Tag: gross quarterbacks

Kyler Murray, Caleb Williams, Will Levis and the saddest quarterbacks of Week 14

Murray’s late season struggles are back. Or maybe he just hates Seattle?

On Sunday, Josh Allen and Matthew Stafford combined for eight touchdowns in a 44-42 thriller. They were responsible for more than 60 expected points of added value between them. It was one of the most remarkable shootouts of the 2024 NFL season.

This article is not about them. It’s about the overmatched quarterbacks that weaved their way through a slate of underwhelming games in Week 14. On a day where Mac Jones and Will Levis flailed their way to a 10-6 mud fight, a handful of poor performances stood out.

Who was the most disappointing quarterback of Week 14? Fortunately, we’ve got a metric that can help figure that out.

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 14 EPA against their 2024 average to date we get a better picture of just how frustrating their performances 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.

This is a metric that gauges disappointment based on what we’d typically expect. Drew Lock started his day 0-for-eight, but he was filling in for Tommy DeVito and, let’s be honest, who really expected much from a guy who couldn’t beat Tommy Cutlets for a starting job?

So who was actually the worst? There were several candidates but only one man can truly call himself the grossest quarterback of Week 14.

Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past few weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.

5. Will Levis, Tennessee Titans

Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -7.1

Week 14 EPA: -8.4

Difference: 1.3 points worse

Levis was bad. Not significantly worse than usual, but in a week filled with mid-to-great quarterback performances this was enough to land him among ignominious company.

He deserves it. Here he is, taking six points off the board in what became a 10-6 loss to Mac by-god Jones.

Levis’s average pass went only five yards downfield and he still couldn’t complete 60 percent of his attempts. His 4.3 yards per dropback made him less efficient than a typical Tony Pollard handoff (4.9 yards per attempt). This was grim, and not in the fun “Will Levis imploded and turned himself into an internet meme” way.

4. Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears

Cary Edmondson-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -4.1

Week 14 EPA: -6

Difference: 1.9 points worse

Williams’s uneven 2024 left him on the wrong side of the EPA threshold, but the transition from Matt Eberflus to Thomas Brown at head coach held promise. After all, Williams was responsible for 19.1 points added in three games with Brown as his interim offensive coordinator — all close Bears losses.

Week 14’s defeat in San Francisco was not close. It was a disaster. Chicago gained four yards of total offense in the first half. 0.24 yards per play. At the center of this complete lack of storm was Williams, running backward into sacks like it was early November all over again.

Williams was sacked seven times, leaving him at 88 net passing yards on 30 dropbacks. He only attempted six passes that traveled more than eight yards downfield. He had a nice corner end zone throw to Rome Odunze, but that’s about all the silver lining Chicago can glean from Sunday.

3. Jameis Winston, Cleveland Browns

Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -1.3

Week 14 EPA: -6.2

Difference: 4.9 points worse

Winston is Schrodinger’s quarterback. Whether he’s good or not hinges on if you’re observing him. Tune in for a single play of a Browns game and you could see magic like this:

Or you could watch a 309-pound lineman earn the first interception of his college or pro career on a truly stupid forced screen pass.

Sunday’s performance featured everything you’d want from Winston, assuming you weren’t rooting for his team. He put his offense in position to thrive, then ripped it away by trying to do too much. He threw as many touchdowns (two) as interceptions and officially shut the door on Cleveland’ postseason hopes.

2. Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals

USA Today Sports

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 1.6

Week 14 EPA: -5

Difference: 6.6 points worse

Murray started the season hot and pushed the Cardinals into first place in the NFC West, seemingly countering the “Kyler Murray stinks once the new Call of Duty” theory that’s haunted him through past Novembers. As it turns out, 2024 may have merely delayed this trend.

Arizona has lost three straight games since its Week 11 bye. Murray’s total EPA in that stretch is a -4.1 — a pair of clunkers against the Seattle Seahawks and a Week 13 come-from-ahead loss to the Minnesota Vikings sealed by a late interception. Sunday saw two more interceptions; an underthrow on a deep shot after escaping pressure:

and a failure to see linebacker Ernest Jones dropping into coverage:

Those interceptions gave the Seahawks the short fields they needed to build a 10-point lead they didn’t give up. There were more flaws in Arizona’s game besides Murray’s mistakes, but his continued struggles against Seattle certainly didn’t help.

1. Aidan O’Connell, Las Vegas Raiders

Nathan Ray Seebeck-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 0.1

Week 14 EPA: -11.8

Difference: 11.9 points worse

A reckoning was due; O’Connell was brought back to the land of positive EPA thanks to last week’s near-upset over the Chiefs. Unfortunately, he couldn’t turn that performance into anything more than an outlier.

He threw for just 104 yards on 19 passes with an interception before leaving with what’s feared to be a season-ending knee injury. He was replaced by Desmond Ridder, who readers will recognize from the 2023 editions of this column and, likely, a few to end 2024.

Kirk Cousins, Aaron Rodgers, Brock Purdy and the saddest quarterbacks of Week 13

Justin Herbert had one of his worst games of 2024 and it didn’t matter because he was facing Kirk Cousins.

Kirk Cousins threw four interceptions and tossed the Atlanta Falcons’ playoff plans into disarray. Brock Purdy couldn’t handle the snow or the Buffalo Bills’ defense on Sunday night. Justin Herbert funneled nearly 80 percent of his passing offense through a single player.

Those were all bad performances. Were any bad enough to make them the most disappointing quarterback of Week 13?

Fortunately, we’ve got a metric that can help figure that out.

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 13 EPA against their 2024 average to date we get a better picture of just how frustrating their performances 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.

This is a metric that gauges disappointment based on what we’d typically expect. Drew Lock was a disaster on Thanksgiving, but he was filling in for Tommy DeVito and, let’s be honest, who really expected much from a guy who couldn’t beat Tommy Cutlets for a starting job?

So who was actually the worst? There were several candidates but only one man can truly call himself the grossest quarterback of Week 13.

Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past few weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.

6. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars

[Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -1.8

Week 13 EPA: -4.5

Difference: 2.7 points worse

Lawrence gets a special dispensation to the gross quarterback list thanks to his ability to be very, very bad in a limited amount of time. A late, post-scramble hit from Azeez Al-Shaiir took him out of Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans in the second quarter. That was still enough time to account for nearly a touchdown’s worth of negative value.

That may still be gilding the lily. Lawrence had an open Brian Thomas Jr. for what could have been a walk-in Jacksonville touchdown. Instead, it gifted the Texans the field position that would turn into three points in a 23-20 win.

Lawrence lobbed five deep balls in 10 attempts and completed as many to his wideouts as he did to Houston defenders. He completed just four of 10 passes for 41 yards and was soundly outplayed by Mac Jones Sunday, which is a very sad statement to write.

5. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers

Dale Zanine-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 1.3

Week 13 EPA: -4.4

Difference: 5.7 points worse

EPA hasn’t been kind to Herbert, greatly underselling his prowess in the pocket for an undermanned Chargers team. He’s spent the bulk of 2024 elevating a Ladd McConkey/Quentin Johnston/Joshua Palmer offense into an 8-4 record and the inside track to a playoff berth.

In Week 13, however, he was mostly forgettable. His victory over the Atlanta Falcons was more a product of the No. 3 quarterback on this list failing more than anything Herbert did in particular. Between passes, sacks and scrambles Herbert dropped back with the ball 33 times and gained 129 yards — fewer than four yards per play.

Somehow, McConkey was responsible for 117 of Herbert’s 147 passing yards (almost 80 percent) and it still wasn’t enough for the Falcons to earn a home victory because of this guy:

4. Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 1.7

Week 13 EPA: -7

Difference: 8.7 points worse

The bloom has slowly been receding from Cousins’s onion as his tenure in Atlanta has worn . Week 13 may have lacked the embarrassment of getting swapped out for Michael Penix in a blowout loss, but it likely felt just as bad for the Falcons.

I mean, just look at this nonsense:

The onus is on Cousins to make something happen here, but he’s only down four points with more than nine minutes to play. There’s no great shame in settling for a field goal. Instead, Cousins steps up and lobs the ball to a space where three different Chargers defenders can get to it. They fail to Three Stooges their way to a drop, and Atlanta remains stuck in its hole.

In deference to Cousins, two of his four interceptions came in fourth down situations that would have been a turnover on downs anyway. That doesn’t excuse this Tarheeb Still pick-six that generated 47 percent of Los Angeles’s total points, however.

Cousins has zero touchdown passes and six interceptions in his last three games. All three were Falcons losses.

3. Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets

Mark Smith-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -2.4

Week 13 EPA: -11.8

Difference: 9.4 points worse

Rodgers’s awful Week 11 can be summed up in back to back plays. First, this brutal miss of a wide open Garrett Wilson on what should have been a touchdown to make the score 28-7.

Then, this stunning 91-yard pick six to a 300-pound lineman.

There were several Jets chasing down Leonard Williams on that play. Rodgers was not one of them. There was little chance he’d be able to get to the absolutely motoring defensive tackle in the first place, but as a metaphor the whole play feels a bit too on the nose for the Jets’ 2024 season.

2. Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Bob Donnan-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 4.0

Week 13 EPA: -7.3

Difference: 11.3 points worse

Mayfield did the work when it mattered most. With the game on the line, he marched each of the Bucs’ final five offensive drives into scoring position. This turned a 16-10 Carolina Panthers fourth quarter lead into a 23-20 Tampa Bay victory.

For a large chunk between the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the fourth, however, he looked a lot like the quarterback who’d been the NFL’s least efficient passer in 2022.

Mayfield spent 41 touchdown-less minutes letting his former team build a lead before snapping back to life late. In that stretch he threw two interceptions and had one drive (out of seven) that lasted more than five offensive plays. He was 0-for-5 with a sack and a pick in third down situations while the Panthers rallied.

When he came back online, he thrashed the intermediate range (six completions on eight throws between 10 and 19 yards downfield for 118 yards) and led Tampa Bay into a tie with the Atlanta Falcons atop the NFC South at 6-6. But for a while it looked like he might blow it in Charlotte. That was enough for him to nearly top Week 13’s disappointment ranks.

1. Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers

Mark Konezny-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 5.4

Week 13 EPA: -6.3

Difference: 11.7 points worse

Turns out, Purdy can’t play in a blizzard.

Josh Allen found a way to throw a touchdown pass to himself and the Niners’ quarterback couldn’t even hold on to the ball. Ah well, it was a snow game where pretty much everyone on the San Francisco roster stunk. He’s got five games left to rally the 49ers and try to make good on what could be a rapidly closing championship window.

C.J. Stroud, Kyler Murray (!), Drake Maye and the grossest quarterbacks of Week 12

Murray’s comeback season hit a snag. Drake Maye bounced off the Miami defense. And the Texans refuse to fix C.J. Stroud.

Week 12 was a week of moral victories for some of the NFL’s most hyped young quarterbacks. Caleb Williams and Bryce Young played some of the best football of their respective pro careers, albeit in close losses. That should be enough to sustain the Chicago Bears and Carolina Panthers, respectively, for at least one more week.

Other young QBs weren’t as lucky. C.J. Stroud and Drake Maye each struggled in losses to division rivals. Anthony Richardson was let down by penalties, pressure and drops in a game that looked significantly worse on the box score than it did in real time. But were any of these three passers the most disappointing quarterback of Week 12?

Fortunately, we’ve got a metric that can help figure that out.

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 12 EPA against their 2024 average to date we get a better picture of just how frustrating their performances 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.

This is a metric that gauges disappointment based on what we’d typically expect. Will Levis had a negative EPA in Week 12, but that was an improvement over his typical negative performance so he missed the list. Who was the worst? There were several candidates but only one man can truly call himself the grossest quarterback of Week 12.

Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past few weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.

5. C.J. Stroud, Houston Texans

Thomas Shea-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -1.1

Week 12 EPA: -7

Difference: 5.9 points worse

Well, this is a bummer. Stroud’s backsliding 2024 has left low expectations as the season wears on without him realizing his 2023 potential. On Sunday, he continued plumbing the depths of his brief NFL career in a 32-27 loss to the Indianapolis Colts. That included nearly Dan Orlovsky-ing his way out the back of the end zone en route to a game-sealing safety.

Stroud has just sorta been a mess this season. He’s been left to languish in the pocket even as his pressure and blitz rates increase behind a shaky offensive line. Offensive coordinator Bobby Slowik has had zero impetus to dial up quick routes or play-action passes to help create easy gains or room in the pocket. Instead, he’s opted to let Stroud try and do entirely too much, with predictable results.

