NFL Week 5 Overreactions: Ravens are back, Bills playoff hopes are dwindling
Sports Seriously’s Mackenzie Salmon ‘overreacts’ to the biggest storylines from Week 5— including the Vikings’ 5-0 start and the Cowboys’ thriller victory on SNF.
Sports Seriously
The first five weeks of the 2024 NFL season have offered some strange results to consider when dissecting the state of quarterback play right now, and ESPN’s QBR ratings for the league’s starters this year help tell that story.
Start with Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow. He moved up to No. 2 in QBR entering Week 6 despite the Bengals dropping to 1-4 in their loss to the Baltimore Ravens last Sunday. Though Burrow did have a costly interception late, he has finished with a top-10 QBR in every game this season, aside from Cincinnati’s season-opening loss to the New England Patriots.
Burrow is chasing Buffalo Bills star Josh Allen, who continues to lead the league in QBR even after a disastrous 9 for 30 performance in Buffalo’s loss to the Houston Texans in Week 5. Minnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold, on the other hand, suffered the biggest drop off of the week, even though the Vikings are one of two undefeated teams left heading into Week 6. He fell from No. 3 to No. 15 after posting the second-worst QBR in the league in a win over the Jets.
A couple of rookie quarterbacks also shined in Week 5. Jayden Daniels of the Washington Commanders continued his ascent, notching another top-10 performance in QBR during a win over the Cleveland Browns. No. 1 draft Caleb Williams, meanwhile, logged the best QBR of the week (83.9) in a Chicago Bears rout of the Carolina Panthers last Sunday.
In addition, the quarterback quandary facing the Indianapolis Colts is also highlighted in this week’s QBR rankings. Joe Flacco enters at No. 4, while Anthony Richardson sits at No. 21. Colts coach Shane Steichen said Richardson is the team’s starter heading forward if he’s healthy enough to play in this week’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Here’s how the rest of the NFL’s quarterbacks rank based on QBR for the season, and how they did in terms of QBR during Week 5:
NFL WEEK 6 PICKS: Expert predictions, odds for every game
Every week, ESPN gives each quarterback a QBR for their latest performance. According to ESPN, the rating is intended to “incorporate all of a quarterback’s contributions to winning, including how he impacts the game on passes, rushes, turnovers and penalties.”
QBR measures each play’s degree of success and how much credit the quarterback deserves for the play. The statistic also takes into account the strength of opposing defenses faced. The final result is an efficiency rating as a number on a 0-to-100-point scale. The cumulative rating is averaged out on a per-play basis across the course of the season.
Here’s how every starting quarterback with at least 50 pass attempts this season stacks up before Week 6 of the NFL season, based on their 2024 QBR:
OPINION: One way or another, Jets’ firing of Robert Saleh traces back to Aaron Rodgers
Here’s how every starting quarterback did in Week 5 of the 2024 NFL season, based on their QBR: