Putting Nick Foles’ Week 9 performance into perspective

On Sunday, in his ninth career NFL start and two weeks removed from one of the worst performances of the 2013 NFL regular season, Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Nick Foles put together a performance that, on paper, was arguably the best in NFL history. 

Seriously. 

Including Foles, 34 quarterbacks have posted perfect passer ratings on 42 separate occasions. But of those 42 "perfect" performances, here's a look at how many times the quarterback also threw zero interceptions and at least five touchdown passes:

Nick Foles, 2013
Drew Brees, 2009
Ben Roethlisberger, 2007
Tom Brady, 2007
Peyton Manning, 2003
Fran Tarkenton, 1970
Frank Ryan, 1964

Six touchdown passes?

Nick Foles, 2013
Tom Brady, 2007
Peyton Manning, 2003

What about seven touchdown passes?

Nick Foles, 2013

Let's pull it back to six touchdown passes but exclude those who didn't average at least 14 yards per attempt:

Nick Foles, 2013
Tom Brady, 2007

How 'bout 14.5 yards per attempt?

Nick Foles, 2013

Maybe we're giving too much value to touchdowns and yards. Let's take the original list and limit it to those who had at least 10 yards per attempt, at least five touchdowns, zero picks and who had a completion percentage of at least 75.0:

Nick Foles, 2013
Drew Brees, 2009
Ben Roethlisberger, 2007
Tom Brady, 2007
Peyton Manning, 2003
Fran Tarkenton, 1970
Frank Ryan, 1964

Now let's weed out those who didn't accumulate enough. Roethlisberger, Tarkenton and Ryan all had less than 300 yards and fewer than 20 pass attempts. That again leaves us with:

Nick Foles, 2013
Drew Brees, 2009
Tom Brady, 2007
Peyton Manning, 2003

It looks like this comes down to Foles, Brees, Brady and Manning. A comparison:

If we were to award a player three points for winning a category, two for coming in second and one for coming in third, and then if we removed interceptions, ratings (all washes) and attempts (not relevant at this stage), Foles would have nine points, Brady would have six and a half, Brees would have five and Manning would have three. 

Foles is the only quarterback in NFL history to post a perfect passer rating with six or more touchdown passes, zero interceptions, a completion percentage above 75 and a yards-per-attempt average of 14.5 or above. Or, if you'd rather keep is simple, he's the first quarterback ever to post a perfect passer rating while throwing seven touchdown passes. 

Regardless, it looks as though he just put up the best statistical performance in league history.

About Brad Gagnon

Brad Gagnon has been passionate about both sports and mass media since he was in diapers -- a passion that won't die until he's in them again. Based in Toronto, he's worked as a national NFL blog editor at theScore.com (covering Super Bowls XLIV, XLV and XLVI), a producer and writer at theScore Television Network and a host, reporter and play-by-play voice at Rogers TV. His work has also appeared at Deadspin, FoxSports.com, The Guardian, The Hockey News and elsewhere at Bloguin, but his day gig has him covering all things NFC East for Bleacher Report.

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