With just three games remaining in the season, the NFL Playoffs have officially hit its penultimate week with two championship games – the Buffalo Bills vs the Kansas City Chiefs and the Washington Commanders vs Philadelphia Eagles. As always is the case with championship weekend, fans all around the world are expecting high-level football. With the four quarterbacks in play here, I think that high-level football will happen this week.
In this deeper dive, I thought it would be fun to rank the remaining quarterbacks in the NFL Playoffs based on their play this season.
Ranking the Remaining Quarterbacks in the NFL Playoffs
4. Jalen Hurts | NFL Playoffs
Unlike in past seasons, Jalen Hurts has not had to be incredible for the Philadelphia Eagles to make a deep playoff run this season. With the best offensive line, running back and defense in the game, the Eagles have been able to get by this season playing grind-it-out football. That has resulted in Saquon Barkley running wild and the defense forcing turnovers. That doesn’t mean that Hurts has been bad though.
Hurts finished the season with a completion percentage of 68.7%, passing for 2,903 yards and 18 touchdowns, culminating in a 103.7 passer rating. On top of that, he ran for 630 yards and 14 touchdowns. The Philadelphia Eagles were so good all season long in areas outside of the quarterback position that Hurts did not need to be the guy for them to win games this season.
After injuring his knee against the Los Angeles Rams last week, it will be interesting to see how Hurts’ running game is affected, but with A.J. Brown, DeVonta Smith and Dallas Goedert at his disposal, passing seemingly should not be impacted too much against Washington’s below-average secondary.
3. Jayden Daniels | NFL Playoffs
To say that Jayden Daniels had one of the best starts to a career in NFL history is probably an understatement. Daniels has had the best rookie season from a quarterback that we have ever seen. After winning the Heisman Trophy at LSU, the Washington Commanders made him the number two overall pick to help lead a rebuild. Nine months later, the Commanders sit as one of the four remaining teams, with Daniels playing like a seasoned veteran.
He finished the season with a 69% completion percentage, throwing for 3,568 yards and 25 touchdowns against just nine interceptions. On top of that, Daniels rushed for 891 yards and six touchdowns. That all culminated in a 100.1 passer rating. Basically, Daniels took what Hurts did and multiplied it by 1.5. Has Daniels played better than Patrick Mahomes? Possibly, but I think it would be foolish to rank Daniels (who has just two playoff wins) higher than Mahomes (who is going for his fourth Super Bowl win). I am expecting another heavy dose of Daniels against the Eagles, as capping a rookie season off with a Super Bowl appearance is about as good of a start to a career as any quarterback has or will have in NFL history.
2. Patrick Mahomes | NFL Playoffs
Should Jayden Daniels be ranked higher than Patrick Mahomes? Maybe, but as we saw last week against the Houston Texans, Mahomes is still the NFL’s premier playmaker at the quarterback position when it comes to the NFL Playoffs. Sure, Mahomes has had a down year by his standards. He finished the regular season with a 67.5% completion percentage throwing for 3,928 yards and 26 touchdowns against 11 interceptions. Yes, that is a down year for him, but those numbers are career years for most of the other quarterbacks in the NFL.
It becomes more impressive when you realize Mahomes helped to spearhead a 15-1 season. In his one playoff appearance this year, Mahomes was once again great. He led a 23-14 victory over one of the premier defenses in the NFL (Houston). We know that Mahomes will turn his game up a notch when under the bright lights and against a Bills team that he has had so much success against in the playoffs. I am once again expecting a big Patrick Mahomes performance.
1. Josh Allen | NFL Playoffs
This certainly has not been Josh Allen’s best season of his NFL career, but since the Bills’ victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in the middle of the season, Buffalo has probably been the best team in the NFL. Much of that, at least through an offensive perspective, has been by way of Allen. I mean, he had a two-game stretch this season where he accounted for 10 touchdowns! On top of Allen’s great play recently, the Bills’ defense has brought their game up another notch.
This really feels like the year that the Bills can knock off the Chiefs and finally get back to the ever-elusive Super Bowl. That all starts and ends with Allen. On the season, Josh Allen has recorded a 63.6% completion percentage, passing for 3,731 yards and 28 touchdowns with just six interceptions. On top of that, Allen has rushed for 531 yards and 12 touchdowns.
We know that the ball will be in Allen’s hands when it matters most – it has always just been about limiting the turnovers. He has shown great strides in keeping the ball clean this year and, if he is able to do that against Kansas City in the NFL Playoffs, I think we can see the Bills in the Super Bowl.
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