NFL Quarterback ROPE & WAR rankings: Week 14

As we're now into the final quarter of the season, my Quarterback ROPE Index, WAR ratings and FPAA ratings are all rounding into shape and a clear favourite is becoming established for each of the metrics. As per last week, I've produced all three lists to show the best and worst passers in the league from an efficiency and fantasy standpoint, hopefully to help you make the best decision for your fantasy roster, but also give you an alternative view on who's good and bad in the league.

ROPE Index Rankings: Week 14 (min 100 pass attempts)

After weeks of cat and mouse between Drew Brees and Tom Brady at the top of the ROPE Index, Brees has opened a significant gap where he continues to be the most consistent passer in the league, and Tom Brady had his worst ROPE rating in over 10 years. Brees posted a 62.1% rating in the Saints' loss to the Falcons, the 11th time in 13 games he's been above a 60% rating, with no other player having more than 8 games with that minimum rating (Alex Smith, Matt Ryan). Brady's 25.8% rating is his lowest since a 2006 week 14 loss, again in Miami.

The hottest quarterback in the league is Philip Rivers. Over the past four weeks, Rivers has an average ROPE rating of 75.8%, more than 10% ahead of the next quarterback (Drew Brees, 64.0%). Rivers is also up to 5th in the overall standings and has favourable matchups in the last three weeks of the season against the Chiefs, Jets and Raiders. Finally Rivers has the third most fantasy points over the last 4 weeks (21.31 ppg), behind only Ben Roethlisberger (26.06) and Russell Wilson (25.14). Get him in your line up while the Chargers are making a push for the playoffs.

The top ROPE rating of week 14 came from Dak Prescott, who's 90.9% rating was the best of his career to date, as he threw for his most ever yards (332) and led the league in yards per attempt with 11.1 this week. His 26.58 fantasy points were the third highest of the week, Behind Roethlisberger (28.74) and the unfortunate Carson Wentz (27.24).

A second consecutive week with Blake Bortles making the right end of the ratings, who after tying his best ever rating last week, has now recorded his best ever ROPE rating with 83.3% against the Seahawks of all teams. Bortles has moved up five places for the second consecutive week to lie 19th in the overall standings. Facing bottom 10 pass defenses in weeks 15 and 16 (Texans and 49ers), Bortles is making a late push for quarterback relevance in 2017 and his four week average of 18.19 fantasy points means he's a viable starter during the fantasy playoffs.

It was a case of first to worst in terms of the lowest ROPE rating of week 14 and Josh McCown, who led the league with a 78.8% rating last week, before posting a 3.0% rating in the Jets' blowout loss to the Broncos. To add injury to insult, McCown broke his hand and has since gone onto IR to end what had been to this point been one of the best seasons of his career. His -1.46 fantasy points were the lowest of the week and McCown's lowest of the season.

WAA/WAR Ratings: Week 14 (min 6 games)

Drew Brees remains top of the WAA ratings through 14 weeks and despite a loss in week 14, he has strengthened his lead and grown his rating to over 3.5 wins above the play of the average quarterback and over 5 wins above a replacement. This again speaks to Brees' consistency as discussed above and based on these numbers, its strange that he's barely mentioned in the MVP race.

The rest of the pack are shuffling behind Brees, with Philip Rivers the guy who's making the biggest move as the Chargers go on their late season, with his WAA rating above 2 wins for the first time this season and up to 5th overall.

Blake Bortles continues to move up the WAR ratings and his steallr play over the last two weeks means he is close to no longer being a net negative to the Jaguars season at -0.28 WAA, and has a WAR rating of over a win now (+1.07).

There are now five quarterbacks on winning teams that have a WAA rating below zero. Other than the ascending Blake Bortles, Marcus Mariota, Cam Newton, Tyrod Taylor and Joe Flacco are all negatively contributing to their team's success. As discussed previously, Cam Newton's rating does not take into account his contribution as a runner, and his unique skill set means he's the one player where the WAA rating doesn't really apply to his overall play.

Deshone Kizer remains as the worst quarterback in the WAA/WAR ratings, suggesting that the Browns could have as many three wins with an average quarterback, and even two with a replacement level starter.

FPAA/FPAR Ratings: Week 14 (min 6 games)

No change at the top with Russell Wilson continuing to be the fantasy QB MVP. His 5.71 points above average has grown +0.42 points week on week as he displayed more 4th quarter heroics, though it ultimately was unsuccessful as the Seahawks lost to the Jaguars.

Carson Wentz has overtaken Alex Smith for second in the FPAA ratings, but with Wentz now on IR after tearing his ACL in the Eagles' win over the Rams, He's unlikely to overtake WIlson unless Wilson's play drops off in the final few weeks.

Joe Flacco remains as the lowest rated quarterback in FPAA at nearly 4 points below the average quarterback, though Tom Savage's concussion suffered in the loss to 49ers means the gap has closed this week but Flacco remains on course to finish the season as my worst rated fantasy quarterback.