The fans in Frankfurt, Germany were supposed to get a world class fireworks display. Instead, they got a pallet of sparklers and a few Roman candles mixed in.
A game between the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs stood as the crown jewel in the 2023 NFL International Series. But in place of an instant classic between two MVP candidates, German fans got thoroughly average quarterbacking, a handful of weak turnovers and just 35 total points. Worse yet, they were treated to one of the season’s most anticlimactic endings when a fourth-and-10 snap caromed wildly off Tua Tagovailoa’s hands for an easy stop and a pair of Patrick Mahomes kneel downs.
That duo wasn’t bad in the grand scheme of things, just disappointing. Mahomes and Tagovailoa entered Week 9 as two of the top four quarterbacks in the game. They combined for 378 passing yards — a number Mahomes has hit on his own 16 times as a pro.
That was bad, but did Sunday’s Frankfurt game showcase this weekend’s most disappointing starting quarterback? Fortunately, we’ve got tools to better understand just how damaging these underwhelming performances were. Using the advanced stat expected points added (EPA) can gauge how much a quarterback brings to the table compared to a typical player.
By comparing each passer’s Week 9 EPA against their 2022 and 2023 combined average, we get a better picture of just how frustrating their days were. And we can find both of those thanks to The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin and his incredibly useful stats sites RBSDM.com and HabitatRing.com. So let’s take a look at who disappointed the most in the ninth game (for most players) of the 2023 season.