I started to respond to @Kyrie Eleison in another thread where he was talking up Joe Burrow. Before realizing it, I'd done a complete statistical comparison to Sam. 🤣
Despite my best intentions to wait for the fall to do a writeup gonna leave it here instead of sitting on it for 7 months. Significant difference are highlighted.
Sam Ehlinger (Joe Burrow)
3,292 yds (2,894) -398 yds
64.7% completions (57.8%) -6.9%
7.7 yds PA (7.6 YPA) -0.1
25 TDs (16) -9 TDs
5.9% TD ratio (4.2%) -1.7% TD ratio
6 INTs (5) -1 INT
1.41% INT ratio (1.32%) -0.09% INT ratio
26 sacks (35) +9 sacks
5.76% sack ratio (8.46%) +2.70% sack ratio
146.8 QBR (133.2) -13.6 QBR
678 rushing yds (589) -89 yds - sacks excluded
4.9 YPC (6.3) +1.4 YPC
16 rush TDs (7) -9 TDs
Burrow has no significant advantage over Sam in any passing category. Sam has large advantages in completion percentage, passing TDs, TD ratio, sacks, sack ratio and QBR. Burrow has a better per carry average running the ball. this is offset by Sam's greater scoring ability and bigger threat in short yardage generally.
In most passing stats, Burrow is below average even in the SEC - which we've seen doesn't really challenge QBs to make tough reads. He's #12 of 14 in pass efficiency, #8 in YPA, #11 in completion % and #10 in TDs passing. Joe Burrow does 2 things very well: ball security and situational running. Outside of that, he's quite average.
Burrow is a gritty dual-threat guy who's enough of a passer you can't totally load up against the run. Unlike Jake Fromm, he's mobile and doesn't lose a lot of accuracy when forced to throw in the move. Joe Burrow is a good fit for LSU's offense but he's no Sam Ehlinger.