Throughout the 2016 NFL regular season, we’re ranking the league’s top 10 quarterbacks. Here’s how we view things after Week 13…
1. Tom Brady, Patriots: The league’s oldest position player remains its highest-rated passer, despite a lack of support on offense.
2. Derek Carr, Raiders: His legacy grows with yet another fourth-quarter comeback. That’s six now, which is one shy of the single-season NFL record.
3. Matthew Stafford, Lions: A record which now belongs in part to Stafford, who has led the Lions to seven fourth-quarter comeback victories this season. His numbers are right there with Carr’s, but the Oakland quarterback has been a little better statistically in the fourth quarter.
4. Dak Prescott, Cowboys: The rookie ranks in the top five across the rate-based stats board, and he’s the league’s third-highest-rated passer. But he doesn’t make enough monster plays with his arm to be listed ahead of the first three names on this list.
5. Drew Brees, Saints: Tough week for the old man, who threw three interceptions in an ugly home loss to Detroit. Still, he’s generally been as good as anyone but Carr late in games. And he’s done more with less than fellow highly-rated passer such as Matt Ryan and Kirk Cousins.
6. Matt Ryan, Falcons: He’s made some brutal mistakes this year, but Ryan’s 9.2 yards-per-attempt average is the best in football by a huge margin and he remains the league’s second-highest-rated passer.
7. Marcus Mariota, Titans: I think this says it all…
#NFL's highest-rated passers since Week 5:
1. Marcus Mariota (117.7)
2. Dak Prescott (114.5)
3. Tom Brady (113.1)— Brad Gagnon (@Brad_Gagnon) December 7, 2016
8. Kirk Cousins, Redskins: The gunslinger came back to earth a bit in a tough outing against a good Cardinals defense, but that offense hasn’t made things easy on him. He ranks fourth in the league with an 8.0 yards-per-attempt average.
9. Ben Roethlisberger, Steelers: He, Antonio Brown and Le’Veon Bell are rolling now. Watch out for a healthy Big Ben.
10. Russell Wilson, Seahawks: Nobody is better under pressure than Wilson, who has elite numbers for three-loss Seattle despite dealing with a slew of injuries and a lack of support from his pass protectors and his running game.
