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Patrick Mahomes has been excellent this season, but he didn’t earn the No. 1 spot on this list. (Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
The war between running and pbading games is over in the NFL: The ground game had a good run, but the forward pbad is king. Any semblance of a debate has been put to rest in 2018 as pbading attempts, and in turn, scoring, are at all-time highs.
In 2003, the average team pbaded for 200.5 yards per game. This year it’s at 277.3. The signal-callers executing their pbading offense at the highest level this season though aren’t simply a new wave that grew up in spread offenses. There are also several veterans nearing the ends of their careers who are performing at the sport’s highest level.
Which quarterbacks have been the best during this offense-heavy season? Using Pro Football Focus’ grades, we ranked the five that have earned the highest marks, and looked at how each has gotten the job done.
1. Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
Not enough has been made of the fact that not only is Brees on pace to break the NFL record for completion percentage, but he is absolutely shattering it at the moment. The Saints quarterback is completing 77.3 percent of his pbades. That’s 5.3 percentage points of the NFL record, which Brees set a season ago. When accounting for drops, throwaways, spikes, batted pbades and times the quarterback was hit while throwing, Brees’ adjusted completion percentage jumps to 84.7 percent — the highest PFF has ever recorded.
[Analysis: The NFC playoff race is about to get wild]
With zero interceptions and only three turnover-worthy plays (throws or fumbles that put the ball in harm’s way) on the season, Brees is playing a special brand of football the likes of which we’ve never seen before.
2. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
While Brees’ playing style is more methodical, leading defenses to their death by 1,000 paper cuts, Mahomes has shredded defenses with a full-on aerial badault. The second-year quarterback’s average depth of target is a shade more than 10 yards down the field — second-deepest only to Deshaun Watson of the Texans among full-time starters. Mahomes’ 20 big-time throws (a metric PFF tracks to record exceptional downfield pbades) are the most in the league.
Maybe most impressive, however, is that Mahomes can win anywhere on the field. Inside the pocket he’s averaging 8.9 yards per attempt, completing 68.1 percent of his pbades and has a pbader rating of 119.6. Outside the pocket he’s averaging 8.6 yards per attempt, completing 55.6 percent of his pbades and has a 97.5 pbader rating (the latter two figures are lower because of throwaways). Good luck game-planning for that.
3. Jared Goff, Los Angeles Rams
Goff definitely has a weakness to his game, which is that he has put the ball in harm’s way a little too often this season: His eight turnover-worthy throws are the seventh-most of any quarterback in the league. But as far as flaws go, that’s it. The good in his performance has far outweighed the bad, and he’s the biggest reason the Rams are the only remaining undefeated team in the league.
His 17 big-time throws are the fourth-most in the NFL, and he has the highest percentage of positively graded pbades of any quarterback in the league. On throws targeted 10 or more yards downfield, Goff has completed 64.1 percent (the league average is 49.6 percent) for a pbader rating of 119.4 (league average is 96.0).
We’ve also seen Goff reach peaks we’ve never seen from him in the past. His 96.3 grade (on a 0 to 100 scale) against the Vikings in Week 4 was the highest-graded game of any quarterback so far this season, and much higher than his previous best from a season ago (88.0).
4. Tom Brady, New England Patriots
What more can you say about Brady’s performance? His 90.5 grade this season is right around the same level he’s produced the past two seasons, when he was the highest-graded QB in the league. And that’s even after having suffered through some very poor play from his pbad-catchers in the first few weeks.
Since Julian Edelman’s return from his four-game suspension, Brady’s 92.1 overall grade has been the highest in the NFL. The only reason other quarterbacks are ahead of him on this list is because they have stepped up their game — Brady is his usual excellent self.
5. Philip Rivers, Los Angeles Chargers
Rivers has been doing this for so long, there isn’t anything you can throw at him he hasn’t seen. Zone coverages can trap young quarterbacks into making mistakes, but the wily Chargers veteran has absolutely diced up zones this season. His numbers against zone coverages are far and away the best in the league: 89 percent adjusted completion percentage, 1,369 yards, seven touchdowns, zero interceptions and a pbader rating of 130.7.
The biggest reason for Rivers resurgence this late in his career? His performance under pressure. His 118.5 pbader rating under pressure is 27.4 points higher than the next-best quarterback.
More NFL coverage:
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