That leaves Stroud as a bottom-10 quarterback and the Texans at 7-5 after a 5-1 start. Houston will still likely claim the AFC South title because the division is a mess. But unless things change and Slowik can rebuild Stroud’s value as a passer this will be a one-and-done Texans team come the postseason.

4. Gardner Minshew II, Las Vegas Raiders

Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -5.1

Week 12 EPA: -12.1

Difference: 7.0 points worse

The good news: Minshew wasn’t the worst quarterback the Raiders played Sunday. As bad as Minshew was — and it was grim:

He was better on a per-play basis than Desmond Ridder, -0.25 EPA/play to -0.44 EPA/play. The bad news: Ridder entered the game thanks to an injury that took Minshew out of the lineup and gave Ridder the chance to show the world how he *still* holds on to the ball too long in the pocket.

Minshew suffered what’s reported to be a broken collarbone in the loss. Thus begins the legend of “Daniel Jones, Las Vegas Raider.”

I can dream, right?

3. Anthony Richardson, Indianapolis Colts

Grace Hollars/USA TODAY Network via Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -1.8

Week 12 EPA: -8.8

Difference: 7.0 points worse

Richardson showcased all the tools that made him the fourth overall pick of the 2023 NFL Draft last week. He threw for 272 yards and ran for 32 more en route to three total touchdowns in a win over the New York Jets.

In Week 12, the box score suggests he’d gone back to the erratic gunslinger who’d necessitated his own benching earlier in the season. Richardson completed just 11 of 28 passes and failed to find the end zone. Except, well, he doesn’t deserve all the blame for this one.

Richardson had big gains wiped out by drops, penalties and generally underwhelming situational awareness. Top target Josh Downs got hurt. Jonathan Taylor averaged 3.2 yards per carry. Basically, everything that could go wrong did, with the exception of turnovers.

Richardson was still the losing quarterback of record. Accuracy remains a concern. But Sunday’s poor performance cannot be laid solely at his feet when so many of those incompletions were drops, throwaways out of a bad situation or other excusable misses. He got dealt a bad hand here.

2. Drake Maye, New England Patriots

Jasen Vinlove-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -0.9

Week 12 EPA: -10.9

Difference: 10 points worse

Maye had outplayed his low baseline over the last month, leading to hope his Patriots could travel to Miami and take care of the Dolphins on the road. Instead, he trailed 24-0 at the half. While this helped further the idea of a high draft pick to charge up 2025’s rebuild, it was a rough sled for a young quarterback against a good, but not elite, passing defense.

The rookie turned the ball over twice for an offense that managed seven total points (eight more came via fumble return touchdown). He had a very nice and partially stupid deep touchdown throw to Austin Hooper. Granted this was on 4th-and-15 in garbage time, but it’s still something.

Unfortunately, that was the only one of seven throws 15-plus yards downfield that Maye completed. Only two of his 22 completions went more than 10 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. After a handful of solid performances, regression came for the rookie all at once in south Florida.

1. Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals

Joe Nicholson-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 2.8

Week 12 EPA: -7.4

Difference: 10.2 points worse

Murray’s first full season back from a torn ACL has been a triumph. Unfortunately, it hit a speed bump in Week 12 — and took the Cardinals’ spot atop the NFC West down with it.

Murray was mostly inoffensive Sunday, racking up too many negative plays and too few explosive ones. His lone turnover came on fourth down — a bad pass on a blown up play that resulted in the worst possible outcome.

The dual-threat quarterback ran for only nine yards. He took as many sacks (five) as he had completions that traveled more than nine yards downfield. His offense failed to find the end zone. Murray was just sort of a mess when asked to throw to his right (five of 13, 47 yards, one interception)

via habitatring.com

By those powers combined and the strength of his 2024 to date, Murray earned this week’s top spot.

Lamar Jackson (!), Russell Wilson, Kirk Cousins and the grossest NFL quarterbacks of Week 11

Week 11’s two most disappointing quarterbacks squared off in Pittsburgh and it was… kinda great?

Lamar Jackson does not enjoy facing the Pittsburgh Steelers.

He may get excited for it. He may fully understand the gravity of one of the game’s best rivalries. But there’s no team in the NFL he’s been worse against. His 5:8 touchdown:interception ratio and 66.7 passer rating are both career worsts against any opponent he’s faced as a pro.

