2020 December

Week 16 (2020) Passing Stats: Brady Hits Peak Performance

by Chase Stuart on December 31, 2020

Previously:

Was this the best game of Tom Brady‘s career? Blaspehmy, you say. Given the year and the opponent, that’s probably true. Against Miami in 2007, Brady had a game where he went 21 for 25 for 354 yards with 6 touchdowns and no interceptions and one sack, putting up a perfect 158.3 passer rating and averaging 17.85 ANY/A. That went down as the 17th highest single-game ANY/A performance since 1970. New England opened that game with touchdowns on each of their first four drives, and five out of their first six.

But this may have been, statistically speaking, Brady’s second most efficient performance ever, at least without any opponent or era adjustments. Against the Lions, Brady completed 22 of 27 passes for 348 yards and 4 touchdowns, with no interceptions and just one sack. One of about 100 games since 1970 where a quarterback averaged at least 15 ANY/A on 20+ passes. The Bucs scored a touchdown on 5 of their first 6 drives, picking up a whopping 405 yards. That was all in the first half, which was more than enough: Brady did not return to the game after halftime, with the Bucs ahead 34-0.

The full week 16 passing stats below.

Rk	Passer	Team	Opp	Result	Att	Yd	TD	INT	1D	Sk	Yd	FL	AdjY/DB	DB	VALUE
1	Tom Brady	TAM	DET	W 47-7	27	348	4	0	17	1	7	0	19.21	28	289
2	Brandon Allen	CIN	HOU	W 37-31	37	371	2	0	18	0	0	0	15.00	37	226
3	Josh Allen	BUF	NWE	W 38-9	36	320	4	0	17	0	0	0	14.36	36	197
4	Andy Dalton	DAL	PHI	W 37-17	30	377	3	1	13	2	15	0	14.59	32	182
5	Ryan Fitzpatrick	MIA	LVR	W 26-25	13	182	1	0	6	0	0	0	19.00	13	131
6	Derek Carr	LVR	MIA	L 25-26	34	336	1	0	15	3	22	0	12.43	37	131
7	Deshaun Watson	HOU	CIN	L 31-37	33	324	3	0	14	1	2	1	12.68	34	129
8	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	TEN	W 40-14	25	231	4	1	14	1	17	0	13.04	26	108
9	Drew Brees	NOR	MIN	W 52-33	26	311	0	2	13	0	0	0	13.00	26	107
10	Matt Ryan	ATL	KAN	L 14-17	35	300	2	0	17	4	23	0	11.59	39	105
11	Ben Roethlisberger	PIT	IND	W 28-24	49	341	3	0	18	1	9	0	10.54	50	82
12	Mitchell Trubisky	CHI	JAX	W 41-17	35	265	2	1	18	1	2	0	11.17	36	82
13	Kirk Cousins	MIN	NOR	L 33-52	41	291	3	0	17	2	17	0	10.70	43	77
14	Blaine Gabbert	TAM	DET	W 47-7	15	143	2	0	5	1	7	0	12.69	16	61
15	Justin Herbert	LAC	DEN	W 19-16	33	253	1	0	12	2	26	0	9.89	35	35
16	C.J. Beathard	SFO	ARI	W 20-12	22	182	3	0	11	3	11	1	10.12	25	31
17	Taylor Heinicke	WAS	CAR	L 13-20	19	137	1	0	6	1	7	0	9.75	20	17
18	Lamar Jackson	BAL	NYG	W 27-13	26	183	2	0	10	0	0	1	9.42	26	14
19	Patrick Mahomes	KAN	ATL	W 17-14	44	278	2	1	14	0	0	0	8.66	44	-10
20	Russell Wilson	SEA	LAR	W 20-9	32	225	1	0	10	5	28	0	8.05	37	-31
21	Sam Darnold	NYJ	CLE	W 23-16	32	175	2	0	10	2	16	0	7.97	34	-31
22	Jarrett Stidham	NWE	BUF	L 9-38	11	44	0	0	2	1	2	0	5.00	12	-47
23	Daniel Jones	NYG	BAL	L 13-27	41	252	1	0	16	6	37	0	7.87	47	-48
24	Jalen Hurts	PHI	DAL	L 17-37	39	342	1	2	12	3	16	1	7.26	42	-69
25	Cam Newton	NWE	BUF	L 9-38	10	34	0	0	1	2	20	0	1.92	12	-84
26	David Blough	DET	TAM	L 7-47	10	49	0	1	1	1	10	0	0.27	11	-95
27	Teddy Bridgewater	CAR	WAS	W 20-13	28	197	1	1	11	4	30	1	5.69	32	-103
28	Chase Daniel	DET	TAM	L 7-47	18	86	0	0	3	3	29	0	4.00	21	-103
29	Philip Rivers	IND	PIT	L 24-28	34	270	1	1	10	5	32	1	6.26	39	-103
30	Jared Goff	LAR	SEA	L 9-20	43	234	0	1	15	3	18	0	6.65	46	-103
31	Tua Tagovailoa	MIA	LVR	W 26-25	22	94	1	0	4	3	23	0	4.72	25	-104
32	Mike Glennon	JAX	CHI	L 17-41	37	211	2	2	10	1	8	0	5.92	38	-113
33	Ryan Tannehill	TEN	GNB	L 14-40	24	121	1	2	9	2	17	0	4.08	26	-125
34	Drew Lock	DEN	LAC	L 16-19	47	264	0	2	15	2	1	0	6.29	49	-128
35	Kyler Murray	ARI	SFO	L 12-20	50	247	0	1	9	3	17	0	5.02	53	-206
36	Dwayne Haskins	WAS	CAR	L 13-20	28	154	0	2	4	2	6	1	1.47	30	-223
37	Baker Mayfield	CLE	NYJ	L 16-23	53	285	0	0	12	4	31	2	4.60	57	-245

Baker Mayfield was the worst passer of the week, but there’s a decently large asterisk there: the Browns were down two starters on the offensive line (including the team’s first round pick, left tackle Jedrick Wills), and the team’s top four wide receivers Jarvis Landry, Rashard Higgins, Donovan Peoples-Jones, and KhaDarel Hodge — in addition to Odell Beckham. So for Mayfield, his top two wide receivers were Marvin Hall and Ja’Marcus Bradley, who both played nearly every snap in their first game ever in a Browns uniform. The results were not very good.

The other notable event of the week was Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs losing the passing efficiency battle and still winning, something that is very rare in Kansas City these days. But sometimes it does come down to the kicking game, and for Kansas City, Harrison Butker hit a 53-yarder in the 4th quarter while Younghoe Koo missed a 39-yard field goal in the final seconds that would have forced overtime. The Chiefs also had a decided advantage in the rushing game, picking up 9 first downs on 20 carries to Atlanta’s four on 21 attempts.