Sam Darnold’s first start in Detroit made national headlines. Baker Mayfield became an instant star after leading the Browns to their first win in two years in his NFL debut.

Josh Rosen was better than both of them, and… well, not much was made of it.

Rosen made his first start in relative anonymity. The game wasn’t in primetime. The Cardinals are bad and boring, so nobody outside of Arizona and Washington watched him nearly lead his team to victory over the favored Seahawks.

The stats aren’t overly impressive: The 10th-overall pick completed 15-of-27 passes for 180 yards and a touchdown and a passer rating of 88.5. Pretty meh, right? Mayfield and Darnold both had passer ratings north of 100 in their debuts.

(WARNING: CLICHE INCOMING)

To fully appreciate how good Rosen was on Sunday, you just had to watch the game. The numbers did not do him justice.

To illustrate this, we’re going to look at all of his incompletions. If you want to see the 15 passes he completed, they’re all here…

We’re going to ignore the snaps where he clearly played well and focus on his “negative” plays to figure out how many of those he was actually responsible for.

Incompletion 1

Rosen’s first throw was an inaccurate one. Ironically, it was the same exact play and throw Mayfield made on his first NFL interception. Both throws were thrown too far outside.

Incompletion 2

Rosen makes a strong throw out of the defender’s reach and Larry Fitzgerald drops a catchable ball on what would have been a 17-yard gain.

Incompletion 3

This ball could not have been thrown any better. Rosen hits Christian Kirk in stride, but the rookie can not hold on after going to the ground. The drop cost Rosen another 30 yards.

Incompletion 4

This dime from Rosen was originally ruled a touchdown. It was reviewed and overturned after replay showed Chad Williams failed to get a second foot down in bounds. Williams’ failure took a 32-yard touchdown off the board.

Incompletion 5

Rosen makes a tight-window throw in the red zone and puts it right on Fitzgerald’s hands. Fitzgerald’s second drop of the game cost Rosen what would have been an 11-yard touchdown.

Incompletion 6

This may have been Rosen’s worst play of the game, which tells you how good he was. The rookie misses Kirk wide open in the back of the end zone for what should have been an easy touchdown. In fairness to Rosen, Kirk was only open because of his pump fake.

Incompletion 7

This one hit Fitzgerald right in the hands, but Rosen’s high throw left him vulnerable to a big hit. While it probably should have been caught, we’re going to put this one on the passer.

Incompletion 8

This one also falls on Rosen even if he didn’t really have anywhere to go with the ball. That doesn’t excuse him from panicking under pressure and throwing into coverage. Sometimes taking a sack is the best option.

Incompletion 9

Not a lot of analysis required here. That’s a stonecold drop by Ricky Seals-Jones that cost Rosen at least five yards.

Incompletion 10

Can’t really put this one on Rosen or the Cardinals receivers. The Seahawks played good defense and there was nowhere to go with the ball.

Incompletion 11

Rosen managed to salvage what could have been a disastrous play. Unfortunately, it goes down as an incompletion on the stat sheet.

Incompletion 12

Another busted play that forces Rosen to throw the ball away.

These next two plays did not go down as incompletions because Seattle was called for defensive penalties, but they did end up costing Rosen in the box score.

No play 1

Just an inexcusable drop by J.J. Nelson on what should have been a 58-yard touchdown pass.

No play 2

Rosen hits Kirk in stride on a wheel route but Seahawks CB Justin Coleman interferes with the receiver to prevent the touchdown.

****

In total, Cardinals receivers cost Rosen five completions, nearly 200 yards passing and two touchdowns. This should have been a 300-yard, three-touchdown performance for the rookie. No rookie quarterback under the age of 28 has ever passed for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns in their first start. Cardinals receivers cost the UCLA product a chance at history.

(Kurt Warner and Todd Bouman both hit those marks in their first starts. They were both in their late-20s at the time.)

Just looking at Rosen’s individual performance, it may have been the most impressive debut by a quarterback in NFL history.