That held true in Week 11 when he traveled to the former Heinz Field for a familiar struggle. Jackson had one of his worst performances of the season Sunday. Was he the week’s most disappointing quarterback?

Fortunately, we’ve got a metric that can help figure that out.

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 11 EPA against their 2024 average to date we get a better picture of just how frustrating their performances 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.

This is a metric that gauges disappointment based on what we’d typically expect. Will Levis had a negative EPA in Week 11 while losing to the Minnesota Vikings, but he pretty much always has a negative EPA, so he missed the list. Who was the worst? There were several candidates but only one man can truly call himself the grossest quarterback of Week 11.

Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past few weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.

5. Mac Jones, Jacksonville Jaguars

David Reginek-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -7.7

Week 11 EPA: -11

Difference: 3.3 points worse

via habitatring.com
I’m beginning to think Bill Belichick wasn’t Mac’s problem.

4. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders

Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 6.1

Week 11 EPA: 0.1

Difference: 6.0 points worse

Daniels was once again fine — his performance against the Philadelphia Eagles could have even been encouraging for a typical rookie quarterback. But that’s not what Daniels is; he’s an immediate star who put up MVP caliber numbers his first half-season in the NFL.

On Thursday, he was stymied by an Eagles defense that his evolving into a terrifying presence. Since its Week 5 bye, Philadelphia has only allowed more than 20 points once. Their -0.235 EPA allowed per play over that stretch is best in the league.

That doesn’t explain this interception, however.

With Terry McLaurin bracketed, Daniels only threw four passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield in Week 11. He completed as many to Reed Blankenship as his own teammates.

3. Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons

Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 2.7

Week 11 EPA: -6.8

Difference: 9.5 points worse

For the second straight game, Cousins was kept out of the end zone and threw an interception. That was a difference maker in a close loss to the New Orleans Saints in Week 10. But in Week 11 he got boat raced by Bo Nix, which feels so, so much worse.

Cousins struggled against a top three passing defense that’s getting an All-Pro season from Patrick Surtain II and a Pro Bowl-ish emergence from Riley Moss. Together, they limited Atlanta’s top downfield targets — Drake London, Darnell Mooney and Kyle Pitts — to six catches and 97 yards on 14 targets. Half of his 18 completions came within one yard of the line of scrimmage.

2. Lamar Jackson, Baltimore Ravens

Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 11.3

Week 11 EPA: 0

Difference: 11.3 points worse

Well, that’s not going to help Jackson’s back-to-back MVP argument. The dynamic dual-threat quarterback was capably wrangled by one of the defenses that knows him best. The Pittsburgh Steelers limited him to 253 total yards and, impressively, a sub-50 percent completion rate at Acrisure Stadium.

Granted, that wasn’t entirely his fault:

Still, this was a departure from the dynamic downfield passer who’d been able to hit his targets in stride and lead wideouts to big gains after the catch. He threw seven deep balls and only one was caught — and that was by Steelers rookie Payton Wilson in an absurd play.

This led to an overall neutral performance. Jackson, statistically, didn’t add anything to the Ravens’ offense. He didn’t take anything away, either. That doesn’t make him the worst quarterback of Week 11, but it does represent a disappointing performance from the MVP front runner.

1. Russell Wilson, Pittsburgh Steelers

Barry Reeger-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 4.5

Week 11 EPA: -13.7

Difference: 18.2 points worse

Well, this is unusual. The grossest quarterback of the week faced off with the runner-up and still managed to escape with a win. Even after he did this!

Wilson had his typical moon ball success with George Pickens for a 37-yard gain, but was otherwise short on explosive plays. He averaged just 4.1 yards per dropback, factoring in a single rushing yard on four attempts and four sacks taken.

Wilson was pressured significantly less often than Jackson (29 percent to Jackson’s 43 percent) but still managed to find trouble. This was a throwback to the Broncos version of the Pro Bowl quarterback. Pittsburgh won regardless because there’s no franchise in the league better suited to survive mediocre passing. Could this be an omen of things to come?

Jayden Daniels, Caleb Williams, Aaron Rodgers (!) and the grossest NFL quarterbacks of Week 10

Rodgers stared down a bottom five pass defense… and did nothing. Daniels went flat when the Commanders needed him most.

