Zach Wilson over Joe Burrow? NFL analyst calls out ESPN's flawed QB rating
Stats can often be misleading, and with Zach Wilson and Joe Burrow, this was exactly that case. After their Week 16 game, in which they both won, Wilson was graded higher than Burrow.
Given that Burrow threw for over 500 passing yards and four touchdowns, for some it was hard to fathom that Wilson would have a better QBR (quarterback rating) than Burrow.
According to ESPN's total QBR metric, that is exactly what happened. Zach Wilson had a higher quarterback rating (92.4) than Joe Burrow's (89.3), which may come as a surprise when one looks at the stats of the two players.
Wilson threw for 102 passing yards and one touchdown while completing 14 of his 22 passes. He also ran for 91 yards and a touchdown on four carries in the Jets' 26-21 win over Trevor Lawrence and the Jaguars.
We’ve heard this one before…
JOE BURROW HITS TYLER BOYD DEEEP FOR THE TOUCHDOWN🚀
https://t.co/PPpkcq80aw
Burrow, on the other hand, had a career day. The second-year quarterback threw for an astonishing 525 passing yards, four touchdowns and completed 37 of his 46 throws as the Cincinnati Bengals beat the Baltimore Ravens 41-21.
NFL analyst Michael David Smith vented his frustrations at the QBR system on his Twitter account.
QBR severely overrates quarterbacks who run the ball well. Zach Wilson averaged 4.6 yards per pass against a terrible Jaguars secondary. But because he had 91 rushing yards on four carries, QBR says he was the best QB in the NFL this week. twitter.com/richcimini/sta…
Wilson was rated even higher than Patrick Mahomes (23/30, 258 yards, 3 TDs) and Dak Prescott (28/39, 330 yards, 4 TDs), and by a considerable margin, too.
How did Zach Wilson get the week's highest QBR?
As Smith states in his tweet, the metric rewards quarterbacks who can run the ball well, and Wilson rushed for 91 yards on Sunday. It's hard to imagine people thinking that Wilson played better than a handful of quarterbacks on that list, but according to ESPN, he did.
Zach Wilson, the Mormon Mahomes, with a 52-yard TD run 😲😲😲 https://t.co/8CFMJPtJuS
Burrow can consider himself extremely hard done by with his QBR this week. 525 passing yards and four touchdowns will normally get you to the top of the list. He also put up 41 points on a Ravens defense that was a little banged up.
Burrow also had two receivers go over 100 yards receiving with Tee Higgins (12 rec, 194 yards, 2 TDs) and Ja'Marr Chase (7 rec, 125 yards) both having huge days in the passing game.
That Burrow's performance appears diminished in comparison to Wilson's remains baffling for Michael Smith and most likely others as well, but there can be no doubt that Joe Burrow and his career day deserved a better quarterback rating than that of Wilson.