It was a rough week 13 for many franchise quarterbacks.
- Kirk Cousins picked up just 183 net passing yards on 46 dropbacks.
- Andrew Luck and the Colts were shut out.
- Cam Newton took four sacks and threw four interceptions.
- Drew Brees threw for just 111 net passing yards on 30 dropbacks.
- Matt Ryan gained only 97 net passing yards on 29 dropbacks.
- Aaron Rodgers had perhaps the worst yards/attempt game of his career.
But Patrick Mahomes was just fine, once against finishing as the top quarterback of the week. It was yet another 4-TD, 120+ passer rating game for Mahomes, the fifth of this season. By way of comparison, Jim Kelly and Joe Montana only had four such games in their entire careers. Mahomes now has had a passer rating of at least 110 in 10 of 12 games this year, the second most by a player through 12 games in history (2011 Rodgers did it 11 times).
Of course, none of those stats are adjusted for era. But Mahomes is having a top-4 season for a 2nd-year quarterback since the merger even once you adjust for era, and arguably a top-2 season depending on how you feel about 2013 Nick Foles and a 28-year-old Kurt Warner in 1999. No, it’s not Dan Marino 1984, but it’s pretty clearly the best season a 23-year-old quarterback has had since Marino.
The full week 13 passing stats below:
And the year-to-date stats: after another stellar Mahomes game, following Brees’s worst game of the year, Mahomes has re-emerged as the leader in the MVP race. A week ago, Brees had a narrow lead, but Mahomes now has a clear edge in quantity and a narrow edge in efficiency:
The worst three passers are still rookies — Darnold and the Two Joshes — but Matthew Stafford is now the worst veteran passer. Yeah, no 49ers or Dolphins quarterbacks has enough pass attempts to qualify, but is beating C.J. Beathard and Brock Osweiler what Lions fans were hoping for? Even unadjusted for era, this is the worst year of Stafford’s career from an ANY/A perspective since his rookie season. The Lions offense ranks 27th in ANY/A, and the Detroit defense ranks 30th in ANY/A allowed. It’s been a terrible season in Detroit.