Aaron Rodgers was riding high after beating the Houston Texans in Week 9. He’d unlocked the full capability of Garrett Wilson and had thrown a season-high three touchdown passes in an upset primetime win. It was only one game, but it showcased the promise the New York Jets had seen when they traded for a quarterback about to hit his fifth decade on this planet back in 2023.

This high did not last. Rodgers and the Jets were kept out of the end zone entirely in Week 10 against an underwhelming Arizona Cardinals defense. This was a major disappointment. But was Rodgers the most disappointing quarterback of Week 10?

Fortunately, we’ve got a metric that can help figure that out.

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 10 EPA against their 2024 average to date we get a better picture of just how frustrating their performances 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.

This is a metric that gauges disappointment based on what we’d typically expect. Daniel Jones had a negative EPA in Week 10 while losing to the Carolina Panthers, but his -4.4 was still better than his season-long average of -5.0 EPA per game, so he missed the list. Who was the worst? There were several candidates but only one man can truly call himself the grossest quarterback of Week 10.

Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past few weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.

5. Jared Goff, Detroit Lions

Thomas B. Shea-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 4.8

Week 10 EPA: -1.5

Difference: 6.3 points worse

Goff completed 10 passes in his first half against the Houston Texans. Three were to guys wearing Battle Red uniforms.

In fairness, one came on a last second Hail Mary and the other two were deflected. This still showed an uncharacteristic lack of pocket awareness from the veteran quarterback who’d thrown 11 touchdowns without an interception over his previous five games.

The fresh start of the second half lasted less than two minutes before pick No. 4 — this one from the red zone to wipe out a scoring opportunity. A fifth interception followed.

Then the Lions came back from a 16-point halftime deficit anyway. I’m not sure exactly how you stop Detroit if five interceptions can’t do it.

4. Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets

Joe Camporeale-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -1.3

Week 10 EPA: -8.4

Difference: 7.1 points worse

Rodgers had a tremendous opportunity against a bottom five passing defense. Instead, he failed to find the end zone, falling 31-6 to the Arizona Cardinals and leaving the Jets one defeat away from a ninth-straight losing record.

Rodgers gained a net 128 yards on 38 dropbacks. He completed a single pass that traveled more than 10 yards downfield. Behold, the pass chart of a game manager!

via nextgenstats.nfl.com

New York traded away multiple high value draft picks, then spent two seasons adding former Rodgers teammates of varying ability just to wind up with Davis Mills behind center in Arizona.

3. Joe Flacco, Indianapolis Colts

Grace Smith/IndyStar

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 0.9

Week 10 EPA: -11.9

Difference: 12.8 points worse

The Flacco of 2023, who launched bombs and propelled the Cleveland Browns to the playoffs, is dead. The Flacco of 2024 looks much more like the fading veteran to whom we’d come accustomed as a New York Jet and Denver Bronco.

His very first play of the game saw him blank Taron Johnson, sitting underneath in coverage waiting to turn Flacco’s mistake into six hard-fought points.

One drive later, Flacco threw another interception — this time in Buffalo territory to snuff out a potential scoring drive. Things improved from there, but the 39-year-old couldn’t complete a Colts comeback, taking a brutal sack on fourth down in the red zone in what was a 20-13 game, then effectively sealing this one with his third pick of the day. After churning this game film, it may be Anthony Richardson’s turn in the starting lineup once more.

2. Caleb Williams, Chicago Bears

David Banks-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -3.9

Week 10 EPA: -18.2

Difference: 14.3 points worse

The New England Patriots and a bottom 10 defense allowed Williams a wonderful opportunity to throw his first touchdown pass since October 13. Instead, the Bears were held out of the end zone altogether thanks to an offensive line that allowed its young quarterback to be sacked nine times.

Williams had little room to operate against a bottom 10 pass rush. D’Andre Swift couldn’t find lanes because his blockers were getting smothered by a defense that had given up 100-plus rushing yards each of the last seven games. The end result was 39 dropbacks and 69 net passing yards. Each time Matt Eberflus dialed up a passing play, it averaged fewer than two yards of forward progress.

Williams didn’t complete a single pass that traveled more than 10 yards downfield. He only attempted four.

