Riggo's Rag
FanSided

Ranking the Commanders’ 2022 opposing quarterbacks

By Samuel Schulman

MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 09: Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings stands on the sidelines in the third quarter of the game against the Chicago Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium on January 9, 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
MINNEAPOLIS, MN - JANUARY 09: Kirk Cousins #8 of the Minnesota Vikings stands on the sidelines in the third quarter of the game against the Chicago Bears at U.S. Bank Stadium on January 9, 2022 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Photo by Stephen Maturen/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
3 of 6
Next
(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images)
(Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images) /

The next tier of Commanders opposing quarterbacks are all very serviceable guys that can elevate a team towards its ceiling in any given game. You aren’t likely to lose games because of this type of quarterback, but you are going to need a very good roster in order to win playoff games with these types of guys.

Dak Prescott

I had to swallow my pride to admit this, but the first (and best) quarterback in this tier is Cowboys quarterback Dak Precott. Prescott is by no means a top quarterback in the NFL and him being the second-best quarterback the Commanders will face is indicative of how good of an opportunity this schedule of opposing QBs really is for the team.

Prescott is 9-1 against the Commanders in his career, and that alone shows how much of a thorn in the side of Washington he’s been since he was drafed. Hopefully the Commanders find a way to break through against Prescott in 2022.

Kirk Cousins

The next-best quarterback the Commanders face in 2022 is old friend, Kirk Cousins. Since Cousins became the full time starter for Washington in 2015, he has been the epitome of consistency. He is one of four quarterbacks who has played at least 110 games since 2015 and has put together an impressive résumé over that time:

  • 29,563 Passing Yards (3rd in NFL since 2015)
  • 67.7% Completion % (3rd in NFL since 2015)
  • 205 TDs (4th in NFL since 2015)

Cousins fits perfectly into the description of someone who will not lose you games, but may not outright win them either as he has a remarkably average 59-59-2 record as a starting QB. The Vikings could be right in the wild card hunt with the Commanders late in the year and a head to head win could go a long way towards Ron Rivera’s group returning to the postseason in 2022.

Ryan Tannehill

The last quarterback in this tier, although a considerable notch worse than the previous two, is Ryan Tannehill.

Tannehill is an excellent game manager who is capable of running a great offense, but has undoubtedly been benefited by an excellent rushing attack behind Derrick Henry for the better part of the last three seasons.

Ryan Tannehill is a confusing case as different metrics seem to favor him while others show him as below average signal caller. According to Football Outsiders DYAR metric, which shows a quarterback’s relative yards added over a replacement player, Tannehill may not be too great of a QB. He finished 27th in the metric with a -20 DYAR which was behind the likes of Daniel Jones and Davis Mills, however he had an excellent QBR of 55.9 which ranked eighth in the NFL ahead of Russell Wilson and Joe Burrow. A big reason for the discrepancy in Ryan Tannehill’s rankings in these two important stats is his exceptional red zone efficiency; of course, having a guy like Derrick Henry in the red zone makes things much easier for a QB to succeed.

Home/Commanders Schedule