Guess the Quarterback; Kirk Cousins or Aaron Rodgers?

By Oliver Connolly, Editor-In-Chief

Let’s play a game. The two quarterbacks below are listed as ‘Player A’ and ‘Player B.’ One is Aaron Rodgers and one is Kirk Cousins. Can you guess which is which?

Player A

Yards

Comp %

TDs

INTs

Y/A

Y/G

DVOA

DYAR

4166

69.8

29

11

7.7

260.4

6th

7th

Player B

Yards

Comp %

TDs

INTs

Y/A

Y/G

DVOA

DYAR

3821

60.7

31

8

6.7

238.8

16th

15th

SURPRISE! (or probably not)

Player A is indeed Cousins and Player B is Rodgers. Despite the knowledge that the Packers offense has struggled throughout the season, it remains striking to see Rodgers, in his athletic prime (32), have his worst statistical campaign since the year he took over as the Packers starter.

By contrast, Cousins broke a number of Washington franchise records and led the league in completion percentage while having a rushing offense finish 32nd in rush offense DVOA and average a putrid 3.7 yards per attempt (30th in the NFL) — by comparison the Packers averaged 4.2 yards per attempt (12th) and finished 12th in rush offense DVOA.

Advantage Rodgers and the Packers.

And it was not just the running game that was in Rodgers’ favour. Defensively, the stats point Green Bay’s way. They finished 15th in yards per game and 9th in defensive DVOA. Washington finished 20th in defensive DVOA and 28th in yards per game.

Advantage Rodgers and the Packers.

Of course, the numbers remove context and Rodgers’ season must be viewed through the prism of a loss of weapons, drops and offensive line injuries.

That being said, despite flashes of his obvious brilliance, Rodgers had an average year. Cousins on the other hand played like an upper level quarterback.

There’s a paragraph I never thought I’d type and I’m sure you never thought you would read.