1. Jayden Daniels, Washington Commanders

Amber Searls-Imagn Images

2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 9.3

Week 10 EPA: -7.2

Difference: 16.5 points worse

Daniels wasn’t the worst quarterback of Week 10, but his incredible start left him with more room to fall than any other passer in the league. While he was able to spread the field and made Terry McLaurin look great once more:

The accuracy and efficiency that defined his rise to rookie of the year frontrunner washed away with the game on the line. Daniels had three drives in the final 17 minutes in which any points would have pushed the Commanders’ lead to two possessions and made a Pittsburgh Steelers comeback very unlikely. He gained two first downs between them (though a third was negated by a genuinely baffling fourth down spot in his final snap of the afternoon).

Daniels’s line over those final three drives? Nine attempts, four completions, 49 passing yards, one rushing yard and a sack for a loss of 11. 11 plays and 39 net yards with the game on the line. Rough scene.

Still, it’s merely a speed bump against a veteran-laden top 10 defense. Daniels will be back. Sunday’s setback just gives him a lower perch from which he’ll fall if he donks up again next week.

Trevor Lawrence, Jalen Hurts, Baker Mayfield and the grossest QBs of Week 18

Lawrence couldn’t drag the Jaguars to the playoffs. Hurts’ Eagles are limping their way there.

The final weekend of the 2023 NFL regular season kicked off with a rainstorm and two backup quarterbacks. In the end, Mason Rudolph led the Pittsburgh Steelers into playoff position by toppling Tyler Huntley’s Baltimore Ravens.

It’s been that kind of year in the NFL; one defined by unexpected gunslingers occasionally thriving but mostly struggling behind center. 2023 will be the year that guys like Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Tommy DeVito, Tyson Bagent, C.J. Beathard, Bailey Zappe and Jaren Hall all earned starts. Injuries and ineffectiveness helped bring scoring to a five-year low, down nearly six points per game from 2020.

This left the capacity for entirely too many awful quarterback performances. But most of them were uninteresting slogs from players from whom we’d come to expect nothing. What this weekly column has dived into is the quarterbacks who were supposed to be great — or at least passably good or even unremarkable but consistent — and then fell flat on their faces for one game.

Friends, there have been a lot of them. 2023 saw stars like Patrick Mahomes, Joe Burrow and Josh Allen all drop stinkers in the middle of flawed seasons. And it didn’t matter all that much in the long run, because everyone was at least kinda-sorta lowkey flawed this fall. Week 18, despite its lack of big names amongst a field of meaningless games, added a final chapter to that lore.

So who was Week 18’s grossest quarterback?

Fortunately, we’ve got tools to better understand just how damaging each underwhelming performances was. 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 18 EPA against their 2023 adjusted 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 final weekend of the 2023 season.

Josh Allen, Tua Tagovailoa, Bryce Young and the grossest QBs of Week 17

Allen was still good enough to beat the Patriots. Young couldn’t keep pace with, sigh, C.J. Beathard.

After 12 minutes of Sunday’s game between the New England Patriots and Buffalo Bills, Bailey Zappe and Josh Allen had combined to complete four passes. Technically.

Exactly half those caught balls were Zappe interceptions in a stretch of absolute garbage football. That’s not ideal, but whatever. It’s Bailey Zappe. If he were expected to be good, someone would have claimed him when the Patriots released him prior to Week 1.

Allen, on the other hand, is more concerning. In one quarter of play he’d dropped back 12 times. His Bills gained negative-10 net yards in that span. Neither one of his two completions actually made it beyond the line of scrimmage.

via RBSDM.com

Allen eventually regressed back to the mean, though his struggles with deep throws continued. His 169 passing yards — on a 50 percent completion rate — were enough to outlast Zappe en route to a 27-21 win that keeps the Bills’ AFC East title hopes alive. He and Zappe combined for zero passing touchdowns, four interceptions and a 100.6 stacked-up passer rating on the same day Lamar Jackson was roasting the Miami Dolphins for five touchdowns, zero turnovers and a perfect 158.3 rating.

That leaves plenty of questions left to be answered. Not for the Patriots, who expected little from their backup quarterback and who benefitted from a loss (top two draft pick coming, maybe?). And since Zappe couldn’t be Sunday’s most disappointing quarterback because his baseline of play is nearly subterranean, does that mean Allen was? If not him, then who?

