For the 85th time in NFL regular season history, a quarterback completed a game with a perfect passer rating.
Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts had the biggest highlight of all gunslingers this week with his perfect day: 19-of-23 passing (82.6% completion rate), 326 passing yards, three touchdowns and no interceptions.
The game – and win that came with it – was good enough to give Hurts a significant bump in this week’s NFL quarterback power rankings. It was a very strong bounce back after two straight losses for the Eagles, including a Week 6 stumble against the New York Giants on ‘Thursday Night Football.’
Other highlights from this week included a 342-yard outing from 40-year-old Joe Flacco, a five-touchdown day from Matthew Stafford and another excellent outing from Drake Maye.
Here’s how all of those performances – and more – shook up the Week 8 power rankings:
NFL quarterback power rankings: Week 8
1. Patrick Mahomes, Kansas City Chiefs
Last week: 1
Mahomes completed 74.3% of his pass attempts and threw for 286 yards and three touchdowns on Sunday against the Raiders. It helped lead the Chiefs to a second straight win and fourth in their last five games.
2. Drake Maye, New England Patriots
Last week: 3
Maye had the best completion rate (21-of-23, or 91.3%) of any quarterback in Week 7. The second-year quarterback had the best QBR of any quarterback this week and now leads the league in completion percentage over expected (11.5) while ranking second in EPA/play (0.333). The Patriots’ quarterback is poised to get some MVP buzz in his second season in the league – and first with offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels.
3. Josh Allen, Buffalo Bills
Last week: 7
Allen plummeted last week after a two-interception outing in a loss to the Falcons. During his bye week, most of the quarterbacks that surpassed him played poorly enough to warrant their own drops in the power rankings.
4. Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Last week: 2
Mayfield looked out-of-sorts in Week 7, often overthrowing receivers. He faced more defensive pressures (28) than any other quarterback this week, according to PFF, and had two passes batted down. The Bucs’ quarterback has had to deal with a bunch of injuries to his receivers, and Tampa Bay’s inability to get the run game going in Bucky Irving’s absence is hurting the passing offense’s effectiveness as well.
5. Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams
Last week: 8
All five of the Rams’ touchdowns in London were on throws by Stafford – with three of them landing in veteran Davante Adams’ hands. The 37-year-old gunslinger’s ability to do that while throwing for only 182 yards and avoiding any turnovers – against a Jaguars defense that’s second in the league in takeaways – was impressive.
6. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Last week: 5
The Chargers’ string of injuries to their offensive line has really started to hurt. An ankle injury for rookie running back Omarion Hampton has also led to Los Angeles’ offense looking one-dimensional. Herbert still managed to throw for 420 yards and three touchdowns while only taking three sacks on 27 pressures. He did throw two more interceptions, though, and the Chargers lost for the third time in four games.
7. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions
Last week: 6
Goff threw an interception and lost a fumble on Monday night. Notably, Goff had six incompletions on third down plays, though two were wiped away by illegal contact penalties. He was also sacked twice on third down as the Lions finished the night 3-for-13 on third down conversion attempts.
8. Sam Darnold, Seattle Seahawks
Last week: 4
Darnold’s 54.8% completion rate was his lowest of the season so far, and he had two passes batted down plus threw his fourth interception of the season. However, he also led the league with five big-time throws this week, per PFF, and still ranks third in the NFL this season in completion percentage over expected (9.1).
9. Daniel Jones, Indianapolis Colts
Last week: 10
Jones continues to do exactly what the Colts ask him to do on offense: protect the football, avoid sacks (his 7.3% pressure to sack rate is by far the lowest in the NFL), make throws when he needs to and otherwise let running back Jonathan Taylor cook. Indianapolis is now the league’s only six-win team through seven weeks, and Jones leads NFL quarterbacks in EPA/play (0.336).
10. Jalen Hurts, Philadelphia Eagles
Last week: 14
Hurts had a perfect day on Suday with his 82.6% completion rate, 326 passing yards and three touchdown throws. The Eagles offense – and its quarterback – seems to have unlocked something by running more plays with Hurts under center.
11. Dak Prescott, Dallas Cowboys
Last week: 11
In the first game since wide receiver CeeDee Lamb returned from injury, Prescott threw for 264 yards and three touchdowns. He leads the NFL in completions (185), is fourth in EPA/play (0.296), and the Cowboys lead the NFL in offensive yardage (390.6/game).
12. Jordan Love, Green Bay Packers
Last week: 9
Love had his second-worst game by passer rating (93.9) and completion rate (65.5%) this year, set a season-low mark in passing yards (179) and made two turnover-worthy plays, per PFF. But he also led his first game-winning drive of the year, bringing the Packers a win in a game they only led for the final 1:50.
13. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
Last week: 16
Box score watchers might be shocked to see Lawrence jump up several places this week. He completed fewer than 50% of his passes, and the Jaguars lost in a blowout in London.
Missing in the box score is some extra context: Jaguars receivers dropped five more passes Sunday, per PFF, bringing Lawrence’s league lead to an astounding 21 drops through seven weeks. Lawrence also made three big-time throws in the game (tied for fifth this week) and had an average depth of target of 12.4 yards, tied with Hurts for the highest of all starting quarterbacks this week. The offense also started to get rookie Travis Hunter more involved (eight catches, 101 yards, one touchdown) and is rounding into shape under new head coach Liam Coen.
14. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders
Last week: 15
Daniels had three passes dropped in Week 7 and led the Commanders in rushing (35 yards) despite exiting early with a hamstring injury. His status for Week 8 is still unclear.
