There's something fitting about the best game of Drew Brees' career coming in a losing effort.

For 13 weeks the San Francisco 49ers had terrorized the quarterbacks of the NFL, limiting opponents to a 60% completion rate and 5.5 yards per pass, with 45 sacks and nearly as many interceptions (11) as passing touchdowns allowed (12). Then they ran into Brees and the Saints in the Superdome, where Brees completed 29 of 40 passes (a rate of 73%) for 349 yards (an 8.73-yard average) with five touchdown passes (and another on the ground), zero sacks, and zero interceptions. Consider this: Brees has thrown 10% of the passes against San Francisco this year, for 15% of the yards and 29% of the touchdowns, while surrendering 0% of the sacks or interceptions.

With those numbers against that defense, it's no surprise that Brees' performance in Week 14 was the best game of the year. In fact, it's the best quarterback game of the last five years, and one of the best games we've ever analyzed.

Best Quarterback Games, Total DYAR, Regular Season, 1989-2019 Player Team Year Wk CP/AT Yds TD Int Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp Ben Roethlisberger PIT 2014 8 40/49 526 6 0 0 385 391 -6 IND Trent Green KC 2002 4 24/34 328 5 0 0 347 327 20 MIA Drew Brees* NO 2019 14 29/40 349 5 0 0 314 303 11 SF Randall Cunningham MIN 1998 5 20/32 442 4 0 0 311 332 -22 GB Marc Bulger STL 2002 10 36/47 453 4 0 0 309 309 0 SD Jared Goff LAR 2018 4 26/33 466 5 0 1 303 301 2 MIN Tom Brady NE 2017 2 30/39 447 3 0 2 303 302 1 NO Ben Roethlisberger PIT 2009 15 29/46 503 3 0 5 299 300 -1 GB Scott Mitchell DET 1995 13 30/45 410 4 1 3 298 298 0 MIN Tom Brady NE 2007 11 32/39 373 5 0 0 298 299 -1 BUF Drew Brees NO 2009 6 23/30 369 4 0 0 297 294 3 NYG Tom Brady NE 2009 6 29/34 380 6 0 2 294 294 0 TEN Philip Rivers LAC 2017 12 27/33 434 3 0 0 294 294 0 DAL Steve Young SF 1991 17 21/32 338 3 0 0 292 258 34 CHI Drew Brees NO 2011 15 32/40 412 5 0 0 291 290 1 MIN Tom Brady NE 2007 7 21/25 354 6 0 1 290 290 0 MIA Ryan Fitzpatrick TB 2018 1 21/28 417 4 0 0 289 260 28 NO Mark Rypien WAS 1991 11 16/31 442 6 0 0 287 278 10 ATL Tom Brady NE 2011 12 24/34 361 3 0 1 283 271 13 PHI Drew Brees NO 2007 9 35/49 445 3 0 1 283 282 0 JAX * Subject to fluctuating opponent adjustments

Ben Roethlisberger had the best regular-season game on record; you can read about it here. Trent Green's game, the second-best of all time, was played before Football Outsiders was founded, but I can tell you it came against a Miami defense that finished third in pass defense DVOA.

This is the 21st time since 1950 that a player has thrown five touchdowns in a loss. That's an occasion that is becoming more common -- Matt Ryan and Patrick Mahomes both did it last year, and Deshaun Watson did it in 2017 -- but only two players have done it twice, and they're both old-timers: George Blanda and Dan Marino.

This is not the first time Brees has had an outstanding game in defeat, however -- his entire career has been spent racking up phenomenal passing statistics that often went to waste. Twenty-five times now Brees has lost a game despite throwing at least three touchdowns, four times more than anyone else. Brees has now thrown 19 touchdowns in the second half and 13 in the fourth quarter that put his team ahead only to see his team lose anyway, both the most of any passer since 1920. Of the 100 quarterbacks with the most pass attempts since the AFL-NFL merger since 1970, Brees ranks ninth with an ANY/A+ (Pro Football Reference's adjusted net yards per attempt index -- average yards per passing play, including sacks, with a bonus for touchdowns and a penalty for interceptions, and then adjusted for era) of 116. However, his win percentage of .590 ranks just 27th.

A simple linear regression analysis of this group lets us estimate each quarterback's win-loss percentage based on his ANY/A+. (For those who care, you can do this by dividing ANY/A+ by 118.7, then subtracting 0.350.) For Brees, this results in an expected win-loss percentage of 0.627. At that rate, Brees would have won 170 of his 271 starts. Instead, he has won only 160. That's a 10.0-win deficit between expected and actual wins. This is mostly because Brees has often been saddled with terrible defenses. In his 14 years in New Orleans, the Saints have only ranked in the top ten in DVOA four times (including this year, when they ranked seventh coming into the week). Meanwhile, they have ranked in the bottom ten eight times, including five finishes in last or next-to-last place (subscription required).

Among our 100-quarterback sample, only one active passer has a worse differential than Brees: his old San Diego teammate Philip Rivers, whose 123-98 record is 10.1 wins worse than we would expect for a passer with an ANY/A+ of 113. Historically, however, many quarterbacks have had even worse luck. This has been a particular problem for Saints quarterbacks -- Archie Manning leads the way with 27.3 wins below expectations, and Jim Everett is third with a 19.1-win deficit. In between we find Hall of Famer Dan Fouts at -22.2. Several quarterbacks from this century come out worse than Rivers or Brees -- Jeff George, Daunte Culpepper, Vinny Testaverde, Trent Green, and yet another former New Orleans passer, Jeff Blake.

It shouldn't surprise anyone reading this that the player with the most wins over expectations is Tom Brady, and it's not close. Brady has won 39.0 more games than we would expect based on his passing stats. John Elway is a distant second at +21.1. Only three other players -- Joe Flacco, Ken Stabler, and Terry Bradshaw -- are within even half of Brady's totals. You'll find those Ravens, Raiders, and Steelers teams were loaded with Hall of Fame-caliber defensive players.

If we look at differences in winning percentages instead of win totals, we don't find many differences at the bottom of the tables, but there's a major change at the top -- Jim McMahon, the Punky QB of the Super Bowl Shuffle Chicago Bears. Near the top, we also find Trent Dilfer, who won a championship on one of the most defense-oriented Super Bowl champions we have ever seen, and Randall Cunningham, who benefitted from some ultra-talented defenders in Philadelphia, and whose true value can't be captured in passing stats alone.

The following table shows the 100 quarterbacks studied in this research:

Most Wins Over Expected, Quarterbacks, 1970-2019 Player ANY/A+ W L T Win% ExWin% Win Dif Win% Dif Tom Brady 117 217 63 0 0.775 0.636 +39.0 +0.139 John Elway 107 148 82 1 0.643 0.552 +21.1 +0.091 Joe Flacco 95 98 73 0 0.573 0.450 +21.0 +0.123 Ken Stabler 103 96 49 1 0.661 0.518 +20.9 +0.143 Terry Bradshaw 107 107 51 0 0.677 0.552 +19.9 +0.126 Brett Favre 108 186 112 0 0.624 0.560 +19.1 +0.064 Ben Roethlisberger 111 144 71 1 0.669 0.585 +18.1 +0.084 Jim McMahon 103 67 30 0 0.691 0.518 +16.8 +0.173 Alex Smith 99 94 66 1 0.587 0.484 +16.6 +0.103 Randall Cunningham 100 82 52 1 0.611 0.493 +16.0 +0.119 Trent Dilfer 88 58 55 0 0.513 0.391 +13.8 +0.122 Phil Simms 103 95 64 0 0.597 0.518 +12.7 +0.080 Danny White 106 62 30 0 0.674 0.543 +12.0 +0.131 Joe Theismann 104 77 47 0 0.621 0.526 +11.7 +0.095 Russell Wilson 112 85 39 1 0.684 0.594 +11.3 +0.090 Donovan McNabb 106 98 62 1 0.612 0.543 +11.1 +0.069 Peyton Manning 120 186 79 0 0.702 0.661 +10.8 +0.041 Jay Schroeder 102 61 38 0 0.616 0.509 +10.6 +0.107 Jim Kelly 109 101 59 0 0.631 0.568 +10.1 +0.063 Dave Krieg 102 98 77 0 0.560 0.509 +8.9 +0.051 Cam Newton 99 68 55 1 0.552 0.484 +8.5 +0.068 Roger Staubach 121 84 29 0 0.743 0.669 +8.3 +0.074 Fran Tarkenton 111 77 41 2 0.650 0.585 +7.8 +0.065 Michael Vick 98 61 51 1 0.544 0.476 +7.7 +0.069 Brad Johnson 103 72 53 0 0.576 0.518 +7.3 +0.058 Dan Pastorini 91 56 61 0 0.479 0.417 +7.2 +0.062 Joe Montana 121 117 47 0 0.713 0.669 +7.2 +0.044 Andrew Luck 105 53 33 0 0.616 0.535 +7.0 +0.082 Steve McNair 107 91 62 0 0.595 0.552 +6.6 +0.043 Jake Delhomme 103 56 40 0 0.583 0.518 +6.3 +0.065 Matt Hasselbeck 100 85 75 0 0.531 0.493 +6.2 +0.039 Andy Dalton 100 69 59 2 0.538 0.493 +6.0 +0.046 Jake Plummer 97 69 67 0 0.507 0.467 +5.4 +0.040 Bobby Hebert 102 56 44 0 0.560 0.509 +5.1 +0.051 Jim Plunkett 97 72 72 0 0.500 0.467 +4.7 +0.033 Drew Bledsoe 99 98 95 0 0.508 0.484 +4.6 +0.024 Ryan Tannehill 96 48 47 0 0.505 0.459 +4.4 +0.046 Troy Aikman 106 94 71 0 0.570 0.543 +4.4 +0.027 Kyle Orton 98 42 40 0 0.512 0.476 +3.0 +0.036 Matt Cassel 90 36 45 0 0.444 0.408 +2.9 +0.036 Brian Griese 101 44 38 0 0.537 0.501 +2.9 +0.036 Neil O'Donnell 104 55 45 0 0.550 0.526 +2.4 +0.024 Rich Gannon 108 76 56 0 0.576 0.560 +2.1 +0.016 Mark Rypien 110 47 31 0 0.603 0.577 +2.0 +0.026 Steve Grogan 106 75 60 0 0.556 0.543 +1.7 +0.012 Ron Jaworski 102 73 69 1 0.514 0.509 +0.7 +0.005 Craig Morton 105 68 58 0 0.540 0.535 +0.6 +0.005 Aaron Rodgers 118 110 60 1 0.646 0.644 +0.3 +0.002 Jay Cutler 99 74 79 0 0.484 0.484 -0.1 