Jackson vs. Mayfield – the stats
Basic stats are a terrible way to evaluate any player, especially quarterbacks, but they can provide some valuable information to use in the final judgment. Both Jackson and Mayfield have started eight games this season, with Jackson at 6-2 and Mayfield at 5-3. Here are how their basic stats compare to each other:
Jackson – 134/213 (62.9%), 1513 yards, 12 touchdowns (5.6%), 4 interceptions (1.9%), 7.1 yards per attempt, 7.4 adjusted yards per attempt, 189.1 yards per game, 95.1 quarterback rating, 61.9 QBR
Mayfield – 137/223 (61.4%), 1514 yards, 15 touchdowns (6.7%), 7 interceptions (3.1%), 6.8 yards per attempt, 6.7 adjusted yards per attempt, 189.3 yards per game, 90.9 quarterback rating, 71.2 QBR
What can we glean from these numbers? Both QB’s numbers are bolstered by their best games of the season; for Jackson, that was Week 1 vs. Cleveland, and for Mayfield that was Week 7 against the Cincinnati Bengals. Mayfield’s peak this season has been higher than Jackson’s, and both had valleys against the Pittsburgh Steelers (although Jackson had another one against Cincy, oddly enough).
They’re completing passes at around the same clip, and have averaged just about the same yardage per game, and that’s with Mayfield missing 15 offensive snaps against Pittsburgh. QBR can be a flawed metric, as Aaron Rodgers earned a score of 55 over 2018 and 2019, when he totaled 51 touchdowns to six interceptions.
Overall, the two passers are neck-and-neck here, so we need to continue adding context until we can reach a conclusion.