The five best passers and the five worst of the seventh day of action in the 2024 regular season
The Week 7 of the NFL regular season served to establish, –once again– solid arguments that justify a prize of Most Valuable Player of the league for Lamar Jackson.
What else is new?
The day also included several starting quarterbacks missing due to injury, including Jayden Daniels, Aidan O’Connell y Deshaun Watsonwith many other quarterbacks being benched for low level.
Without further ado for the moment, we highlight the five best and five worst passers from the most recent week of action in the NFL:
FIVE ON THE RISE
There is no quarterback who is doing more for his team week after week than Jackson, and naturally that leaves him in the favorite position to win, for the third time in his career, the Most Valuable Player award. Last week was brilliant, with 17 of 22 attempts for 281 yards, and five touchdown passes without an interception. He also contributed nine carries for 52 yards to the league’s most devastating rushing attack. His Total QBR of 91.9 was the second highest of the day, and he led the league in average yards per pass attempt with a remarkable 12.8. In terms of passing yards, he posted the fourth-highest total on the date, and posted the fifth-highest completion rate, at 77.3 percent. He ranked eighth best, both in the rate of inaccurate passes, with only 9.5, and in the number of first downs achieved through the air, 12, tying four other passers. His 3.8 percent completion rate above expectations was the 10th-best in Week 7, too.
Goff had an extraordinary game to cement the Lions as the team to beat in the National Conference, for the moment. He completed 22 of 25 passes for 280 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, and his 87.3 was the third-best Total QBR to date. His 88.0 percent completion rate was the second-best mark of the day, and he also excelled in his completion rate above expectation, at 12.0 percent. An average of 112 yards per pass attempt ranked him second, and he was fifth all-time in passing yards, as well as second in first downs achieved through the air. However, the strong card on the day for Goff was a 0.0 percent inaccurate pass rate, the best in the entire NFL.
The highest Total QBR of Week 7 belonged to Lawrence, a passer who had gone frankly unnoticed at the start of the season. Now, he broke out with 15 of 20 attempts for 193 yards with a touchdown, no interceptions, and no sacks against. Lawrence ranked sixth in completion percentage, at 75.0, fourth in average yards per pass attempt, at 9.7, and ninth in pass inaccuracy rate, with only 10.0 percent being sent off-target.
Allen continued his good momentum leading the Bills offense, debuting his new target, Amari Cooper, with one of his two touchdown passes on the day. For Allen, in total it was 21 of 33 for 323 yards with no interceptions. A 7.3 percent completion rate above expectations left him seventh, and only two quarterbacks threw for more yardage than him in Week 7. He was third in first downs with 14, and third in average yards per attempt. passing, with 9.8, scoring a 66.1 Total QBR which was the ninth highest of the day.
In such a weak day for quarterbacks in general, ruling out the first three on our list, there was room for a backup. Mariota came on as a substitute after the injury to Jayden Daniels, and proceeded to complete 18 of 23 attempts for 205 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions, along with 34 yards on 11 carries for the Commanders. His Total QBR of 64.8 was 10th best for the day, thanks in part to the fourth-highest pass completion rate, 78.3 percent, and the sixth-highest pass completion rate, 9.7 percent. Mariota was eighth in first downs with his arm, with 12, and eighth in average yards per pass attempt, with 8.9, but only 8.7 percent of his passes were inaccurate, the sixth-best rate to date.
FIVE DOWN
It’s not common to see Stroud on this side, but it’s impossible to ignore an output of just 10 of 21 attempts for 86 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, and four sacks against. A Total QBR of 22.5 that ranked seventh-worst among qualified passers was due in part to lower passing production among uninjured starters, the fourth-worst completion rate at 47.6 percent, and the 10th-worst pass completion rate. completed passes over expectation, a negative -6.9 percent. Stroud was the second-worst passer in average yards per pass attempt, 4.1, and only managed to move the chains six times with his passes. As if that weren’t enough, no one was worse than Stroud in inaccurate passing rate, 31.6 percent.
Jones couldn’t even finish the game, before being removed in favor of a Drew Lock who didn’t do much better in his opportunity. Jones completed 14 of 21 attempts for 99 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, and was fourth-worst in the NFL in average yards per pass attempt, at 4.7. He led the NFL with seven sacks against, and the Giants advanced the chains just six times on his passing. His Total QBR of 16.7 was the fifth-lowest of the day.
The Niners looked really flat on offense against Kansas City, and the three interceptions thrown by Purdy, without touchdown passes, left San Francisco in a very bad position. With a paltry Total QBR of 13.4, third-lowest in the league, Purdy connected on 17 of his 31 pass attempts for 212 yards, with a 54.8 percent connection rate, the sixth-worst rate in the NFL. A negative completion rate of -8.9 percent was eighth-worst in the league, and the Niners only managed eight first downs with their throws. He scored twice on the ground, but that was not enough to stop theorizing about the discovery of a significant vulnerability in his game.
Minshew didn’t even play the entire game – he came on as a substitute – but that didn’t stop him from being among the worst in the league thanks to his three turnovers, three interceptions and a lost fumble. He completed 15 of 34 passes for 154 yards, completing 44.1 percent of his passes, the second-lowest rate in Week 7. The ninth-lowest completion rate over expectation, a negative -7.2 percent, went to Minshew, the same as the third-worst yards per pass attempt average, 4.5, and the third-worst pass inaccuracy rate, at 25.9 percent.
The Total QBR that the Carolina quarterback scored in Week 7 is almost invisible, a 3.2, far and away the worst of the day. Dalton completed 11 of 16 passes for 93 yards with no touchdowns against two interceptions, and only five of those passes resulted in a first down. He was the second-worst quarterback in the NFL in inaccurate passing rate, at 26.7 percent. The tenth lowest mark in completion average, 5.8, was also set by Dalton, who was relieved in the game by Bryce Young, again. The Panthers will open their Week 8 game with Young, but it won’t be because of Dalton’s performance against the Commanders, but because of a car accident he was involved in with his family.
Statistics and metrics from ESPN Stats & Information and TruMedia
