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USA Today Sports Media Group

Sport

Tim Weaver

Ranking the top 32 NFL quarterbacks in CPOE going into Week 16

NFL United States Drew Lock Geno Smith Chicago Bears Cincinnati Bengals Pete Carroll Seattle Texas Arlington

There is no quarterback controversy in Seattle. Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll made that clear after his team’s win on Monday night over the Eagles, just in case it wasn’t already obvious. While Drew Lock deserves credit for leading them through their game-winning drive, these last two starts for Lock have proven that he’s nowhere near the level of quarterback that Geno Smith is right now – despite having superior velocity, range and athleticism. Carroll says Smith will play next week against the Titans.

Aside from the kind of decision making we saw him employ against the 49ers, Lock’s biggest issue on the field is accuracy. For his career he’s completed less than 60% of his pass attempts and against the Eagles he missed several passes badly – including an overthrow that would have been an easy touchdown for Tyler Lockett. Lock continued to miss right through that last drive, on which he only completed half of his 10 passes, of which three were in danger of being picked off.

This week’s QB rankings illustrates the lesson even further. While Smith ranks just outside the top 10 in completion percentage over expected (2.7%), Lock is near the bottom of the league at -5%. That’s not even good enough to crack the top 40 this year. Here’s how the top 32 quarterbacks stack up in this stat going into Week 16.