Week 5 QB Index: Russell Wilson jumps to 1, Ryan Tannehill in the top 3?

By: Josh Shippen, Sid Kalyani

We are back with a ranking of all QB’s that played in week 5. Bye Week Quarterbacks were not included in our rankings. Check out our past QB Index Rankings.

Russell Wilson (+1)

Welcome to the 99 club Russell Wilson. The man deserves this for his play the past 5 weeks, even though he wasn’t throwing for 5 touchdowns a game for the past couple of weeks. Regardless, this man is going to win MVP this year if everything goes as planned. 

2. Patrick Mahomes (+2)

I am still confused as to why and how the Chiefs lost to the Raiders. I mean how. It definitely wasn’t Patrick Mahomes’s fault, with 340 passing yards and 2 passing touchdowns. Even though the Chiefs have the most high powered offense in the league, (don’t @ me) their defense needs to be able to hold the opposing offense to less than 40 points.

3. Ryan Tannehill 

No practice? No problem. Even without Adam Humphries and Corey Davis, Tannehill played a cat and mouse game with the Bills from the very beginning, and was a dominant force throughout the entire game. If there was any doubt about the Titans’ keeping Tannehill, it was at least significantly decreased on Tuesday, if not completely squashed.

4. Dak Prescott (+3)

In the past I was never a huge Prescott fan, but this year I started to get sold on the experience. That makes his injury all the more sad, Prescott had a chance at the MVP award this year, and was on pace for over 7,000 years. On top of that, this is a contract year for Dak, who is currently playing under the franchise tag. Adieu Prescott, Adieu.

5. Lamar Jackson

Lamar Jackson has a really easy time beating teams that are worse than the Ravens, but if it’s even a contest, Jackson and the Ravens crumble. Jackson is a top 5 quarterback on an average day, but I would not trust him against teams like the Bills, Titans, or Steelers. Do not look for a Super Bowl from a Jackson led Ravens team unless they get a convincing win against a good team. 

6. Josh Allen (-3)

Josh Allen came down to Earth a little bit against the Titans, but do not fear Bills fans, you are going to be fine and so is your team. Allen was riddled with his team committing absurd penalties, and roughly 78 drops from the Bills’ receivers (seriously that was really weird). In addition, the Bills were without their 1B WR, John Brown, who is an extremely valuable piece in that offense. All this being said, Allen did make some bad mistakes, including an interception that effectively sealed the game for the Titans. Not every week will be like this, Allen is still great, do not worry. Every young QB has a few bad games.

7. Jared Goff (+2)

I hope that Goff stays this good, for his sake and for the Rams sake. It would be very annoying if the Rams decided to give Goff a massive payday, and then watch him play mediocre or even terrible football the next year. The Rams offense had no problems bullying a depressing Washington team, and Goff moves to 4-1 in 2020, and more importantly keeps the Rams in a great position in the NFC West.

8. Deshaun Watson (+2)

Watson came away from the Jaguars game with his first win in 2020, looking much better in contrast to the first four weeks when Bill O’Brien was still the question. Watson was finally able to create a connection with one of his receivers (in this case Brandin Cooks), and it looks like the Texans will end up turning into an 8 win operation with interim head coach Romeo Crennell. 

9.  Derek Carr (+9)

Raise your hand if you are guilty of pinning the success of the Raiders on literally anybody except Derek Carr. The 80% of you that raised your hand, and a good 15% who didn’t are liars, but on Sunday Carr led this team to a win against the best team in football. He wasn’t just there, he LED this team. I wouldn’t rely on this every week but the Raiders should be considered a serious threat, and this should give the rest of the AFC a ray of hope

10.  Justin Herbert (+4)

Herbert has looked like a transcendent talent in the NFL, and let me start by saying if he keeps playing like he has been for the past 4 weeks then he fully deserves the OROY award. Although Herbert’s Chargers blew a 17 point lead, I am not worried at all about this young team, and even less worried about this young quarterback. The injury to Keenan Allen is concerning, but Mike Williams looked like he can be a good WR against the Saints, so that will be valuable if Allen misses time.

11.  Ben Roethlisberger 

Big Ben Roethlisberger is back. If the game against the Eagles proved anything, it’s that Ben has the power to lead the Steelers to a championship. He has been absolutely astonishing this season and deserves to be in the MVP conversation.

12.  Kyler Murray 

Murray and the offense have not been the dominant force we all heralded them to be, which to be quite honest is a little concerning. Murray has countless weapons on his offense, and their schedule is full of games that we considered winnable. Maybe Murray just needs another year to develop, but he just has not gotten that much better from his rookie year.

13.  Tom Brady (-5)

Well, it seems that we have found Tom Brady’s Kryptonite, Nick Foles. The Bucs were on the losing end of their game, and they would have won if Brady played better, and if he knew how to count. Maybe his age is finally catching up with him, or maybe this was an off game. Either way, he needs to get back on track for their next game.

14.  Joe Burrow (-8)

This game shows how terrible the Bengals O-Line is and how unlucky Joe Burrow is. I know that he had a terrible game against a very good Ravens defense, but when your O-Line is giving up 7 sacks, you are never going to win a game. I bet you that Joe Burrow wished that he had his college O-Line back because they would play better than the Bengals did.

15.  Baker Mayfield (+4)

OK, I am finally willing to admit that Baker has been playing well, and is not just being carried by the running game of Chubb and Hunt. Mayfield was the reason that the Browns were able to set the Colts on fire, and is clicking well with Beckham, Landry, and Hunt in the passing game. If both the run game and Baker continue to play at a high level, this AFC North could quickly become the Browns’ playground.

