Through 14 games in Week 7, the most impressive quarterback performance of the week belongs to none other than Tom Brady. ESPN Stats & Information takes a look at the rest of the best and worst QB performances from Week 7 in terms of ESPN's Total Quarterback Rating (QBR).
Top 3
Tom Brady: 93.8 Total QBR
Brady continued his efficient return with a Week 7-best 93.8 Total QBR in the New England Patriots' 27-16 win over the Steelers. Brady now has a 90.4 Total QBR through three games, which is nearly eight points higher than any other player with at least 100 plays this season. With 38 more action plays next week at the Bills, Brady will qualify for the QBR season leaderboard.
On Sunday, Brady put up his typically efficient passing numbers. He was 19-of-26 for 222 yards, two touchdowns and for the third straight week he had zero turnovers. His two biggest plays in terms of expected points added were a 36-yard touchdown and 37-yard completion to Rob Gronkowski in the second half. The 39-year-old QB was also sneakily effective with his legs. He ran for three first downs, including two scrambles that came on third down, resulting in the fourth-most rush expected points added (EPA) of any QB in Week 7.
Andrew Luck: 87.8 Total QBR
Mr. Clutch came through again by leading the Colts on their third game-winning drive of the season and 16th of his career. Since entering the league in 2012, only Matthew Stafford (18) has more.
In the fourth quarter Sunday, Luck was 8-of-12 with a touchdown and a 96 Total QBR. His QBR increased from 80 entering the quarter to nearly 88 by the time the clock hit zero. The biggest reason Luck’s QBR was so high, however, was his effectiveness with the deep ball. He completed a career-high nine passes thrown at least 15 yards downfield Sunday, including four such passes targeting T.Y. Hilton. As a result, more than two-thirds of his passing yards were gained through the air (rather than after the catch), and he averaged a season-high 9.1 yards per attempt.
Drew Brees: 86.2 Total QBR
Drew Brees' raw QBR of 80.0 ranked seventh this week, but after adjusting for the strength of the Chiefs’ defense, he had the third-highest adjusted QBR in Week 7. It is the second-highest raw QBR by a visiting quarterback at Arrowhead Stadium in the past three seasons.
Brees made one major mistake on Sunday, as a first quarter pass was tipped and intercepted by Daniel Sorensen, who returned it for a touchdown. From that point on, he was 30-of-38 for 238 yards and two touchdowns. He was especially good on third down, going 10-of-12 on third down for the game, including 8-of-9 after the interception.
Brees did extremely well on throws outside the painted numbers on the field, completing 20-of-24 passes for 156 yards and all three of his touchdowns on such throws. Overall, Brees added 8.7 expected points to the Saints on Sunday, the fourth-highest total this week and his second-highest in a game this season.
Bottom 3
Sam Bradford: 14.8 Total QBR
Entering Sunday’s game against the Eagles, Bradford had zero turnovers and taken eight total sacks. That changed quickly. Bradford committed three turnovers and was sacked six times in the Vikings’ 21-10 loss.
Although Bradford’s sacks were not entirely his fault – he was put under duress on a season-high 36 percent of his dropbacks – he cost his team nearly 2.0 EPA on sacks on Sunday, the second-worst figure of any QB this week.
For the game, Bradford cost the Vikings 8.7 points more than what an average quarterback (QBR of 50) would have on the same number of plays; the third-lowest figure in a game this season. On a per-play basis, Bradford’s Total QBR of 14.8 may seem generous, but it’s due in part to an adjustment for facing a tough Eagles, defense, his raw Total QBR for the week was 7.6.
Carson Wentz: 23.1 Total QBR
Similar to Bradford, Wentz entered Sunday’s game having committed one turnover on the season before committing three on Sunday. Wentz cost his team 5.1 points more than what an average QB would have on the same number of plays. Only Bradford cost his team more this week.
Wentz was 0-of-7 on passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield Sunday, the only quarterback to have no such completions in a game this season (min. 3 attempts). His 16 completions had an average distance of 1.6 yards downfield, the lowest among any quarterback in a game this season.
Of Wentz’s 138 passing yards, 81 percent of them came after the catch. No other quarterback this week had more than 55 percent of his passing yards come after the catch. Similar to Bradford, Wentz’s 23.1 QBR this week was adjusted for facing the Vikings’ defense, and his raw QBR was 13.0.
Case Keenum: 26.0 Total QBR
Maybe it was the 6:30 AM PT kickoff or the ridiculous travel schedule, but Case Keenum (or Eli Manning for that matter) did not provide the fans in London with his finest performance in the Los Angeles Rams' 17-10 loss to the Giants.
After throwing three interceptions in his previous three games combined, Keenum was intercepted a career-high four times by the Giants, including twice in the end zone. Those four interceptions cost the team nearly 18 expected points in a 7-point loss. Add in three sacks and 10 off-target passes (overthrown or underthrown) and Keenum played about at replacement level (QBR of 25) in London.
Where is Russell Wilson? Anyone watching Sunday Night football would have expected one of the QBs to be ranked in the bottom three after combining for 16 punts in the game. Wilson had one of the three lowest raw QBRs, but once adjusting for the strength of Arizona’s defense, he moved up three spots in the rankings.