By the numbers: Josh Rosen’s rookie season leaves room for improvement
Jan 2, 2019, 3:36 PM
Arizona Cardinals quarterback Josh Rosen (3) is sacked by Los Angeles Rams defensive end Aaron Donald during the first half of an NFL football game, Sunday, Dec. 23, 2018, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
(AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Rookie quarterback Josh Rosen took the reins of the Arizona Cardinals offense in Week 3 against the Seattle Seahawks and led the team to three wins on the season.
Rosen ranked third among rookie quarterbacks in passing attempts, passing touchdowns, passing yards and completions on the season.
Although his numbers weren’t too far behind his fellow rookies, among all NFL quarterbacks, they fell short.
Here were some of the eye-popping numbers of the UCLA product’s first season in the NFL.
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33
Rosen ranked 33rd and last among qualified candidates with a quarterback rating of 66.7 this season. That ranked immediately behind rookie Bills QB Josh Allen’s 67.9 and rookie Jets signal-caller Sam Darnold’s 77.6 rating.
Rosen was also 33rd by averaging 163 passing yards per game and just 5.80 yards per attempt.
45
The amount of times Rosen was sacked in the season. He took the seventh-most sacks in the NFL in 2018 behind an offensive line that was plagued by injury throughout the season. The Texans’ Deshaun Watson led the league by taking 62 sacks.
14
Although Rosen started 13 games, he played in 14 after taking over for veteran Sam Bradford late in a Week 3 loss to the Chicago Bears. Rosen started from then on.
3,865
The Cardinals finished dead last in the league in total offense with 3,865 yards. They were the only team in the NFL to end the season with less than 4,500 yards and finished 773 yards behind the No. 31 team in the league, the Miami Dolphins.
11
Rosen threw for 11 touchdown passes on the season: six to Larry Fitzgerald, three to Christian Kirk, one to Chad Williams and one to David Johnson. Rosen threw 14 interceptions, tied for the fifth-most in the NFL.
2,278
Rosen’s total passing yards ranked third among rookies and 29th in the NFL.
252
His best game of the season, in terms of yardage, was the 252-yard performance in the second game against the 49ers, an 18-15 win on Oct. 28. Rosen went 23-of-40 with two touchdowns and one interception.
It was the only game of the season Fitzgerald broke the 100-yard mark in receiving as the veteran caught eight passes for 102 yards and one of Rosen’s two touchdowns.
1-2-3-4
The length of each of Rosen’s losing streaks.
Rosen’s first game as a starter was a loss to the Seattle Seahawks, but was followed up with a bounce back win against the San Francisco 49ers. The Cardinals lost two in a row before earning their second win of the season and then lost three in a row before Rosen’s third win.
Arizona finished the season on a four-game losing streak while Rosen finished 3-10 as a starter.
21.6
Rosen led the NFL in aggressiveness. The stat is compiled in the NFL Next Gen Stats list and measures the amount of passing attempts a quarterback makes into tight coverage.
According to the metric, Rosen fired 21.6 percent of his passes into windows where a defender is within one yard of the intended receiver.
217
Rosen’s 217 completions helped him become the 11th rookie quarterback in the last five years to complete more than 200 passes in their first season.
55.2
Problem was, Rosen was one of the least-accurate quarterbacks in the league. He was 32nd among qualified signal-callers and finished ahead of only Allen’s 52.8 percent.
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