0.000 Richard Todd 95 48 59 1 0.449 0.450 -0.1 -0.001 Eli Manning 101 116 116 0 0.500 0.501 -0.2 -0.001 Gus Frerotte 100 45 47 1 0.489 0.493 -0.3 -0.003 Jim Harbaugh 98 66 74 0 0.471 0.476 -0.6 -0.004 Tommy Kramer 101 54 56 0 0.491 0.501 -1.1 -0.010 Matt Ryan 110 106 80 0 0.570 0.577 -1.3 -0.007 Tony Romo 116 78 49 0 0.614 0.627 -1.7 -0.013 Sam Bradford 94 34 48 1 0.416 0.442 -2.2 -0.026 Mark Brunell 105 78 73 0 0.517 0.535 -2.7 -0.018 Joe Ferguson 99 79 92 0 0.462 0.484 -3.8 -0.022 Brian Sipe 106 57 55 0 0.509 0.543 -3.8 -0.034 Steve Young 123 94 49 0 0.657 0.686 -4.1 -0.029 Steve Bartkowski 101 59 68 0 0.465 0.501 -4.6 -0.036 Kerry Collins 98 81 99 0 0.450 0.476 -4.6 -0.026 Steve Beuerlein 102 47 55 0 0.461 0.509 -5.0 -0.049 Matt Schaub 108 47 46 0 0.505 0.560 -5.1 -0.055 Bernie Kosar 106 53 54 1 0.495 0.543 -5.2 -0.048 Blake Bortles 89 24 49 0 0.329 0.400 -5.2 -0.071 Ken O'Brien 102 50 59 1 0.459 0.509 -5.5 -0.050 Kirk Cousins 110 43 41 2 0.512 0.577 -5.6 -0.065 Kurt Warner 116 67 49 0 0.578 0.627 -5.8 -0.050 Carson Palmer 106 92 88 1 0.511 0.543 -5.8 -0.032 Jon Kitna 95 50 74 0 0.403 0.450 -5.9 -0.047 Neil Lomax 105 47 52 2 0.475 0.535 -6.0 -0.059 Chris Chandler 99 67 85 0 0.441 0.484 -6.6 -0.043 Aaron Brooks 101 38 52 0 0.422 0.501 -7.1 -0.079 Marc Bulger 102 41 54 0 0.432 0.509 -7.4 -0.078 Derek Carr 101 38 53 0 0.418 0.501 -7.6 -0.083 Matthew Stafford 103 69 79 1 0.466 0.518 -7.7 -0.051 Ryan Fitzpatrick 95 53 82 1 0.393 0.450 -7.8 -0.057 Josh McCown 90 23 53 0 0.303 0.408 -8.0 -0.106 Lynn Dickey 100 45 63 3 0.419 0.493 -8.2 -0.074 Dan Marino 119 147 93 0 0.613 0.653 -9.6 -0.040 Jim Hart 107 71 75 3 0.487 0.552 -9.7 -0.065 Chris Miller 98 34 58 0 0.370 0.476 -9.8 -0.106 Warren Moon 107 102 101 0 0.502 0.552 -10.0 -0.049 Jim Zorn 102 44 62 0 0.415 0.509 -10.0 -0.094 Drew Brees 116 160 111 0 0.590 0.627 -10.0 -0.037 Philip Rivers 113 123 98 0 0.557 0.602 -10.1 -0.046 Jeff Blake 100 39 61 0 0.390 0.493 -10.3 -0.103 Jeff Garcia 112 58 58 0 0.500 0.594 -10.9 -0.094 Trent Green 112 56 57 0 0.496 0.594 -11.1 -0.098 Ken Anderson 113 91 81 0 0.529 0.602 -12.6 -0.073 Vinny Testaverde 99 90 123 1 0.423 0.484 -13.1 -0.061 Daunte Culpepper 107 41 59 0 0.410 0.552 -14.2 -0.142 Jeff George 101 46 78 0 0.371 0.501 -16.1 -0.130 Steve DeBerg 101 53 86 1 0.382 0.501 -16.6 -0.119 Boomer Esiason 109 80 93 0 0.462 0.568 -18.3 -0.106 Jim Everett 106 64 89 0 0.418 0.543 -19.1 -0.125 Dan Fouts 117 86 84 1 0.506 0.636 -22.2 -0.130 Archie Manning 96 35 101 3 0.263 0.459 -27.3 -0.196

