What Jacoby Brissett Won Despite the Team Record

By Walter Mitchell

Jacoby Brissett dissenters keep repeating --- 

"He went 1-11 and had chances to win versus Colts, Packers, Jaguars, Bucs and Falcons and blew it. Hard pass on Brissett."

OK, so let's take a close look at the close losses the Cardinals and Jacoby Brissett had versus IND, GB, JAX, ATL, TB.

Point Spreads:

Week 6: AZ (2-3) @ IND (4-1) --> Colts -8.5

Week 7: GB (3-1-1) vs. AZ (2-4) -_> Packers -7

Week 12: JAX (6-4) vs. AZ (3-7) --> Jaguars -3

Week 13: AZ (3-8) @ TB (6-5) --> Bucs - 2.5

Week 16: ATL (5-9) vs. AZ (3-11) --> Falcons -3

Opposing Defensive Coaches

IND - Lou Anarumo --- Super Bowl 56

GB - Jeff Hafley --- 20-13-1 NFL record as DC

JAX - Anthony Campanile --- 13-4 NFL record as DC

TB - Todd Bowles --- Super Bowl 55 Champion DC

ATL - Raheem Morris/Jeff Ulbrich --- Morris: Super Bowl 56 Champion DC

Brissett's Offensive Lines:

IND - PJJ, EB, HF, WH, JW - missing starters: 0

GB - PJJ, EB, HF, WH, JW - missing starters: 0

JAX - PJJ, EB, HF, IA, KB - missing starters: 2

TB - PJJ, EB, HF, IA, KB - missing starters: 2

ATL - JF, JG, HF, IA, KB - missing starters: 4

Missing RBs, TEs and WRs

IND - JC, TB, TR, MHJ (concussion)

GB - JC, TB, TR,

JAX - JC, TB, TR, MHJ (illness), ZJ

TB - JC, TB, TR, MHJ (half snaps, heel injury). ZJ

ATL - JC, TB, TR, MHJ (limited, heel), ZJ

QB Passing Comparisons:

Week 6:

Brissett: 320 yds/2TD/1int/2 sacks, 89.3 RTG

D. Jones: 212 yds/2TD/1 int/1 sack/101.2 RTG

Week 7:

Brissett: 279/2 TD/0 int/6 sacks/110.8 RTG

Love: 179/1 TD/0 int/1 sack/93.9 RTG

Week 12:

Brissett: 317/1 TD/ 0 int/6 sacks/92.0 RTG

Lawrence: 256/3 TD/3 int/ 3 sacks/ 81.4 RTG

Week 13:

Brissett: 301/2 TD/ 1 int/2 sacks/ 100.1 RTG

Mayfield: 194/1 TD/0 int/2 sacks/96.4 RTG

Week 16:

Brissett: 203/1 TD/ 1 int/2 sacks/67.7 RTG

Cousins: 197/2 TD/1 int/1 sack/82.7 RTG

Close Calls

IND --- missed holding call on Trey McBride in end zone on 4th and 8 from the Colts 12 (0.53) - Colts win 31-27. Cards had 24-17 3rd Q lead and then 27-24 4th Q lead, both times Colts answered with TDs - on the last drive Jacoby marched the team from the AZ 35 to the IND 12 with a huge clutch pass up left sideline to Michael Wilson. But on 4th and 8, the call was perfectly designed to get McBride open on the left flat of the end zone, if he was not held with two hands on the play. The replay shows that Michael Wilson was open early over the middle, but that Jacoby was dialed in on Trey. It became clear from this point forward that Trey McBride was going to become the Cardinals go-to receiver in the red zone, for the first time in his 4 NFLseasons.

GB --- Cards up 23-20 with 5 minutes left in game --- they go for it on 4th and 1 on their own 48-yard line and Jacoby is stuffed on QB sneak for 0 yards --- Packers score TD to go up 27-23 --- with key 3rd and 4th down conversions on passes both to TE T. Kraft --- Cards get ball back with 1:50 left --- Jacoby marches team from AZ 35 to GB 26 --- clutch 24-yard-deep middle pass to Zay Jones and 14-yard pass to Michael Carter that Cards could have used a TO after but stayed in hurry-up and Micah Parsons was left one on one with Jonah Williams and was sacking Jacoby so fast he had no time to escape --- a loss of 9 yards back to the GB 35 with 0.27 left. After Jacoby's 8-yard scramble and team's last timeout with 0.19 left, down by 4 points, Jacoby attempted two deep passes which were incomplete. The Parsons sack was the play of the game. If you recall, he wreaked total havoc on Brissett the entire game. It's amazing what Jacoby was still able to achieve despite Parsons' relentless pressure.

