Third Down: Passing Yards vs Distance Index

See the full explanation of this metric in the New York Times Fifth Down Blog.

I've created a new index to measure third down success among quarterbacks. It’s pretty simple.
The calculation for the index is third down passing yards divided by yards needed for a first down.

So, if Tom Brady faces a 3rd and 5 and he completes a 10 yard pass, his index for that play is 2 (10/5). If Rodgers completes a 10 yard pass on 3rd and 10, his index is 1 (10/10).

Rank	Player	Index
1	Eli Manning	1.16
2	Drew Brees	1.15
3	Peyton Manning	1.10
4	Phillip Rivers	1.07
5	Brett Favre	1.02
6	Matt Schaub	0.97
7	Matt Ryan	0.95
8	Tom Brady	0.94
9	Aaron Rodgers	0.94
10	Carson Palmer	0.93
11	Jason Campbell	0.79
12	Kyle Orton	0.79
13	David Garrard	0.76
14	Joe Flacco	0.76
15	Jay Cutler	0.75
16	Matthew Stafford	0.74
17	Tony Romo	0.74
18	Kurt Warner	0.71
19	Ben Roethlisberger	0.70
20	Shaun Hill	0.66
21	Kerry Collins	0.66
22	Matt Hasselbeck	0.64
23	Josh Johnson	0.62
24	Mark Sanchez	0.62
25	Trent Edwards	0.61
26	Matt Cassel	0.60
27	Donovan McNabb	0.59
28	Marc Bulger	0.53
29	Chad Henne	0.52
30	Brady Quinn	0.51
31	Jake Delhomme	0.50
32	JaMarcus Russell	0.35
33	Derek Anderson	0.30