Throughout the 2016 NFL regular season, we’re ranking the league’s top 10 quarterbacks. Here’s how we view things after Week 11…
1. Tom Brady, Patriots: One week after struggling a tad in a loss to Seattle, the league leader in pretty much every rate-based passing category was back in dominant form with four touchdown passes in a turnover-free road victory over the 49ers.
2. Dak Prescott, Cowboys: The rookie has generated 21 touchdowns (four as a rusher) and only two interceptions. He’s the NFL’s third-highest-rated passer and he’s won nine of his 10 starts.
3. Matt Ryan, Falcons: The NFL’s second-highest-rated passer is right there, but with an 88.3 fourth-quarter passer rating he takes a back seat to old man Brady and fresh-face Prescott.
4. Derek Carr, Raiders: The third-year breakout star has a league-best 119.2 passer rating in the fourth quarter and overtime. He’s been a magician in big situations, and we saw that again when he led two fourth-quarter touchdown drives in a comeback victory over Houston Monday night.
5. Matthew Stafford, Lions: Honestly, it’s basically a four-way tie for second place. Carr and Stafford have had very similar seasons. Carr has experienced more team success, but Stafford has better rated-based stats and is one short of an NFL record with six fourth-quarter comebacks.
6. Drew Brees, Saints: The 37-year-old veteran is immune to the effects of aging. He’s not well supported, and yet he’s the NFL’s fourth-highest-rated passer and he now leads the league with a completion percentage of 71.0. Among 17 quarterbacks with at least 50 attempts in such situations, he ranks second to only Carr with a passer rating of 123.5 in the fourth quarter or overtime of one-score games.
7. Russell Wilson, Seahawks: Just like last year, Wilson and Kirk Cousins are gaining a lot of steam as we enter the home stretch, which is why the 2012 middle-round draft picks rank seventh and eighth on our list. Wilson has a 119.2 passer rating in his last three games, all of which were victories.
8. Kirk Cousins, Redskins: And Cousins has a 127.5 passer rating in back-to-back victories over tough opponents.
9. Marcus Mariota, Titans: Can’t fault him for posting a 106.2 passer rating in a losing effort against the Colts. The second-year signal caller ranks in the top seven in terms of touchdowns, yards-per-attempt and passer rating.
10. Aaron Rodgers, Packers: He’s not responsible for the mess in Green Bay, which is why he beats out Ben Roethlisberger thanks to a 25-to-7 touchdown-to-interception ratio. But both of those guys have been disappointments.
