Previous Passing Stats:
There were no truly awful passing performances in week 9 of this NFL season. The 28 teams combined for a 98.8 passer rating and averaged 6.72 ANY/A, but one of the benefits of doing this each week is that you tend to notice weekly outliers. And this week, there were no *awful* passing performances. In 5 of the first 8 weeks of the 2019 season, at least one team had a negative ANY/A. In two others, at least one team had an ANY/A below 1.00. Week 1 of the 2019 season was an outstanding passing week, as you may recall, and the Bucs had the lowest ANY/A of the week at 1.51.
Daniel Jones was bad on Monday Night Football, but not abnormally bad. He averaged only 3.7 net yards per pass, which is of course terrible, but he had 1 TD and 1 INT. It was the sort of bad game that nobody will remember, and it was the worst passing performance of the week.
By traditional passing stats, Gardner Minshew probably ranks last, since he threw 0 TDs and 2 INTs. But Minshew threw for 309 yards and averaged 6.0 net yards per attempt. An ugly game, sure, but not a completely inept one. Here’s the crazy part: other than Minshew, Ryan Tannehill (who had a mediocre but not bad game) was the only other player to throw more INTs than TDs in week 9! That’s because the entire NFL — yes, the entire NFL — had a 1.26% interception rate in week 9! This week broke the single-week NFL record for INT%, previously set in week 8 of 2016 (1.27%). This week also smashed the record for TD/INT ratio, at a whopping 3.91. The previous high was 3.54, also set in week 8 of 2016.
But while it was a very good passing week, but it also was one without a superstar performance, either (Russell Wilson fans, please don’t @ me; he was excellent, but he averaged “only” 7.5 net yards per attempt, which brings down his ANY/A). This was the first week all year where no team averaged 11.0 ANY/A; the 49ers led the way at 10.26 ANY/A, which normally could never lead the league. So things were bunched in week 9, which was probably an outlier, but still merits watching going forward. And keep in mind this happened with Drew Brees, Matt Ryan, and Jared Goff (along with the Bengals) all on their bye weeks.
Below are the week 9 passing stats:
| Rk | Quarterback | Tm | Opp | Result | Att | Yds | TD | Int | Sk | Yds | ANY/A | VALUE |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Russell Wilson | SEA | TAM | W 40-34 | 43 | 378 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 31 | 9.72 | 138 |
| 2 | Jimmy Garoppolo | SFO | ARI | W 28-25 | 37 | 317 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 10.26 | 135 |
| 3 | Matthew Stafford | DET | OAK | L 24-31 | 41 | 406 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 23 | 9.26 | 109 |
| 4 | Derek Carr | OAK | DET | W 31-24 | 31 | 289 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 10 | 9.97 | 104 |
| 5 | Philip Rivers | LAC | GNB | W 26-11 | 28 | 294 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 11 | 9.43 | 81 |
| 6 | Kyler Murray | ARI | SFO | L 25-28 | 24 | 241 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 37 | 9.04 | 63 |
| 7 | Brandon Allen | DEN | CLE | W 24-19 | 20 | 193 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 9.35 | 60 |
| 8 | Ryan Fitzpatrick | MIA | NYJ | W 26-18 | 36 | 288 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 22 | 8.15 | 57 |
| 9 | Jameis Winston | TAM | SEA | L 34-40 | 44 | 335 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 16 | 7.8 | 50 |
| 10 | Deshaun Watson | HOU | JAX | W 26-3 | 28 | 201 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 8.07 | 39 |
| 11 | Dak Prescott | DAL | NYG | W 37-18 | 35 | 257 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 7.77 | 37 |
| 12 | Lamar Jackson | BAL | NWE | W 37-20 | 23 | 163 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7.58 | 21 |
| 13 | Josh Allen | BUF | WAS | W 24-9 | 20 | 160 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 14 | 7.55 | 18 |
| 14 | Jacoby Brissett | IND | PIT | L 24-26 | 5 | 59 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 9.17 | 15 |
| 15 | Kirk Cousins | MIN | KAN | L 23-26 | 38 | 220 | 3 | 0 | 1 | 8 | 6.97 | 10 |
| 16 | Baker Mayfield | CLE | DEN | L 19-24 | 42 | 273 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 12 | 6.39 | -15 |
| 17 | Matt Moore | KAN | MIN | W 26-23 | 35 | 275 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 45 | 6.25 | -19 |
| 18 | Kyle Allen | CAR | TEN | W 30-20 | 32 | 232 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 18 | 5.97 | -26 |
| 19 | Carson Wentz | PHI | CHI | W 22-14 | 39 | 239 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 5.74 | -42 |
| 20 | Ryan Tannehill | TEN | CAR | L 20-30 | 39 | 331 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 21 | 5.58 | -49 |
| 21 | Brian Hoyer | IND | PIT | L 24-26 | 26 | 168 | 3 | 1 | 4 | 34 | 4.97 | -53 |
| 22 | Dwayne Haskins | WAS | BUF | L 9-24 | 22 | 144 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 28 | 4.46 | -59 |
| 23 | Mitchell Trubisky | CHI | PHI | L 14-22 | 21 | 125 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 23 | 4.25 | -59 |
| 24 | Sam Darnold | NYJ | MIA | L 18-26 | 39 | 260 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 22 | 5.07 | -69 |
| 25 | Tom Brady | NWE | BAL | L 20-37 | 46 | 285 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 17 | 5.06 | -79 |
| 26 | Mason Rudolph | PIT | IND | W 26-24 | 35 | 191 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 8 | 4.39 | -84 |
| 27 | Aaron Rodgers | GNB | LAC | L 11-26 | 35 | 161 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 22 | 4.18 | -96 |
| 28 | Gardner Minshew | JAX | HOU | L 3-26 | 47 | 309 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 8 | 4.22 | -125 |
| 29 | Daniel Jones | NYG | DAL | L 18-37 | 41 | 210 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 39 | 3.17 | -163 |
| Total | 952 | 7004 | 47 | 12 | 73 | 518 | 6.72 | 0 |
Once again, the best passing teams tended to win in week 9. Matthew Stafford was great and lost, but that’s in large part because the Raiders’ Derek Carr was even better (at least, statistically). Former first overall picks Kyler Murray and Jameis Winston played well, but lost to NFC West powerhouses who posted the top two passing games of the week.
Only the Steelers and Chiefs won despite losing the passing efficiency battle. Jacoby Brissett was good (and Brian Hoyer threw 3 TDs in relief), and Mason Rudolph was not. And yet, the Steelers won by 2 points despite losing the passing battle in large part because of special teams: the Colts lost 4 points due to missed kicks, and also fumbled a kickoff return. The Vikings/Chiefs game could have gone either way, and is the rare game where the rushing battle tipped things: Kansas City had a 91-yard rushing touchdown, as part of a 147-yard day on just 18 carries. The Chiefs averaged 6.5 yards per play compared to just 4.7 for the Vikings, enough to compensate for the 3-TD, 0 INT performance by Kirk Cousins.
What stands out to you?