Quarterbacks Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp 1. Drew Brees NO 29/40 349 5 0 0 314 303 11 SF Brees gains 92 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. Brees threw 11 passes inside the San Francisco 26-yard line. One was incomplete. One resulted in the 6-yard DPI. The other nine were complete for a total of 82 yards and four touchdowns. Four of Brees' touchdowns came on throws to his left, where he went 14-of-20 for 150 yards. 2. Drew Lock DEN 22/27 309 3 1 1 155 149 6 HOU A good week for quarterbacks named Drew, apparently. Brees ripped up the 49ers, Lock had the best game of his young career, and Stanton got a $250,000 bonus for being on the Browns roster without even having to play. Like Brees, Lock spent a lot of time in the red zone, going 9-of-10 for 53 yards and three touchdowns. 3. Philip Rivers LAC 16/22 314 3 0 1 146 146 0 JAX Chargers receivers gained an average of 13.1 yards after the catch on Rivers' completions, most of any starter this week. 4. Ryan Tannehill TEN 21/27 391 3 1 0 145 137 8 OAK Tannehill had a miserable start to this game, going 4-of-6 for only 19 yards with an interception. And then he became almost unstoppable -- 17 of his last 21 passes were completed for 372 yards (17.7 yards per throw!), and 14 of them produced first downs. Nobody -- not even Brees -- had more DYAR from the second quarter onwards. 5. Jameis Winston TB 34/45 456 4 3 1 143 135 8 IND Did you know the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were third in the NFL in points scored this season? Did you know Winston leads the NFL in first downs passing? He did it again this week, throwing for a league-high 23 first downs, four more than anyone else. Of course, he also threw a league-high three interceptions (tied with Kyler Murray) and now has 23 this season, most since Eli Manning threw 27 in 2013. Winston is only 25 years old, and if someone can find a way to cut those interceptions in half, he could be an excellent quarterback. 6. Jared Goff LAR 22/31 293 2 2 0 119 118 1 SEA Take away everyone's third quarter and Goff would have been second this week behind Brees, but in the third quarter, he was third-worst. In those 15 minutes, Goff went 5-of-11 for 57 yards with both interceptions, one of which was returned for a Seattle touchdown. 7. Patrick Mahomes KC 26/40 283 1 1 1 106 109 -3 NE Mahomes gains a league-high 103 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He shredded the Pats up the middle, completing all four of his passes (three of them for first downs) for 67 yards. However, he struggled on throws to his right, going 6-of-12 for 71 yards and an interception. 8. Jimmy Garoppolo SF 26/35 349 4 1 3 102 100 2 NO The bad news for Garoppolo is that he was terrible on second down, going 6-of-9 for 15 yards (yes) with two sacks, an interception, and only one first down (a 6-yard touchdown to Kendrick Bourne). The good news is that he cleaned up on third and fourth downs, going 7-of-8 for 96 yards with one sack but six conversions (including a different 6-yard touchdown to Kendrick Bourne). 9. Matt Ryan ATL 20/34 313 2 0 1 100 97 3 CAR Ryan's 93-yard touchdown to Olamide Zaccheaus put Atlanta up 27-10 in the third quarter and virtually ended the game -- which is good, because it was his last first down of the day. After that, he went 2-of-7 for 6 yards. 10. Dak Prescott DAL 28/49 334 1 0 2 95 108 -13 CHI It was not a good day in the passing game for Dallas' running backs. Ezekiel Elliott had only two catches in five targets for 12 yards. He was the target on incomplete passes on second-and-10, third-and-22, and fourth-and-4. Jamize Olawale also got one target, an incompletion on third-and-4. 11. Mitchell Trubisky CHI 23/31 244 3 1 2 86 59 27 DAL Trubisky had a big day throwing to his anonymous tight ends. He threw four passes to J.P. Holtz and four more for Jesper Horsted, completing all eight of them for 92 yards. 