 Like any sport football has a number of statistics that are tracked in order to compare one player to the next Because the nature of the offensive positions like quarterback and running back are so different each position has its own set of statistics So let's take a look at some of the most common you'll hear talked about on the offensive side We'll start with the running backs The simplest stat for rushers is carries Which is simply the number of plays in which they receive the handoff or carry the ball Another common stat would be the number of rushing yards a player has a key element to remember from this stat Which will also hold true for a few others We'll see in a moment is that the number of yards starts at the line of scrimmage So even if the running back receives the handoff five yards behind the line of scrimmage and runs forward ten yards It will technically have been a five-yard run that is the five yards from the line of scrimmage forward Something else to note here is that if a running back is to receive a handoff and then is tackled behind the line of scrimmage He will be credited with negative rushing yards a third stat for running backs is the yards per carry Which is simply the number of rushing yards divided by the number of carries Two half backs may have the same amount of rushing yards But the player who did it in half of the rushing attempts are half the number of carries is obviously more impressive Let's move on to receivers who will be catching the ball rather than having it handed to them Even still their stats are actually pretty similar to running back stats The receivers equivalent to the number of carries is the reception which is a simple count of the number of times they have caught a pass Receiving yards are the ground gained from those passes Although like rushing yards the count is made from the line of scrimmage to the spot where the receiver is tackled Even if the quarterback drops back 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage that distance in the backfield is not counted You may also see a stat called yards after catch Which is some indication of how good a receiver is at evading defensive players For example, our first receiver can run forward 10 yards turn around catch the ball and then get tackled on the spot Our second receiver might run forward five yards make the catch run forward five more yards and then be tackled Both of these plays resulted in 10 receiving yards But the first receiver had zero yards after the catch while the second guy had five yards after the catch Again, this tells us a little bit about how good the receiver is at avoiding being tackled But as we saw here the root in the defense of positioning also factor in You might also hear someone reference yards per reception, which is kind of like yards per carry It's simply the number of receiving yards divided by the number of receptions The third offensive position we'll look at is the quarterback who probably has the most stats connected to him To start simple we have pass attempts, which is self descriptive just the number of times the passer has thrown the ball Next we have passes completed, which are the number of pass attempts that have been caught by a receiver Passing yards are similar to receiving and rushing yards again The yards are not counted until the line of scrimmage, but all yards after the catch are included in passing yards as well You will likely see a ratio of touchdown passes to interceptions thrown pop up at some point Touchdown passes, of course being the number of passes that resulted in a touchdown and interceptions being pass attempts that were caught by the defense Yards per completion can be difficult to compare from one quarterback to the next Because some teams will emphasize many short passes rather than rushing plays and fewer but longer passes But you kind of get the idea Finally a negative aspect of being the quarterback is that you will be holding the ball so much And therefore you will be chased by a lot of guys who are trying to tackle you If these defenders are successful and tackle the quarterback behind the line of scrimmage It will count as a sack both for the quarterback and the defensive team If a quarterback is able to slip away from the defenders, however He can run the ball himself and pick up some rushing yards of his own