Every NFL team will rely on at least two, and usually three, wide receivers each game, so logging one of the best eight performances allowed by a secondary is a significant feat. There were 2,207 instances of a wide receiver catching at least one pass in a game. That averages out with each secondary defending around 69 wide receivers each year. So, a Top-8 performance against a defense puts the receiver in the top 12% of receivers that they defended. Being the top performer versus a secondary for the year is being the best of the 69 wideouts they would have covered over 17 games.
Below will show how often a player logged the best game allowed by a secondary (Top-1), one of the four best performances allowed (Top-4), and one of the best eight performances (Top-8). With 17 games played, a Top-8 game is “above average” among the best wideouts from each opponent.
The “Better than Average” (BTA) score is a weighting of those games.