12. Jacoby Brissett IND 20/36 251 2 0 1 77 63 14 TB It was all or nothing for Brissett against Tampa Bay. He only threw for eight first downs, tied with Gardner Minshew and Josh Allen for fewest among starters this week. However, those eight first downs averaged 28.3 yards apiece, most among starters this week. Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp 13. Derek Carr OAK 25/34 263 2 0 2 68 63 6 TEN Carr was at his best throwing down the middle against Tennessee, going 10-of-12 for 117 yards; a 13th throw resulted in a DPI for 1 more yard. 14. Kirk Cousins MIN 24/30 242 1 0 1 56 56 0 DET Cousins is dinged for opponent adjustments (he loses 32 DYAR for playing Detroit) and for some short-yardage struggles. With 6 yards or less to go for a first down, he went 10-of-13 for 87 yards with one sack and only seven first downs. 15. Ryan Fitzpatrick MIA 21/37 245 0 1 2 35 20 15 NYJ Red zone passing: 1-of-8 for 5 yards with no touchdowns and a sack. Keep in mind the Dolphins lost this game by one point. 16. Devlin Hodges PIT 16/19 152 1 0 3 30 20 10 ARI Hodges loses 33 DYAR due to opponent adjustments, and 45 more for one play where he fumbled on a first-down sack, although Pittsburgh recovered. He was very efficient in the second half, but not explosive, going 7-of-9 for 63 yards, but picking up six first downs (including a touchdown) in the process. His big plays came on two DPIs that gained 15 and 24 yards. 17. Lamar Jackson BAL 16/25 145 3 1 1 9 16 -7 BUF More than 40% of Jackson's passing yardage came on one play, a 61-yard touchdown to Hayden Hurst. He only had two other completions that gained more than 8 yards. He was terrible between the 40s, going 3-of-8 for -1 yard (not a typo) with an interception. 18. Tom Brady NE 19/36 169 1 1 3 9 -3 12 KC Brady gains 55 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He had two stretches in this game where he went 10-plus consecutive plays without picking up a first down. The first started in the second quarter and lasted into the fourth, as he went 5-of-11 for 20 yards with two sacks. The second covered the last nine minutes of the game, as he went 4-of-10 for 14 yards. 19. Andy Dalton CIN 23/36 262 0 1 2 0 -1 1 CLE Red zone passing: 2-of-6 for 23 yards with no touchdowns, two sacks, and an intentional grounding. The Bengals lost by eight points. 20. Aaron Rodgers GB 18/28 195 1 0 4 -2 -7 5 WAS Rodgers made the least of some good situations against Washington. With 5 yards or less to go for a first down, he went 2-of-6 for 13 yards with as many conversions (one) as sacks. 21. Deshaun Watson HOU 28/49 292 1 2 3 -13 -47 34 DEN A bad day in scoring range. Inside of the Denver 35-yard line, Watson went 4-of-12 for 26 yards with more interceptions (one) than touchdowns (zero). 22. Dwayne Haskins WAS 16/26 170 1 1 4 -21 -16 -5 GB Many of Haskins' best plays came after the game was decided. In the last three minutes of the game, with Washington down 20-9, he went 6-of-7 for 75 yards and a touchdown. Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Sacks Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR Opp 23. Baker Mayfield CLE 11/24 192 0 2 1 -27 -40 13 CIN Mayfield loses 44 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He threw three passes within the Cincinnati 28-yard line. One was intercepted; the other two were incomplete. He threw five passes to his right and only one was complete: a 5-yard gain on first-and-10. Both of his interceptions were thrown in the first quarter. 24. Eli Manning NYG 15/30 203 2 0 2 -29 -29 0 PHI If the numbers in the following Tweet are true, then Manning went 4-of-11 for 24 yards in the second half. Eli Manning in the first half: 11/19, 179 yards, 2 TDs, 0 INTs Can't spell Elite without Eli... (via @Giants)pic.twitter.com/E8FIc8KQin — NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) December 10, 2019 25. Carson Wentz PHI 33/50 325 2 0 3 -33 -34 1 NYG Carson Wentz 4th quarter + OT: 17/24, 8.1 YPA with 1 healthy WR for most of this span

