As Much As I HATE To Admit It, Joe Burrow Is The Best QB in the NFL

A few days ago, an Eagles fan (shocker) on twitter threw out this stat to try and shit on Herbert. So I decided to go through and crunch the numbers on the big four + Herbert to see what's what. Especially since wins and losses can be directly attributed to a single player. Here are the per/game numbers for these QBs vs eventual playoff teams in the regular season over the last 3 years. 

A few things pop out here. The first is that wow, Josh Allen is fortunate to be tucked away in the AFC East. Both Herbert and Burrow have missed pretty decent chunks of time over this stretch and they've still played 4+ more games than him. Not that Allen wouldn't still be incredible. The second is that there IS a gap between Herbert and the top 4, but it is a very small one. 

Mahomes is obviously the gold standard here, and the difference between him and Herbert is 6 more total yards, 0.36 more total TDs, 4.00 higher passer rating and actually .02 higher interception rate. Should that represent a difference of TWENTY wins? Fuck no. One of the big differences is how fortunate Mahomes, Allen and Lamar have been to play for competent franchises. 

Now HERE is an actual gap. Look how much better those teams have been in being, well, teams. Actual working teams built for success. 

You know what my final read is? The most impressive QB out of this bunch is by far Joe Burrow. His team is seemingly trying to be incompetent but, despite that, he is still performing at a very high level. The Chargers incompetence is not far behind, though, and I'm positive Herbert's world would different with an all-world receiver like Chase and great weapons like Higgins and Boyd vs on-and-off the IR Keenan and Mike Williams. But, if my aunt had wheels, she'd be a bike. Or whatever the phrase is. Also, some of you may think "Well, if the team stinks, their passing volume goes up, stats gets inflated!" That's true! But that doesn't mean that the quality of play stays the same. If a defense knows that a QB has to throw more because they're playing from behind due to bad defense or because their run game isn't effective, I think that makes it harder on the QB. And for a top guy like Burrow, that didn't seem top matter. He threw 68 more passes than any QB in the NFL and still had over a 70% completion percentage. 

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Also, just for other Eagles fans that can't enjoy having the best team in the league OR winning the super bowl because other fans won't say Jalen Hurts is elite, here are some cool 2024 stats.