Quote:In 2015, that one stat says Ryan Fitzpatrick is better than Tom Brady: ESPN’s QBR rankings for this season have Fitzpatrick third in the NFL with a Total QBR of 76.7. Brady is fifth, with a Total QBR of 73.9.


Those rankings obviously look screwy, but taken alone they might seem more like a fluke than an indictment of Total QBR as a stat. The problem is that you can go through the Total QBR rankings and find all kinds of other rankings that just don’t pass the smell test: Brian Hoyer is a top 10 quarterback, ranking ahead of Ben Roethlisberger, Derek Carr, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers and Russell Wilson. Ryan Mallett, who was benched and cut, ranks ahead of Cam Newton, who’s getting some MVP buzz. Ryan Tannehill, who’s had his ups and downs, ranks dead last among the 32 ranked quarterbacks — behind Colin Kaepernick, who’s been nothing but down.