With one game remaining in Week 6, ESPN Stats & Information takes a look at the best and worst QB performances so far this week in terms of ESPN's Total Quarterback Rating (QBR).
Top 3
Marcus Mariota: 90.5 Total QBR
For a second straight week, Marcus Mariota posted a top three Total QBR and led the Tennessee Titans to victory. It’s nothing new for Tennessee to win on the heels of a strong game from their signal-caller. In two seasons, Mariota has a QBR of 90 in Tennessee’s wins and a QBR of 31 in its losses.
On Sunday against Cleveland, Mariota’s first play from scrimmage was a 41-yard zone-read rush. That play alone added two expected points and was the fifth-biggest EPA play for a QB so far in Week 6.
In addition to his impact with his legs, Mariota was on point downfield. He completed 7-of-9 passes on throws more than 10 yards downfield Sunday, his most such completions in a game this season, and had as many touchdown passes on those passes (two) as he did in the first four games of the season combined. The obvious rebuttal to Mariota’s performance is that it came against Cleveland, but his QBR was adjusted down (from 94.4 to 90.5) after accounting for the strength of the Browns’ defense.
Andy Dalton: 90.5 Total QBR
Although the Cincinnati Bengals lost 35-17 to the Patriots it wasn't necessarily Dalton's fault. The offense added five expected points, while the defense cost the team nearly 20 points in the 18-point loss.
Dalton was very efficient in the first half Sunday, completing 13-of-16 passes (81.3 percent) for 143 yards with no turnovers or sacks. He led the Bengals on an 89-yard drive in the first half, which resulted in a turnover on downs at the New England 1-yard line, and had a Total QBR of 95.8 at halftime. Dalton then led the Bengals on a touchdown drive to give the Bengals a 14-10 lead with 11:14 remaining in the third quarter. Dalton's Total QBR was 98.5 at that point, and then he only had 13 action plays the remainder of the game.
Dalton added 8.5 expected points to the Bengals' scoring margin Sunday, his most in a game since Week 5 of last season. He found success throwing to the middle of the field; on throws between the painted numbers he completed 11-of-12 passes (91.7 percent) for 136 yards and a touchdown. In the past four weeks Dalton has completed 87.7 percent of such throws, the highest rate in the NFL.
Alex Smith: 85.7 Total QBR
If we were ranking these QBs based on their total impact in Week 6, Smith wouldn’t rank anywhere near the top three. Smith had the fewest action plays of any qualified QB in Week 6 and ranked ninth in QB points added. However, Total QBR is a rate stat that measures a QB’s impact on a per-play basis, and based on that measure, Smith was extremely efficient.
Smith didn’t have any huge plays (his biggest play added 0.9 expected points) but he also didn’t have many negative plays (zero turnovers, one sack taken). He completed 19-of-22 passes, the highest completion percentage in a game in Chiefs history (min 20 attempts), including 15 straight completions in the middle of the game. Though Smith didn’t have many deep completions, half of his passes gained a first down and 82 percent gained positive expected points. That’s good enough for the third-highest QBR in Week 6.
Bottom 3
Ben Roethlisberger: 4.9 Total QBR
With news of Roethlisberger’s knee injury, highlighting his poor performance against Miami feels like kicking a guy when he’s down, but Roethlisberger's 4.9 Total QBR was his worst in a game in our dataset (since the start of the 2006 season). When Roethlisberger left the game with 8:18 remaining in the second quarter, he had 41 passing yards, one interception and had taken two sacks. At that point, he had a 1.6 Total QBR and it remained below 4.0 until his final pass of the game.
Though Roethlisberger doesn’t deserve all of the blame for the Pittsburgh Steelers' loss -- he was under duress on 22 percent of his dropbacks -- his performance when under duress (negative 6 net yards) and relative inaccuracy (nine off-target passes) were to blame for his poor performance. Overall, Roethlisberger cost his team 8.3 more points than an average QB would have with the same number of plays, the third-worst single game performance by a QB this season.
Carson Wentz: 29.5 Total QBR
The Philadelphia Eagles scored 20 points in their loss to the Washington Redskins on Sunday, but did so no thanks to Wentz and their offense, scoring their touchdowns on defense and a kickoff return.
The problem for Wentz was his inaccuracy. He completed 11-of-22 passes (50.0 percent) Sunday, the lowest completion percentage in a game in his young career. Wentz really struggled throwing to the sidelines; he completed 1-of-8 passes outside the painted numbers on the field for 7 yards. Entering Sunday's game he was completing 60.8 percent of those passes on the season.
Wentz was deemed to be off target on six of those eight pass attempts (75.0 percent) outside the numbers on Sunday. Largely due to that, he was off target on 31.8 percent of his total passes Sunday; entering the game he had been off target on 9.9 percent of passes this season, the second-lowest percentage among qualified QBs through five weeks.
Wentz also hurt his team by taking five sacks, which cost the Eagles 2.1 expected points on those plays. Wentz, who entered the day with the best completion percentage and second-best Total QBR against the blitz this season, only faced a blitz on five dropbacks Sunday, but took a sack on two of them.
Trevor Siemian: 31.7 Total QBR
Siemian completed only one pass thrown 10 or more yards downfield Thursday night. He is only the second quarterback to complete one such pass while throwing 50 or more times in a game in the past 10 seasons (Jason Campbell in 2013). Entering the game, Siemian had completed 20-of-28 passes (71.4 percent) traveling 10 or more yards downfield, the highest percentage in the NFL through five weeks.
Siemian was 1-of-9 on such passes Thursday, meaning 41 of his 50 passes were within 10 yards of the line. He’s the third QB this season to attempt 40 such passes in a game this season. As a result, Siemian averaged 4.6 yards per attempt, nearly a full yard lower than any other QB this week. Overall, Siemian didn't add any expected points to the Denver Broncos' scoring margin this week, one of two QBs without positive EPA (Ben Roethlisberger) in Week 6.
Honorable mention
Aaron Rodgers: 38.1 Total QBR
Aaron Rodgers had the fifth-worst QBR in the league in Week 6, but given the chatter around his unusually inefficient performance, we think it’s worth diving into his 38.1 Total QBR against the Cowboys.
At first glance, Rodgers’ raw stats don’t look terrible. He completed a season-high 73.8 percent of his passes and posted a decent 90.8 passer rating. However, Rodgers also threw an interception, fumbled twice (losing one) and was sacked once. Those plays cost the Packers nearly six expected points. What makes Rodgers’ performance even more surprising is that he had plenty of time. Rodgers was pressured on a season-low four dropbacks, but when he wasn’t pressured, he averaged only 6.6 yards per attempt.
If not for a decent first quarter (5-of-6, 99.1 Total QBR), Rodgers’ performance Sunday would have looked a lot worse. He had an 8.8 Total QBR in the second half and cost the team about 1.3 expected points in the final 30 minutes of play.