+ game tying TD

+ game winning TD Rough start but delivered when it mattered most. — Warren Sharp (@SharpFootball) December 10, 2019 26. Kyle Allen CAR 28/41 293 1 2 5 -34 -50 17 ATL Allen loses 52 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He failed to convert any of his third-down plays, completing one of his four passes (a 7-yard gain on third-and-18) and taking two sacks. 27. Russell Wilson SEA 22/36 245 0 1 5 -40 -34 -7 LAR Wilson did almost nothing in Rams territory -- or just outside of it. Between the Seattle 47 and the Los Angeles goal line, he went 5-of-13 for 45 yards with one interception and four sacks. On third or fourth down, he went 3-of-8 for 65 yards with more sacks (three) than conversions (two). Those two conversions both came with Seattle down by 16 points or more in the fourth quarter. 28. Gardner Minshew JAX 24/37 162 1 0 2 -42 -42 -1 LAC Minshew's first two passes were both completed for first downs. He did not pick up another first down until midway through the third quarter. In between, he went 13-of-19 for 71 yards (3.7 yards per throw) with a sack. While that was going on, the Jaguars went from a scoreless tie to a 31-3 deficit. 29. Sam Darnold NYJ 20/35 270 2 1 1 -43 -26 -17 MIA Darnold loses a league-high 79 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. His average pass traveled 11.1 yards beyond the line of scrimmage, deepest of any starter this week. 30. David Blough DET 24/40 205 1 2 5 -59 -59 0 MIN Since Detroit was playing from behind for virtually the entire game, Blough threw a lot of passes on first down. Only one of those passes, however, moved the chains, as he went 9-of-18 for 73 yards with two interceptions and a sack. 31. Kyler Murray ARI 20/30 194 2 3 5 -64 -41 -23 PIT Murray gains 52 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. Midway through the second quarter, Arizona had a second-and-5 at the Pittsburgh 26, with a chance to tie the game with a field goal or take the lead with a touchdown. Murray threw an interception on that play, and counting that pass, his last 12 dropbacks included four completions for 76 yards and a touchdown; three incompletions; three interceptions; and two sacks, one ending in a fumble. One of his interceptions was thrown deep downfield on fourth-and-17, and when you include a healthy adjustment for facing Pittsburgh, it actually had positive DYAR. The others were thrown on second-and-5 from the Pittsburgh 26 and fourth-and-2 from the Pittsburgh 6, and those were two of the three worst passes of the week by DYAR. (The other was Ryan Tannehill's tip-drill interception on third-and-8 in the Oakland red zone.) 32. Josh Allen BUF 17/39 146 1 0 6 -127 -127 0 BAL Allen gains 46 DYAR due to opponent adjustments. He fumbled on two of his sacks, losing one to the Ravens. He was terrible in scoring range -- inside the Baltimore 40, he went 4-of-12 for 2 yards with one touchdown and three sacks. He had 17 dropbacks with less than 10 yards to go for a first down and only converted three of them, going 5-of-15 for 27 yards with one touchdown, two sacks, and a fumble.

Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Total) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Boston Scott PHI 10 59 1 6/6 69 0 74 31 43 NYG A sixth-round draft pick out of Louisiana Tech in 2018, Scott had never gained more than 37 yards from scrimmage in a game before Monday night. He ran for three first downs against the Giants, the longest a gain of 25, while being stuffed once. He gained first downs on four of his six catches, the longest of which gained 17 yards. 2. Aaron Jones GB 16 134 1 6/7 58 0 71 51 21 WAS Jones ran for seven first downs against Washington, including gains of 10, 12, 16, 23, and 42 yards. He was only stuffed three times. Two of his catches produced first downs: a 15-yard gain on first-and-10 and a 25-yard gain on third-and-14. 3. Raheem Mostert SF 10 69 1 2/2 40 1 64 36 28 NO Mostert ran for three first downs against New Orleans -- a 10-yard touchdown, plus gains of 18 and 19 yards -- while only being stuffed once. His biggest catch was a 35-yard touchdown. 4. Austin Ekeler LAC 8 101 0 4/5 112 1 61 23 38 JAX Ekeler loses 23 DYAR (9 DYAR rushing, 14 DYAR receiving) due to opponent adjustments. Each of his first four carries resulted in first downs, on gains of 27, 23, 35, and 7 yards. Each of his carries gained at least 1 yard, including three of them in the fourth quarter while leading 45-10. Three of his catches resulted in third-down conversions, including an 84-yard touchdown. 5. Joe Mixon CIN 23 146 1 3/4 40 0 60 48 12 CLE Only one of Mixon's carries went for no gain or a loss while ten went for first downs, the longest a 26-yarder. His best catch was a 24-yard gain on first-and-5.

Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Rushing) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Aaron Jones GB 16 134 1 6/7 58 0 71 51 21 WAS 2. Joe Mixon CIN 23 146 1 3/4 40 0 60 48 12 CLE 3. Chris Carson SEA 15 76 0 3/4 15 0 45 42 4 LAR Carson gains 14 rushing DYAR due to opponent adjustments. His longest run gained only 13 yards, but all of them gained at least 1 yard, and six went for first downs. While I'm here, I got questions last week about why Carson had not qualifed for our top running back tables after his 102-yard Monday night performance against Minnesota. The biggest reason was stuffs -- the Vikings hit Carson for no gain or a loss five times, including four plays with 5 yards or less to go for a first down. Short-yardage failures are DYAR-killers. 4. Latavius Murray NO 7 69 0 2/3 25 0 42 39 2 SF Murray gains 10 DYAR rushing due to opponent adjustments, but he had a remarkably consistent day even without them. ALL of his carries against San Francisco gained at least 6 yards (!) and counted as a successful play, and five of them resulted in first downs. 5. Raheem Mostert SF 10 69 1 2/2 40 1 64 36 28 NO

Worst Running Back by DYAR (Total) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Alvin Kamara NO 13 25 0 4/6 18 0 -38 -41 3 SF Kamara gains 8 DYAR receiving due to opponent adjustments. Two of his catches gained first downs, but none gained more than 9 yards, and one lost 5 yards on first-and-10.

Worst Running Back by DYAR (Rushing) Rk Player Team Runs Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR Opp 1. Alvin Kamara NO 13 25 0 4/6 18 0 -38 -41 3 SF Kamara gains 7 DYAR rushing due to opponent adjustments. He only ran for one first down, a 17-yarder, and only had one other carry that gained more than 3 yards. Four of them went for gain or a loss, and one resulted in a lost fumble.

Five Best Wide Receivers and Tight Ends by DYAR Rk Player Team Rec Att Yds Avg TD Total

DYAR Opp 1. Robert Woods LAR 7 9 98 14.0 1 72 SEA Woods' totals include 52 DYAR receiving, 20 DYAR rushing for his two carries for 29 yards. All of his catches resulted in a first down, and six gained at least 12 yards, the longest a 20-yarder. 2. A.J. Brown TEN 5 7 153 30.6 2 64 OAK Brown's totals include 54 DYAR receiving, 9 DYAR rushing for his one carry for 13 yards. Each of his catches gained at least 12 yards and a first down, including 16- and 91-yard touchdowns. 3. Darius Slayton NYG 5 8 154 30.8 2 62 PHI Slayton's five catches, all in the first half: 35-yard touchdown on third-and-13; 42-yard gain on second-and-7; 10-yard gain on first-and-10; 12-yard gain on first-and-10; 55-yard touchdown on third-and-8. 4. Noah Fant DEN 4 4 113 28.2 1 59 HOU Fant's shortest catch was a 14-yard catch on third-and-12. His other three catches gained 23, 28, and 48 yards. 5. Marcus Johnson IND 3 7 105 35.0 1 48 TB Remember our comment on Jacoby Brissett's boom-or-bust game? Johnson played a big part in that. He had a 46-yard touchdown, a 50-yard reception, and a 45-yard DPI. His other five targets resulted in one catch for 9 yards.