by Vincent Verhei
For many football fans, last Sunday served as a reminder of just how ugly the NFL can be. Not because of any anthem-related activities, nor because of the many injuries on what turned out to be a very bloody Sunday across the league. No, what made things so unpleasant for fans in the Deep South is that they were forced to watch Matt Cassel battle Jay Cutler for four miserable quarters in what appeared to be a race to the bottom of the passing statistical tables.
The day ended, however, on a more exciting note, as Alex Smith and Deshaun Watson spent Sunday trading big plays back and forth. The game wasn't terribly dramatic -- Houston's win expectancy was never higher than 25 percent after the early portions of the second quarter, according to Pro Football Reference -- but for sheer yardage and touchdowns, there was no better quarterback matchup in Week 5.
When the smoke cleared on Monday morning, it was no surprise to see that Smith and Watson held the top two spots in the Quick Reads tables, while Cassel and Cutler were both in the bottom three. (For our narrative, it would have been nice to simply say they were the two worst passers of the week, but you can always count on a Cleveland quarterback playing badly enough to screw things up for everyone.) We don't know how often that kind of thing has happened, but we do know matchups like this are not unprecedented. Going through our list of all-time great and all-time terrible quarterback games, we found 12 instances where quarterbacks on opposing teams both played to one extreme or another.
We'll begin with the bad matchups, and how Cassel and Cutler stack up historically. Cutler finished 12-of-26 for 92 yards with one touchdown, one interception, and one sack for 14 yards lost -- and Cutler and the Dolphins still won this game. Cassel went 21-of-32 for 141 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions, and six sacks for 22 yards lost. Add those numbers up, and you get a 57 percent completion rate and 3.0 net yards per play. Perhaps most depressing is that the two teams averaged only 7.1 yards per completion -- a terrible rate for a running back, let alone two entire teams' worth of tight ends and wide receivers. That left Cassel with -72 passing DYAR and Cutler with -97.
As it turns out, that's nothing close to a historically bad game, mainly due to a general lack of interceptions. We found five games where both quarterbacks put up -200 DYAR or worse. In chronological order:
- Week 12, 1992, Detroit Lions 19 at Cincinnati Bengals 13: This game should have been played on Christmas -- both Detroit's Erik Kramer and Cincinnati's Boomer Esiason were 12-of-25 passing. Kramer's throws gained 141 yards with no touchdowns, three interceptions, and five sacks, while Esiason's produced only 64 yards (5.3 per completion! No completion gained more than 9 yards!) with no touchdowns, two interceptions, and three sacks.
- Week 4, 1994, Cincinnati Bengals 13 at Houston Oilers 20: Houston's Cody Carlson attempted 33 passes, completing only 12 of them for 211 yards, with one touchdown, two interceptions, and three sacks. And yet that was good enough, because Cincinnati's David Klingler went 10-of-30 for 115 yards with no touchdowns, three interceptions, and seven sacks. That's -302 DYAR, which is still the worst single game we have ever measured. The Bengals only scored because of Corey Sawyer, who returned one punt 82 yards for a touchdown, and another 47 yards to set up a field goal. Amazingly, Klingler had a chance to throw a game-tying Hail Mary from the Oilers' 46 on the last play of regulation, but ended up taking his seventh sack instead.
- Week 13, 2006, Minnesota Vikings 13 at Chicago Bears 23: The Vikings actually used three quarterbacks in this game, but the one who played the most (and worst) was Brad Johnson, who went 11-of-26 for 73 yards with no touchdowns, four interceptions, and a sack. His counterpart, Rex Grossman, went 6-of-19 for 34 yards with no touchdowns, three interceptions, and a sack. And yet, the Bears won, thanks to 16 points on defense (a 54-yard interception return touchdown by Ricky Manning, and a safety when Ciatrick Fason was tackled in the end zone) and special teams (a 45-yard punt return touchdown by Devin Hester).
- Week 5, 2010, Chicago Bears 23 at Carolina Panthers 6: You knew the Bears were going to show up more than once on this list, right? Each team's backup played a bit in this one, but it's the starters -- Jimmy Clausen for Carolina, Todd Collins for Chicago -- we're talking about today. Clausen was just 9-of-22 for 61 yards with no touchdowns, one interception, and five sacks. Collins went 6-of-16 for 32 yards (that would be TWO! yards per pass) with no touchdowns, four interceptions, and two sacks. The Bears had five scoring drives in this game. Four of them started in Carolina territory. One of them went backwards before Robbie Gould kicked a field goal.
- Week 1, 2012, Philadelphia Eagles 17 at Cleveland Browns 16: Brandon Weeden was a few weeks shy of his 29th birthday for this, his first NFL game. Perhaps he should have waited longer -- he went 12-of-35 for 118 yards with no touchdowns, four interceptions, and two sacks. Michael Vick, who had made his NFL debut in 2001 at the age of 21, was hardly any better on this day, going 29-of-56 for 317 yards and two touchdowns, but also with four interceptions, two sacks, and two fumbles.
