When it comes to quarterback performance, it doesn’t get much better than what Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff did with the Seattle Seahawks. Goff finished the game 18 of 18 for 292 yards, two touchdowns and, of course, zero interceptions. He even added a 7-yard touchdown grab.

Goff’s night set an NFL record for most passes in an entire game without an incompletion.

“I don’t think I’ve ever done it,” Goff said of his incomplete night. “I knew I did it last week in the first half, so I was aware of it then, and I was kind of aware of it today. Halfway through the third quarter I was like, I couldn’t think of one.”

But despite not throwing a single incompletion, Goff didn’t finish with a perfect passer rating. His rating of 155.8 was just below the “perfect” rating of 158.3.

How in the world is an 18-of-18 performance with almost 300 yards and two touchdowns not a perfect performance? Does it have to do with the bags he brought? The late safety he surrendered? The incomplete pass he threw that was negated by an offensive penalty?

The answer is none of those. The answer is that passer rating is a deeply flawed statistic that requires four components for a perfect rating, and Goff only had three.

To get a perfect passer rating, a quarterback (with at least 10 passes):

• Ensure a minimum completion rate of 77.5%
• Average at least 12.5 meters per attempt
• Ensure zero interceptions
• And have a touchdown percentage of at least 11.875%

Goff clearly met the completion percentage threshold with a 100% completion rate. He averaged a whopping 16.2 yards per attempt. He didn’t make an interception. However, his two touchdown passes from 18 passing attempts produced a TD rate of 11.1%, less than one percent away from the ‘perfect’ threshold.

The obvious flaw in this formula is that Goff handily exceeded the other thresholds. If he had thrown one incompletion and gone 17 of 18, he would still have met the completion percentage threshold and his passer rating would not have changed. He also doesn’t get any extra bonuses if he averages nearly four more yards per attempt than the “perfect” threshold.

In other words, passer rating is a weird, somewhat arbitrary statistic that doesn’t really represent “perfection” with a perfect passer rating.

If you’d like more information on how the passer rating is calculated and why it’s so flawed, our friends at our sister site Secret Base made a great video about it two weeks ago.

You’re still perfect in our books, Jared.