Fortunately, we’ve got tools to better understand just how damaging each underwhelming performances was. 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 17 EPA against their 2023 adjusted 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 17th Sunday of the 2023 season.

Trevor Lawrence, Jake Browning, Sam Howell and the grossest QBs of Week 16

Browning was due for a dropoff. Howell, on the other hand, is a long-smoldering coal seam poisoning the land above him.

Trevor Lawrence is going through it right now.

The former No. 1 pick’s career has been defined, thus far, by collapse. There was whatever the hell was going on as a rookie, which could be explained away (validly) by the presence of human canker sore Urban Meyer on the sideline. Then there was 2022’s rise, punctuated by his ability to make the Los Angeles Chargers fold after a 27-0 lead en route to a Wild Card win in Jacksonville.

2023 has swung the pendulum back in the opposite direction. After beginning the season 8-3, his Jaguars have crashed back to 8-7. Their playoff position has only been buoyed by the awfulness of the injury-riddled AFC South around them. Lawrence hasn’t been immune to that; his four-game losing streak saw him suffer an ankle sprain and wind up in the league’s concussion protocol leading up to Week 16.

Then, however … eesh.

Lawrence’s turnover woes continued in Tampa, where he threw two interceptions and fumbled once while falling behind 30-0. He eventually recovered for a touchdown toss to Calvin Ridley that only mattered for fantasy managers. He was then was yanked for CJ Beathard — partially due to a shoulder injury, partially due to a hopeless game — that only further endangers his finish to 2023.

Lawrence was bad. Was he Sunday’s most disappointing quarterback?

Fortunately, we’ve got tools to better understand just how damaging each underwhelming performances was. 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 16 EPA against their 2023 adjusted 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 16th Sunday of the 2023 season.

Tommy DeVito, Patrick Mahomes, Dak Prescott and the grossest QBs of Week 15

Mahomes and DeVito had very different days. But each was worse than we’ve come to expect.

Tommy DeVito and Patrick Mahomes are very different quarterbacks. One is a two-time MVP, two-time Super Bowl champion and arguably the most recognizable active quarterback in the world — even if his tight end’s girlfiend doesn’t make him the most famous player on his own team. The other is an undrafted rookie thrust into the spotlight by circumstance only to build himself into a sensation thanks to better-than-expected play and a zeitgeist with nothing but fond memories for The Sopranos and the first few seasons of Jersey Shore.

These two also had very different experiences in Week 15, but each winds up on the list of gross quarterbacks. Mahomes was perfectly fine in a 10-point win over the New England Patriots and occasionally, catastrophically, led into danger by his teammates. DeVito, hamstrung by awful blocking because that’s a key tenet of the New York Giants’ philosophy, plummeted back to earth in a touchdown-less 24-6 loss to the the New Orleans Saints.

Those were two frustrating games, but were DeVito or Mahomes truly the most disappointing passers this Sunday? Fortunately, we’ve got tools to better understand just how damaging each underwhelming performances was. 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 15 EPA against their 2023 adjusted 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 15th Sunday of the 2023 season.

Trevor Lawrence, C.J. Stroud, Patrick Mahomes and the grossest QBs of Week 14

This week’s grossest quarterbacks features 75 percent of the NFC South. Congrats, Baker Mayfield?

Trevor Lawrence played Sunday vs. the Cleveland Browns. Maybe he shouldn’t have.

While the high ankle sprain that ended his night in Week 13 didn’t hinder his running ability, it did seem to mess with his timing in the pocket. That might not have been an issue against an average NFL defense, but Cleveland’s top-two unit ate up every opportunity to harass the third-year starter. The Browns introduced static to the pocket all afternoon, Lawrence rushed throws and, oops, it led to three interceptions in a 31-27 loss.

Lawrence looked disjointed throughout the afternoon. Christian Kirk’s absence didn’t help, but the only player he clicked with was tight end Evan Engram. Calvin Ridley and Zay Jones stood as his top two wideouts; between them they had nine catches for 81 yards on 27 targets — barely three yards per pass thrown their way.

He may have been a problem in Week 14, but was he truly the most disappointing? Fortunately, we’ve got tools to better understand just how damaging each underwhelming performances was. 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 14 EPA against their 2023 adjusted 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 14th Sunday of the 2023 season.