Week 17 Passing Stats: Kirk Cousins Is The Best Quarterback In The Most Irrelevant Game

by Chase Stuart on January 7, 2021

Previously:

Week 17 was understated this year; with several playoff spots locked up, many teams rested starters and treated this like the final week of the preseason. With nothing to play for, the Eagles benched their starting quarterback midway through the game, putting in third stringer Nate Sudfeld. P.J. Walker, Chad Henne, and Mason Rudolph, saw significant action this week, while the Rams and Cardinals played one of the few meaningful games but with John Wolford and Chris Streveler as the starting quarterbacks. Remarkably, it was still a pretty good passing week for the NFL: the league averaged 6.30 ANY/A and a 91.8 passer rating in week 17.

The 5-10 Lions faced the 6-9 Vikings in a true meaningless game that turned out to be the most entertaining game of the early window. Kirk Cousins threw for over 400 yards and had a passer rating over 125; that happened only 6 times in the entire decade of the ’90s, but was the fifth time it happened in the 2020 season.

Perhaps just as impressive was Aaron Rodgers in the afternoon game; he threw for a first down on 52% of his dropbacks, including four touchdown passes, in an easy win over the Bears.

Rk	Passer	Team	Opp	Result	Att	Yd	TD	INT	1D	Sk	Yd	FL	AdjY/DB	DB	VALUE
1	Kirk Cousins	MIN	DET	W 37-35	40	405	3	0	20	3	22	0	13.86	43	220
2	Tom Brady	TAM	ATL	W 44-27	41	399	4	1	20	1	8	0	13.57	42	202
3	Aaron Rodgers	GNB	CHI	W 35-16	24	240	4	0	13	1	3	0	15.92	25	179
4	Justin Herbert	LAC	KAN	W 38-21	31	302	3	0	16	3	21	0	13.47	34	160
5	Drew Lock	DEN	LVR	L 31-32	41	339	2	0	15	2	15	0	11.19	43	105
6	Matthew Stafford	DET	MIN	L 35-37	31	293	3	1	12	1	5	0	12.00	32	104
7	Deshaun Watson	HOU	TEN	L 38-41	39	365	3	1	16	4	24	0	11.00	43	97
8	Josh Allen	BUF	MIA	W 56-26	25	224	3	1	13	1	11	0	12.23	26	90
9	Cam Newton	NWE	NYJ	W 28-14	30	242	3	0	14	3	23	0	11.45	33	89
10	Matt Barkley	BUF	MIA	W 56-26	13	164	1	1	6	0	0	0	14.15	13	70
11	Chad Henne	KAN	LAC	L 21-38	32	218	2	0	13	1	1	0	10.79	33	67
12	Ryan Tannehill	TEN	HOU	W 41-38	27	216	1	0	10	2	12	0	10.52	29	51
13	Mason Rudolph	PIT	CLE	L 22-24	39	315	2	1	13	1	8	0	10.03	40	51
14	Derek Carr	LVR	DEN	W 32-31	38	371	2	2	13	3	12	0	9.95	41	49
15	Drew Brees	NOR	CAR	W 33-7	32	201	3	0	11	2	10	0	9.50	34	25
16	Baker Mayfield	CLE	PIT	W 24-22	27	196	1	0	13	4	30	0	9.48	31	23
17	Daniel Jones	NYG	DAL	W 23-19	25	229	2	1	13	2	18	1	9.44	27	19
18	Kyler Murray	ARI	LAR	L 7-18	11	87	0	0	5	2	16	0	8.92	13	2
19	Matt Ryan	ATL	TAM	L 27-44	44	265	2	0	17	1	7	1	8.51	45	-11
20	Lamar Jackson	BAL	CIN	W 38-3	18	113	3	1	5	0	0	0	8.11	18	-12
21	C.J. Beathard	SFO	SEA	L 23-26	37	273	1	0	14	3	31	1	8.23	40	-21
22	Philip Rivers	IND	JAX	W 28-14	27	164	1	1	9	0	0	0	7.81	27	-25
23	Sam Darnold	NYJ	NWE	L 14-28	34	266	1	2	14	3	27	0	7.73	37	-38
24	Chris Streveler	ARI	LAR	L 7-18	16	105	1	1	5	2	10	0	5.89	18	-52
25	Russell Wilson	SEA	SFO	W 26-23	36	181	2	0	11	2	22	0	7.37	38	-53
26	John Wolford	LAR	ARI	W 18-7	38	231	0	1	12	2	8	0	7.15	40	-64
27	Mitchell Trubisky	CHI	GNB	L 16-35	42	252	0	1	12	1	4	0	7.23	43	-65
28	Mike Glennon	JAX	IND	L 14-28	42	261	2	0	15	6	31	1	7.02	48	-83
29	Teddy Bridgewater	CAR	NOR	L 7-33	23	176	0	2	5	1	10	0	5.04	24	-89
30	Tua Tagovailoa	MIA	BUF	L 26-56	58	361	1	3	19	1	9	0	6.76	59	-118
31	Jalen Hurts	PHI	WAS	L 14-20	20	72	0	1	3	1	5	0	2.33	21	-135
32	Alex Smith	WAS	PHI	W 20-14	32	162	2	2	8	3	17	0	4.26	35	-157
33	Phillip Walker	CAR	NOR	L 7-33	14	95	0	3	4	2	15	0	-1.19	16	-159
34	Andy Dalton	DAL	NYG	L 19-23	47	244	0	1	16	6	45	0	5.62	53	-166
35	Nate Sudfeld	PHI	WAS	L 14-20	12	32	0	1	1	2	16	1	-5.00	14	-193
36	Brandon Allen	CIN	BAL	L 3-38	21	48	0	2	1	0	0	0	-1.57	21	-217
	Total	Total	Total		1117	8203	59	31	411	72	496	5	8.76	1189	0

In terms of the passing battle, the better passing teams won all the games where there was a clear advantage. Some games were closer, and the less efficient passing team wound up winning. For example, in Tennessee, Derrick Henry and Ryan Tannehill rushed 40 times for 289 yards and 4 touchdowns! That was enough to give the Titans the win, even if Tannehill was slightly less efficient as a passer than Deshaun Watson. The Raiders/Broncos game was a little weirder: the Raiders somehow won despite losing the turnover battle 4-0! But Denver had a turnover on downs, and missed a long field goal from 56 yards (in addition to missing two really long field goals from 63 and 70 yards at the end of both halves). There were some small advantages that stacked in the Raiders favor, like in the punting game and by holding the ball in the final minute of both halves. And, of course, Las Vegas went for two in the final minute and converted to win by 1 point.

The full week 17 passing differential stats below.

What stands out to you? And thank you for joining this season!

Tagged as: Weekly ANY/A

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