JAX --- Down 27-24 late in 4th Q, Jacoby threw a clutch 31-yard deep pass up left sideline to Michael Wilson with under 20 seconds left and could have had 2 shots at the end zone to try to win in regulation, except that Wilson lost his head and spun the football after his clutch catch instead of running the ball a la Larry to the refs. Jags scored FG in OT and on first offensive play Jacoby was sacked, but rallied the offense 35 yards to the JAX 48. The game ended on a 4th and 4 deep pass to Xavier Weaver that was broken up by FS Andrew Wingard (now a Cardinal). Gutsy call and maybe if Marv had been able to play, he goes up, high points and snatches that 50/50 ball. The Jaguars would win all of their last 8 games.

TB --- Down 17-3 late in the 3rd quarter, Jacoby leads team on a 6-play 72-yard drive that culminates in a 15-yard TD pass to Bam Knight to make it 17-10. After a Bucs make a line drive 57-yard FG (dang) to go up 20-10, Jacoby and the offense go 72 yards in 9 plays that culminates in another 15-yard TD pass this time to Trey McBride, and it's 20-17 Bucs. Cards' defense gets a huge stop at the 2:00 mark. But Riley Dickson booms a 59-yard punt that pins the Cardinals' offense on its own 9-yard line. The pressure on Brissett was such that he needed to get the ball out quickly. Dortch for 3, Carter for 5, then Bucs played sticky man over the middle and got incomplete passes over the middle to Dortch and Wilson with Buc defenders having good leverage. We have seen these type of failed ultra-conservative 2-minute drills on a number of occasions, especially when the team is low or out of timeouts and pinned deep in their territory. This was a disappointing end to what was a very good 2nd half comeback.

ATL --- Cardinals jumped out to a 13-3 lead, but Falcons' 2 2nd quarter TDs lead to 16-16 at halftime. Bijan Robinson took command of the game in the 2nd half. Although Cardinals got a clutch turnover on downs late in the game and have a chance to tie the game. Jacoby hits Elijah Higgins for a big 19-yard gain to the Falcons' 42 and on 1st and 10 with 1:30 left Jacoby throws a 10-yard out pass to Michael Wilson to the right sideline, but Wilson stops his route and C.J. Henderson picks the pass off where it could and should have been caught by Wilson. The Falcons would win all of their last 4 games vs TB, AZ, LAR and NO.

Summary

Cardinals were underdogs in every one of these games.

The Cardinals covered the spread in 4 of the 5 games.

Every opponent in these games boasted highly successful defensive coaches, 3 of which were Super Bowl DCs and the other 2 of which have a combined 33-17-1 as NFL DCs.

Opposing QBs in these 5 games:

Daniel Jones --- #6 player taken in 2019 NFL Draft

Jordan Love --- #26 in 2020

Trevor Lawrence --- #1 in 2021

Baker Mayfield --- #1 in 2018

Kirk Cousins --- #102 in 2012 --- 4 Pro Bowls

Given the quality of the Cardinals' opposing defenses, far more veteran coaching staffs, strength of personnel and talent at QB, the Cardinals deserve praise for playing the teams as tough as they did.

Questions for Cardinals' Fans:

1. Given the circumstances and quality of the opponents, which of these 5 close games do you think Jacoby Brissett should have won?

2. If the Cardinals had won one of these games, would it have changed your mind about Jacoby Brissett? Two? Three? Four? All Five? What would it take?

3. How can so many of you hold Jacoby Brissett accountable for his 11 losses when you were hoping the Cardinals would lose those games anyway? Who is the real loser in that scenario? Jacoby? Or you?

4 You still want to discredit Jacoby's accomplishments by further iterating the lie that most of Jacoby's stats came during garbage time?

Truth is:

In these 5 close games, Jacoby passed for:

* 1,432 yards

* 284.0 yards per game (4 yards above his season average of 280.5 during the last 12 games, which was #1 in NFL in that span),

* 8 TDs

* 2 interceptions while absorbing

* 51 QB hits (IND-12; GB-12, JAX-15, TB-7, ATL -5)

* 18 sacks (IND-2, GB-6, JAX-6, TB-2, ATL-2)

Jacoby's 2025 Accomplishments:

* In only 12 starts, Jacoby delivered on NFL #1 most productive WR/TE tandem as Michael Wilson and Trey McBride combined for 2,245 yards and 18 TDs.

* Set NFL Record for Completions in a Game with 47/57, 365 yards, 2 TDs, 2 int. vs SF.

* Brought the NFL's #31 ranked passing offense after 5 games up to #7 by the end of the season.

* Brought the team's 3rd Down completion percentage up to #9 in the NFL by the end of the season.

* Was ranked #2 in passes dropped.

* His 94.2 RTG was #14 in NFL for QBs with 10 or more starts.

* 280.5 yards per game last 12 weeks: #1 in NFL

* 23 TD passes the last 12 weeks: #2 in NFL behind only Matthew Stafford.

* Won over the complete trust and support of his teammates.

* Brought rare toughness back to the QB position that Cardinals' fans have seen with the team's all-time best QBs in Jim Hart, Kurt Warner and Carson Palmer.