15. Jaxson Dart, New York Giants
Last week: 18
Dart’s back-breaking, game-defining interception soured an otherwise excellent performance against the league’s best passing defense, per their 37.4% success rate allowed on dropbacks. His 283 yards and three touchdowns were both new career-high marks for the rookie. The No. 25 overall pick in this year’s draft is 13th in the NFL in EPA/play (0.165) through seven weeks, nestled between Mayfield (0.168) and Hurts’ (0.161) marks.
16. Bo Nix, Denver Broncos
Last week: 22
The Broncos had zero points when the fourth quarter began. Then Nix threw two touchdowns, rushed for two more and led Denver to an improbable, 33-32 comeback win over the Giants. Included in Nix’s big day were four big-time throws and zero turnover-worthy plays. He also remained excellent at avoiding sacks, taking just two against 15 pressures from Big Blue’s mighty defensive line.
17. Michael Penix Jr., Atlanta Falcons
Last week: 12
Penix matched his season-high with 12 bad throws on Sunday night against the 49ers, per Pro Football Reference. The result was his second-worst completion rate of the season (55.3%), third-worst passer rating (83.3) and a third Falcons loss.
18. Aaron Rodgers, Pittsburgh Steelers
Last week: 21
Rodgers and the Steelers might have lost their second game of the season, but the 41-year-old quarterback showed he’s still got it in the ‘Unc Bowl.’ He finished with 249 yards, four touchdowns, two interceptions and a 70-yard Hail Mary attempt that traveled further than any pass since at least 2017, per Next Gen Stats.
19. Mac Jones, San Francisco 49ers
Last week: 19
Jones did not have to do much to win Sunday night’s game. The 49ers offense ran almost entirely through running back Christian McCaffrey, who finished the night with 201 scrimmage yards. Jones did well for the most part, with his only major blemish an interception that hit receiver Jauan Jennings in the hands.
20. Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears
Last week: 13
The Bears’ offensive line held up well against the Saints – 10 pressures allowed, helping afford Williams a league-leading 3.53-second time to throw this week. But Williams just didn’t do much with that. He made zero big-time throws, had two turnover-worthy plays with two fumbles and an interception, had two passes batted down and an unremarkable 9.2-yard average depth of target given how long he had to throw. Chicago won, 26-14, but it was mostly thanks to its 222 yards on the ground.
21. Spencer Rattler, New Orleans Saints
Last week: 17
Williams’ opponent was not much better. Rattler threw a career-high three interceptions against the Bears and lost a fumble. PFF found two other turnover-worthy plays for a league-leading total of six in Week 7.
22. Jacoby Brissett, Arizona Cardinals
Last week: 24
In two starts for the Cardinals, Brissett has 599 passing yards, four touchdowns and zero interceptions against two teams ranked in the top half of the league in EPA/play allowed on dropbacks. He has zero wins to show for that, despite Arizona not trailing the Packers until the final two minutes on Sunday.
23. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans
Last week: 20
Stroud tied Rattler for this week’s league lead with six turnover-worthy plays. He avoided getting knocked for a costly fumble-six thanks to Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas fumbling short of the end zone. He also avoided a safety after inexplicably scrambling backwards 18 yards while under pressure and taking a sack at the 1-yard line.
24. Joe Flacco, Cincinnati Bengals
Last week: 30
Flacco, like Rodgers, proved he’s still got it on Thursday night. His 342 passing yards and three touchdowns in his first start with the Bengals helped give Cincinnati its first win since Week 2, as well as a reason for its fans to believe that maybe things will be alright until Joe Burrow returns.
25. Dillon Gabriel, Cleveland Browns
Last week: 27
Gabriel completed 13 of his 18 pass attempts for 116 yards with an average depth of target of 4.7 yards. That worked out fine for Cleveland, who rode an 84-yard, three-touchdown day from Quinshon Judkins to a blowout win over the Dolphins.
26. Cam Ward, Tennessee Titans
Last week: 28
How did Ward look in his first game without head coach Brian Callahan? Well, like more of the same. There was some good: a new career-high 73.5% completion rate, 255 passing yards that are second-most in his rookie season so far and two big-time throws. There was also some bad: five sacks taken on 10 pressures, an interception, a fumble and another loss.
27. Carson Wentz, Minnesota Vikings
Last week: 26
It’s almost impressive when a quarterback throws two interceptions in a four-play span. One of Wentz’s miscues was returned for a touchdown, and after the Vikings got the ball back, he threw another one three plays later.
28. Geno Smith, Las Vegas Raiders
Last week: 29
The Chiefs dominated the Raiders in time of possession – over 42 minutes to under 18 – which held Smith to just 18 dropbacks. He managed to throw zero interceptions, perhaps because his average depth of target this week was just 3.4 yards, lowest of any NFL starter in Week 7.
29. Tua Tagovailoa, Miami Dolphins
Last week: 25
A completion rate just a tick above 50%, 100 passing yards, zero touchdowns, three interceptions and three fumbles (none lost) resulted in a 3.3 QBR. The Dolphins benched Tagovailoa for their final two drives.
30. Andy Dalton, Carolina Panthers
Last week: N/A
Dalton is in line to start Week 8 for Carolina after Bryce Young sustained a high ankle sprain.
31. Cooper Rush, Baltimore Ravens
Last week: 31
Rush and the Ravens were on a bye in Week 7.
32. Justin Fields/Tyrod Taylor, New York Jets
Last week: 32
Fields was benched to start the second half on Sunday. Taylor completed his passes at a lower rate than the Jets’ starter and threw two interceptions after entering the game. Fields still had a worse QBR and PFF grade. That’s likely because Taylor pushed the ball further downfield than any other quarterback this week with his 16.8-yard average depth of target. If that weren’t bad enough, team owner Woody Johnson essentially blamed Fields for all of the 0-7 Jets’ losing woes on Oct. 21.
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