North blog:

During his radio show Tuesday on ESPN 540, Rodgers himself said he was "surprised" and "chuckled to myself" upon seeing the rankings on ESPN's television crawl. 

"I played a full game," Rodgers said. "He played a half. He completed four passes. I completed 26 …." 

The stat guys at ESPN did a good job of explaining (it's based on a rating per play, not cumulative for an entire game, it took Tebow's rushing TD into account, etc.). Rodgers scored two touchdowns on 47 "action plays" while it only took Tebow 16 "action plays" to score his two.

It's a funny story, but it doesn't mean Tebow's better, or these advanced stats are dumb. The stats are only useful over a period of time. Many players look great in one game, but it's what happens next week and over the rest of the season that's important.