Factoid

September 19, 2021

Matthew Stafford

Stafford faces another struggling defense

There will be an unusual matchup in Indianapolis this week. Matthew Stafford torched the Bears, and he’ll be facing a defense in Week 2 that was similarly ripped up by Russell Wilson.

I have sifted through the numbers (using the sorting tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com). As best as I can tell, this is only the second game of the Super Bowl era matching a quarterback who finished with a passer rating over 150 against a defense that in its previous game allowed a passer rating over 150.

Using the NFL’s complex passer rating system (which averages completion percentage, touchdown percentage, yards per pass and interception percentage), the highest possible rating is a 158.3. In the Super Bowl era, only 123 quarterbacks have finished games with a rating over 150 while attempting at least 20 passes. There have been 48 of these games in the last 10 years, and they appear below.

Only once previously have we had the dynamic of a quarterback and a victimized defense meeting up in the next week. That occurred on Thanksgiving Day in 2018. That was the weird game in which Drew Brees threw 4 TDs to four different players who entered the league as undrafted free agents. Brees in that game went 15 of 22 for 171 yards and 4 TDs, with 1 interception.

One other close call came the next week. Baker Mayfield (in his rookie year) had gone over 150 in a game against those same Falcons. He had a bye on the Thanksgiving weekend, and in his next game back, he faced the Cincinnati defense that Brees had ripped up prior to his Thanksgiving game. Baker against the Bengals went 19 of 26 for 258 yards, with 4 TDs and no interceptions in a 35-20 win, for a passer rating of 143.9 (contributing to him being overdrafted the following summer).

One other matchup of note. In December of 2015, Cam Newton and Eli Manning both had passer ratings over 150 in the same week. Their teams played against each other the next week.

HIGHEST PASSER RATINGS, LAST 10 YEARS
Year	Player	Opp	Result	Cmp	Att	Yds	TD	Int	Rate
2018	Jared Goff, LAR	MIN	W 38-31	26	33	465	5	0	158.3
2019	Aaron Rodgers, GNB	OAK	W 42-24	25	31	429	5	0	158.3
2019	Deshaun Watson, HOU	ATL	W 53-32	28	33	426	5	0	158.3
2013	Nick Foles, PHI	at OAK	W 49-20	22	28	406	7	0	158.3
2019	Dak Prescott, DAL	NYG	W 35-17	25	32	405	4	0	158.3
2014	Geno Smith, NYJ	at MIA	W 37-24	20	25	358	3	0	158.3
2020	Tom Brady, TAM	at DET	W 47-7	22	27	348	4	0	158.3
2018	Ben Roethlisberger, PIT	CAR	W 52-21	22	25	328	5	0	158.3
2019	Lamar Jackson, BAL	at MIA	W 59-10	17	20	324	5	0	158.3
2015	Kirk Cousins, WAS	NOR	W 47-14	20	25	324	4	0	158.3
2013	Alex Smith, KAN	at OAK	W 56-31	17	20	287	5	0	158.3
2013	Drew Brees, NOR	TAM	W 42-17	24	31	381	4	0	157.4
2014	Peyton Manning, DEN	SFO	W 42-17	22	26	318	4	0	157.2
2018	Ryan Fitzpatrick, TAM	at NOR	W 48-40	21	28	417	4	0	156.2
2012	Alex Smith, SFO	BUF	W 45-3	18	24	303	3	0	156.2
2020	Matthew Stafford, LAR	CHI	W 34-14	20	26	321	3	0	156.1
2018	Deshaun Watson, HOU	MIA	W 42-23	16	20	239	5	0	156.0
2014	Matt Ryan, ATL	TAM	W 56-14	21	24	286	3	0	155.9
2015	Ben Roethlisberger, PIT	SFO	W 43-18	21	27	369	3	0	155.8
2018	Ryan Tannehill, MIA	OAK	W 28-20	17	23	289	3	0	155.3
2018	Patrick Mahomes, KAN	at PIT	W 42-37	23	28	326	6	0	154.8
2018	Mitchell Trubisky, CHI	TAM	W 48-10	19	26	354	6	0	154.6
2020	Ryan Fitzpatrick, MIA	at SFO	W 43-17	22	28	350	3	0	154.5
2014	Aaron Rodgers, GNB	CAR	W 38-17	19	22	255	3	0	154.5
2019	Philip Rivers, LAC	at JAX	W 45-10	16	22	314	3	0	154.4
2015	Teddy Bridgewater, MIN	CHI	W 38-17	17	20	231	4	0	154.4
2015	Kirk Cousins, WAS	BUF	W 35-25	22	28	319	4	0	153.7
2015	Cam Newton, CAR	ATL	W 38-0	15	21	265	3	0	153.3
2018	Drew Brees, NOR	PHI	W 48-7	22	30	363	4	0	153.2
2018	Drew Brees, NOR	WAS	W 43-19	26	29	363	3	0	153.2
2016	Ben Roethlisberger, PIT	KAN	W 43-14	22	27	300	5	0	152.5
2020	Russell Wilson, SEA	at IND	W 28-16	18	23	254	4	0	152.3
2020	Lamar Jackson, BAL	CLE	W 38-6	20	25	275	3	0	152.1
2018	Nick Mullens, SFO	OAK	W 34-3	16	22	262	3	0	151.9
2019	Russell Wilson, SEA	LAR	W 30-29	17	23	268	4	0	151.8
2013	Tom Brady, NWE	PIT	W 55-31	23	33	432	4	0	151.8
2014	Tony Romo, DAL	IND	W 42-7	18	20	218	4	0	151.7
2015	Eli Manning, NYG	at MIA	W 31-24	27	31	337	4	0	151.5
2014	Aaron Rodgers, GNB	at CHI	W 38-17	22	28	302	4	0	151.2
2018	Baker Mayfield, CLE	ATL	W 28-16	17	20	216	3	0	151.2
2015	Jay Cutler, CHI	at STL	W 37-13	19	24	258	3	0	151.0
2016	Aaron Rodgers, GNB	SEA	W 38-10	18	23	246	3	0	150.8
2017	Kirk Cousins, WAS	OAK	W 27-10	25	30	365	3	0	150.7
2014	Ben Roethlisberger, PIT	IND	W 51-34	40	49	522	6	0	150.6
2020	Kyler Murray, ARI	MIA	L 31-34	21	26	283	3	0	150.5
2012	Tony Romo, DAL	PHI	W 38-33	22	27	303	3	0	150.5
2020	Deshaun Watson, HOU	at DET	W 41-25	17	25	318	4	0	150.4
2018	Drew Brees, NOR	at CIN	W 51-14	22	25	265	3	0	150.4

Statistics compiled using search tools at Pro-Football-Reference.com

—Ian Allan

Matthew Stafford Russell Wilson

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