Before we move on to our good quarterbacks, it occurs to me that we really need two categories for bad quarterback play. Some quarterbacks -- like Vick in that last game -- have bad numbers because they made so many big mistakes that the value of the good plays they made were washed out. Other quarterbacks -- like Cassel and Cutler this weekend -- have bad numbers not because they turned the ball over, but because they didn't do anything to move their offenses and put points on the board. The worst quarterbacks, of course, were those with lots of turnovers and little scoring to show for it. But dumping all of them in one bucket may not be the best way to measure this.
Regardless, the quarterbacks who played on Sunday night are clearly at the other end of the spectrum. Alex Smith is making himself a strong candidate for MVP, while Deshaun Watson is making a case for rookie of the year (assuming Smith's teammate Kareem Hunt doesn't take home both awards), and we saw why in this game. Smith went 29-of-37 for 324 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions, and one sack. Watson went 16-of-31 for 261 yards with five touchdowns, no interceptions, and three sacks. That's 214 passing DYAR for Smith, 177 for Watson. As was the case for Cutler and Cassel, this is not unprecedented. Here's a look at seven games where both quarterbacks finished with at least 200 DYAR:
- Week 18, 1993, Denver Broncos 30 at Los Angeles Raiders 33: Given the stakes -- the winner of this game would take the AFC West Championship -- this is an underrated classic among the great shootouts of all time. John Elway led Denver to a 30-13 lead in the third quarter, going 25-of-36 for 361 yards with three touchdowns and no sacks or interceptions. It wasn't enough, though, because Jeff Hostetler went 25-of-41 for 310 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions, and three sacks. The Raiders tied the game in the fourth quarter and went on to win in overtime. Seven days later, the two teams met again in the same building, with the Raiders winning 42-24 to advance in the playoffs.
- Week 11, 1994, Minnesota Vikings 20 at New England Patriots 26: Another overtime game saw the Vikings go up 20-0 in the first half as Warren Moon went 26-of-42 for 349 yards with one touchdown, no interceptions, and one sack. Playing from behind all day, Drew Bledsoe threw 70 passes, a record that still stands. He completed 45 of them for three touchdowns. The amazing thing is that with all those dropbacks, Bledsoe didn't give up a single interception or sack as the Patriots completed their rally and won in overtime.
- Week 4, 1995, Cincinnati Bengals 28 at Houston Oilers 38: The average quarterback in 2017 is completing 63 percent of his passes. In 1995, that average was just 58 percent. In that light, Chris Chandler's 23-of-26 performance against the Bengals was even more impressive. He gained 352 yards and threw for four touchdowns, with no interceptions and only one sack. The Bengals fell behind early and couldn't catch up, despite the heroics of Jeff Blake: 24-of-46, 356 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, one sack.
- Week 12, 1995, New Orleans Saints 24 at Minnesota Vikings 43: There's a common theme in some of these games -- they're not necessarily back-and-forth affairs. Often one team jumps out to a big lead and the other has to stage a furious rally. In this case, the Vikings were ahead 30-7 at halftime as Moon went 25-of-32 for 338 yards with four touchdowns, no interceptions, and two sacks. Jim Everett's too-little, too-late statline was at least a boon to those playing fantasy football in 1995: 25-of-37, 335 yards, three touchdowns, no interceptions, two sacks.
- Week 8, 2004, Indianapolis Colts 35 at Kansas City Chiefs 45: You knew the Dick Vermeil-era Chiefs would be on this list somewhere. From 2002 to 2004, the Chiefs scored a league-high 1,434 points, but they gave up 1,166 points, fifth-most. You take that team and match it up against Peyton Manning in his best year with the Colts, and you watch the numbers fly by like a slot machine giving up its jackpot. Manning went 25-of-44 for 472 yards and five touchdowns with one interception and no sacks. Kansas City's Trent Green, though, went 27-of-34 for 389 yards with three touchdowns, no interceptions, and one sack.
- Week 5, 2013, Denver Broncos 51 at Dallas Cowboys 48: Oh, hey, it's Peyton Manning again. He's bound to show up a few times in almost any "good quarterbacks" list. Here, after the Cowboys took a 48-41 lead with 7:19 to go, Manning was able to rally the Broncos to ten more points in regulation, with Matt Prater hitting a 28-yard field goal at the gun to seal the win. Manning went 33-of-42 for 414 yards with 4 touchdowns, one interception, and no sacks. Thanks to some kneeldowns, he also had a hysterical rushing line: four carries for -8 yards with a touchdown. In a losing effort, Tony Romo went 25-of-36 for 506 yards (that's 14.1 yards per pass) with five touchdowns, one interception, and four sacks.
- Week 14, 2013, Indianapolis Colts 28 at Cincinnati Bengals 42: Another "shootout" where one team had a commanding lead, as the Colts trailed by at least 14 points for the entire fourth quarter. Andy Dalton went 24-of-35 for 275 yards and three touchdowns, while Andrew Luck went 29-of-46 for 326 yards and four touchdowns. In 81 total dropbacks, neither defense managed a single sack or interception.
