Win-loss records for pitchers can be just as bad, though. A pitcher on a team with a great offense has a better chance at getting wins than a pitcher on a team that couldn't hit a softball. Even the best pitchers can't throw a shutout every start. Better pitchers will still generally get more wins, and truly great pitchers can partly overcome a poor offense, but every pitcher's win-loss record is affected by it to some degree. It's just that wins are the big, easy, sexy pitcher's stat that people like to throw up. Stats like ERA and WHIP are more under the pitcher's control than wins. And strikeouts by themselves, while under the pitcher's control, don't tell the whole story without other stats. If they did, Nolan Ryan would be the best pitcher in history, and clearly he's not.



Yes, that is all true. But none of it helps make a direct stats-to-stats comparison any more useful in determining which top-level goaltender is better than another. I suspect it's the same for your quarterbacks. The stats aren't 100 percent their own, so stats alone don't tell you which is better.