Greg Cote’s Passer Ranking: Cousins tops week, Brady grows lead in QB rankings
Washington’s Kirk Cousins wins the Week 10 title, his second in the past four weeks, with a season-low best week of 48.20 points in the Miami Herald’s Passer Success System (PASS) NFL quarterback rankings. New England’s Tom Brady expands his overall season lead, and Miami’s Ryan Tannehill dips two spots to 12th. But the big story was the epic awfulness of Denver’s Peyton Manning, who plummets from 14th to 26th place with a game of minus-20.25 points — second-worst in the 18-year history of our rankings. The only worse week was minus-23.20 points by then-Redskin Tim Hasselbeck in 2003. Our rankings are cumulative so players on a bye take a temporary hit that evens out over the course of the season. We use a simple formula unchanged since its inception in 1998, factoring accuracy, yardage, TD/interception ratio and team result. Most rating systems including the NFL’s and ESPN’s are complicated and percent based, allowing players who miss half a season to still win a title. Our rankings place a premium on consistently productive passers who avoid injury or benching. Find our updated top 20 in this space every Sunday.
Player | LW | WK10 | Season |
1. Tom Brady, NE | 1 | 34.70 | 392.15 |
2. Drew Brees, NO | 3 | 20.45 | 350.90 |
3. Philip Rivers, SD | 2 | BYE | 345.65 |
4. Eli Manning, NYG | 5 | 28.05 | 317.00 |
5. Carson Palmer, ARI | 7 | 39.15 | 306.45 |
6. Matt Ryan, ATL | 4 | BYE | 301.10 |
7. Andy Dalton, CIN | 6 | 12.85 | 296.15 |
8. Aaron Rodgers, GB | 8 | 31.65 | 280.50 |
9. Derek Carr, OAK | 9 | 30.10 | 274.80 |
10. Kirk Cousins, WAS | 11 | 48.20 | 267.90 |
11. Joe Flacco BAL | 13 | 41.80 | 252.60 |
12. Ryan Tannehill, MIA | 10 | 27.85 | 251.70 |
13. Matthew Stafford, DET | 17 | 30.10 | 232.25 |
14. Sam Bradford, PHI | 16 | 27.80 | 230.85 |
15. Alex Smith, KC | 15 | 21.20 | 224.65 |
16. Jay Cutler, CHI | 20 | 40.90 | 223.25 |
17. Russell Wilson, SEA | 12 | 8.00 | 218.90 |
18. Teddy Bridgewater, MIN | 23 | 21.00 | 199.50 |
19. Cam Newton, CAR | 26 | 34.85 | 198.85 |
20. Ryan Fitzpatrick, NYJ | 19 | 5.65 | 197.15 |
▪ Bubble: Josh McCown, CLE, 196.85.
▪ Week’s best: Cousins, WAS, 48.20 (20-25, 324, 4-0 in win).
▪ Week’s worst: Peyton Manning, DEN, minus-20.25 (5-20, 35, 0-4 in loss).
Note: Thursday results included in following week’s chart.