Tag: gross quarterbacks

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.

Russell Wilson, Sam Howell and the grossest QBs of Week 13

Wilson threw three interceptions in the final 16 minutes to squander the Broncos’ comeback hopes in Houston.

Tim Boyle was bad enough to be replaced by Trevor Siemian for the New York Jets Sunday. But he’s always bad, so no one really paid all that much attention.

Russell Wilson, on the other hand, stopped a five-game winning streak in its tracks with a performance well below his 2023 standard. Thus, Boyle avoids a place on this week’s grossest quarterbacks list while Wilson reigns at No. 1.

Wilson was a problem for Denver, snuffing out his team’s comeback efforts with poorly timed interceptions that ended potential scoring drives and eventually closed out a thrilling game. He may have been a problem in Week 13, 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 13 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 13th Sunday of the 2023 season.

Mac Jones, Geno Smith, Baker Mayfield and the grossest QBs of Week 12

Happy Thanksgiving, here’s some terrible football.

The NFL’s Thanksgiving-Black Friday combo was a mess.

Every single game featured at least one vastly underperforming quarterback. One of them was Tim Boyle, so that was expected. In the cases of Jared Goff, Geno Smith and Sam Howell, it was not.

Each wound up on the wrong side of big deficits. Only Goff was able to climb back to respectability as the New York Jets, Washington Commanders and Seattle Seahawks combined to lose by 74 total points. So if you skipped holiday football to do some turkey prep or brave the crowds at the outlet shops or merely focus on the Division III playoffs instead (Mount Union, woof), you made the right choice.

That trend continued on Sunday. Derek Carr and Desmond Ridder traded off poorly thought out passes in an NFC South rivalry game between the New Orleans Saints and Atlanta Falcons. Kenny Pickett’s inability to find open receivers helped make Joe Burrow understudy Jake Browning look great by comparison. Mac Jones and Tommy DeVito were the starters in a game people actually paid money to see.

But which quarterbacks were 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 12 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 12th Sunday of the 2023 season.

Jared Goff, C.J. Stroud, Zach Wilson and the grossest NFL quarterbacks of Week 11

Stroud looks mortal. Poor Bryce Young just has so, so little to work with.

C.J. Stroud had, in terms of turnovers, by far his worst game as a pro. He also had, in terms of expected points added and total yardage, a decent day.

Stroud threw for 336 yards, a pair of touchdowns and earned a 21-16 win. He also threw three interceptions, all of which came inside the Arizona Cardinals’ 20-yard line or deeper. Each cost him a chance to shut the door on a frisky Cardinals team with an upset on its mind.

All things considered, Houston Texans fans are probably happy to trade off a few uncharacteristic interceptions for another big winning performance from their new franchise cornerstone. For now, and for the first time this season, he lands on the gross quarterbacks list. Was he the worst signal caller of Week 11?

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 11 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 11th Sunday of the 2023 season — and since we don’t have enough data on him, we’ll leave Dorian Thompson-Robinson off the list … for now.

Trevor Lawrence, Deshaun Watson and the grossest NFL quarterbacks of Week 10

Lawrence had the worst game of his career, non-Urban Meyer category.

Deshaun Watson was a nightmare for two quarters. Trevor Lawrence was even worse over a full game.

That proved to be the difference between a comeback win and an embarrassing loss in Week 10. Watson was able to play roughly average football and cashed in a phenomenal defensive effort as the Cleveland Browns upset the Baltimore Ravens in Maryland. Lawrence never found any kind of rhythm as the San Francisco 49ers bullied his Jacksonville Jaguars for a full hour of game time en route to a 34-3 frogstomping.

These were two bad performances. But were they the worst of the week?

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 10 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 10th Sunday of the 2023 season.

Patrick Mahomes, Tua Tagovailoa and the grossest NFL quarterbacks of Week 9

Mahomes and Tagovailoa weren’t bad in general, just way worse than we’re used to. Sorry, Germany.

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.