16.  Drew Brees 

Brees looked a lot more like himself against the Chargers in the second half, but he still looks old, and to be quite honest the whole team was playing lights out, and I don’t know if Brees gets this win if he doesn’t have the whole rest of the team performing at a high level. Brees is not a problem, but this is probably his last year, and the Saints should not be considered a Super Bowl candidate with him this year.

17.  Teddy Bridgewater (+4)

Teddy Bridgewater had a very good game against the Falcons, who are competing for the worst team award. For Bridgewater, he is going to have to have games like this if the Panthers are going to be a competing team. Not that I doubt him, but without McCaffrey, Brigewater is going to have to put the team on his back.

18.  Andy Dalton

For years people have been yapping about Andy Dalton only being as good as his surrounding talent. Great, so get some surrounding talent. Dalton performed well enough in Prescott’s absence, and will probably thrive in an offense that has one of the best possible 3 packs of WR’s (Amari Cooper, Michael Gallup, Ceedee Lamb), a solid offensive line, and an All-Pro RB.

19.  Nick Foles (-6)

Chicago, you have found your savior. Not many teams would be able to beat this Bucs team with Tom Brady, unless Nick Foles was your QB, which he was. Even though he didn’t have the best of games, he is definitely better than Mitch Trubisky. I believe that If Foles is the starter for the rest of the season, the Bears will be able to make the playoffs.

20.  Matt Ryan (-5)

The Falcons are a hot mess right now, and it’s starting to have to fall on the quarterback, although it is true that the Falcons are missing Julio Jones, who is absolutely vital to this offense. Honestly there is not much more that can be taken away from Ryan and the Falcons, who are on full tank mode.

21.  Ryan Fitzpatrick (+1)

This is a repeat of weeks 1-4, but Fitzpatrick is a ship rocking up and down. He will not start 16 games, given that their first round pick Tua Tagovailoa is on the bench ready to go. Fitzpatrick will probably throw 4 picks in a couple weeks, and then back it up with 4 touchdowns and 700 yards. Fitzpatrick is not the QB of the future, but he is a perfect bridge QB for all teams.

22.  Gardner Minshew II (-5)

I have been a huge Minshew advocate since he had a massively successful start in the first game of 2019, but  other than a nice start in week 1 this year Minshew has been pretty average. This could improve in time, after Chark is out and we have seen flashes, but the Jaguars will not be winning games with this awful roster if Mishew is not performing at a high level.

23.  Phillip Rivers (-3)

Rivers picks the worst times to throw interceptions, not that the Colts would have really had a chance even if Rivers had not thrown a pick. Rivers and the Colts offense continue to be a milktoast offense that can win games, but will refuse to be excited with a quarterback that could probably be beaten in a footrace by his entire offensive line. I wouldn’t expect him to be benched, but I would look for some Jacob Eason hype come next offseason.

24.  Carson Wentz (-1)

Well well well, Carson Wentz is still garbage. Yes I know that his stats were pretty ok to good, but the Eagles still suck. Wentz should be lucky that he is in the worst division in the NFL, so one great game could get you from last to first, but we still are waiting for that game from Carson Wentz.

25.  Daniel Jones

The Giants still suck, and Daniel Jones is not helping the team. You knew that the Giants would be bad, but without Saquon Barkley, they are really bad. If Daniel Jones wants to be a starter on this team, then he needs to start winning games, like the last one, where the Giants were leading 14-3 and they blew it. 

26.  Alex Smith

I am readily willing to admit that Alex Smith is ranked too high on this list at the moment, but Alex Smith is such an amazing story that he deserves some high praise at least for this week. Smith could not move the ball against a Rams team that was better in pretty much every aspect of the game, and Smith especially wasn’t getting anywhere with Aaron Donald harassing him in the pocket so much. Smith could get better with time though, I’d let the experience run for a while.

27.  Kirk Cousins

To use a quote that I heard from a Vikings fan on Monday, “Kirk Cousins has absolutely no ice in his veins at all”. Even though this is a tribute to the Seahawks coaching and offense, Cousins and the Vikings tossed this game out the window, and then just to top it off, they hopped in their car, ran it over, and then backed over it just for good measure. It’s truly a tribute to how little Cousins is trusted by this offense that his coach chose to put an injured RB in place of Cousins on fourth down.

28.  Joe Flacco

Joe Flacco has lost his touch since his Super Bowl win against the 49ers. I know that he is not being tackled by ghosts, but I don’t believe that he is the answer that the Jets need. We will have to watch for the next game to see if Adam Gase will stay with Flacco, or go with someone else.  

29.  Jimmy Garoppolo

Jimmy G did not look ready to play against the Dolphins, especially not on a day where Fitzpatrick was having one of his good weeks. Garoppolo is not going to stay this bad every week, and I don’t think there’s any chance of a healthy CJ Beathard playing over a healthy Jimmy G, but as long as Garoppolo is playing at this level, I don’t know that there is much room for 49ers improvement.

30.  C.J. Beathard (+1)

As said last week, Beathard is nothing to get excited about. Beathard came in relief of a disappointing Jimmy G, and put a stink bomb from outer space on the field, not surprising. Do not look for Beathard to stay in the starting lineup for much longer.

31.  Kyle Allen

Kyle Allen was not off to a bad start, but that injury of his was devastating. He will be out for a while and when he comes back, he is going to struggle to get his starting job back from Alex Smith.

32.  Matt Barkley

Barkley came in relief of a struggling Josh Allen, not necessarily to bench Allen, but because the game was over and there was nothing to play for. Barkley nearly threw a pick to Jadeveon Clowney of all people so that pretty much tells you how that went in a nutshell.