Since taking over for the injured Kyler Murray, Cardinals quarterback Jacoby Brissett has thrown just one interception in his 112 pass attempts this season. And in the process he has lowered his already low career interception percentage to a rate unprecedented in NFL history.
Through Monday night’s win over the Cowboys, Brissett has thrown 25 career interceptions in 1,873 pass attempts. That’s an interception rate of 1.3 percent, the NFL’s all-time record.
The second-lowest interception rate in NFL history belongs to Aaron Rodgers, who has thrown an interception on 1.4 percent of his passes.
Brissett’s ability to avoid interceptions is one of the reasons Cardinals head coach Jonathan Gannon has talked about how pleased he is with the way the offense has performed with Brissett — while tiptoeing around actually saying he thinks Brissett is playing better than Murray. The Cardinals have put Murray on injured reserve and are continuing to avoid explicitly saying who will start once Murray’s injured foot is fully healed. But if there’s any chance of Murray getting the starting job back, it’s safe to say that has more to do with Murray’s status as a first overall pick in the draft who has a contract guaranteeing him $39.8 million next year than with the Cardinals’ coaches actually thinking their offense runs better with Murray than with Brissett.
Brissett has not been a great quarterback during his 10-year NFL career, and has more often been a backup than a starter. But he’s been the kind of backup who can be relied upon not to throw the game away. And that’s a trait that sometimes earns a starting job for a quarterback who had been a backup.