Quarterbacks | |||||||||||
Rk |
Player |
Team |
CP/AT |
Yds |
TD |
INT |
Sacks |
Total DYAR |
Pass DYAR |
Rush DYAR |
Opp |
1. |
Alex Smith | KC | 29/37 |
324 |
3 |
0 |
1 |
217 |
214 |
3 |
HOU |
Fun with small sample sizes: we split the field into five 20-yard zones: deep, back, mid, front, and red. Smith was in the top three in the back, mid, and red zones this week, and threw just one pass in the deep. But he was in the bottom five in the front zone, going 2-of-6 for 9 yards, with one of those completions a 4-yard gain on third-and-6. | 2. |
Deshaun Watson | HOU | 16/29 |
261 |
5 |
0 |
3 |
186 |
178 |
8 |
KC |
To be sure, there was some garbage-time padding in these stats. About one-third of Watson's total DYAR came on Houston's last drive, a drive on which Watson went 4-of-5 for 75 yards, including a touchdown on the last play of the game that still left Houston down by 12 points. Watson led the league in second-half DYAR, but every pass he threw after halftime came with Houston trailing by at least 12 points. | 3. |
Cam Newton | CAR | 26/33 |
355 |
3 |
0 |
3 |
135 |
148 |
-12 |
DET |
Most of Newton's value came on midrange and longer throws. On passes that traveled at least 10 yards past the line of scrimmage, he went 9-of-11 for 248 yards. | 4. |
Carson Wentz | PHI | 21/30 |
304 |
4 |
1 |
1 |
131 |
132 |
-1 |
ARI |
Wentz's last three passes of the first quarter each resulted in a touchdown, on gains of 15, 11, and 59 yards. On third downs, he went 11-of-12 for 225 yards and nine conversions, plus a 16-yard DPI on a 13th throw. | 5. |
Kevin Hogan | CLE | 16/19 |
194 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
96 |
87 |
9 |
NYJ |
Hogan Hulked up at the end of this game. He went 4-for-4 for for 80 yards on his last drive, including a touchdown that pulled the Browns to within 17-13 at the two-minute warning. Unfortunately the Jets recovered the ensuing onside kick, denying Hogan the chance at a miracle comeback, and denying the rest of us the chance to make "Kev-a-mania" jokes until the end of time. | 6. |
Case Keenum | MIN | 17/21 |
140 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
95 |
85 |
11 |
CHI |
Not a lot of explosive plays here -- Keenum averaged just 8.2 yards per completion, with a long play of only 19 yards -- but that doesn't mean he was loading up on empty-calorie completions. Seven went for first downs, and seven others still qualified as successful plays. Even two of his failed completions -- gains of 4 and 3 yards on first-and-10 -- weren't terrible plays. His only clearly failed completion was a 6-yard gain on third-and-20. | 7. |
Brian Hoyer | SF | 30/46 |
353 |
2 |
0 |
2 |
83 |
95 |
-12 |
IND |
About half of Hoyer's value came on San Francisco's first drive. He completed each of his frist seven passes, gaining 73 yards in the process -- at one point there he picked up first downs on five straight throws -- but then threw incomplete on third-and-4 in the red zone. Two of his biggest throws came on fourth down -- a 19-yard completion to George Kittle on fourth-and-1 on San Francisco's last drive in regulation, and then a game-tying touchdown to Kittle on fourth-and-goal from the 5 with 20 seconds to go. | 8. |
Dak Prescott | DAL | 25/36 |
251 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
74 |
55 |
19 |
GB |
Prescott threw touchdowns on each of Dallas' first three drives, going 12-of-15 for 143 yards. The rest of the game, he went 13-of-21 for 108 yards with an interception and a sack-fumble. | 9. |
Aaron Rodgers | GB | 19/29 |
221 |
3 |
0 |
4 |
68 |
63 |
4 |
DAL |
Beyond the four sacks, the biggest thing holding Rodgers back was his performance on very short passes. On throws that traveled within 5 yards of the line of scrimmage, he went 8-of-14 for 55 yards. Anything deeper than that, he went 11-of-15 for 166 yards, with every completion picking up a first down. | 10. |
EJ Manuel | OAK | 13/26 |
159 |
1 |
0 |
3 |
62 |
58 |
4 |
BAL |
When Oakland's first drive of the fourth quarter began, they only trailed 27-17 and certainly had a chance to win. Manuel only picked up one first down the rest of the way, going 3-of-8 for 25 yards, plus one sack. | 11. |
Andy Dalton | CIN | 22/36 |
328 |
1 |
2 |
1 |
54 |
53 |
2 |
BUF |
A.J. Green's 77-yard touchdown was caught 35 yards downfield, but also included 42 yards after the catch. That was a theme for Dalton this week. Green caught another pass 17 yards downfield and then added 30 more after the catch, while Gio Bernard caught a ball 3 yards behind the line of scrimmage and turned it into an 18-yard gain. That's 90 yards after the catch on those three plays alone. Dalton's average completion produced 6.9 yards after the catch this week, second only to the 7.1 of Cam Newton. | 12. |
Joe Flacco | BAL | 19/26 |
222 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
46 |
46 |
0 |
OAK |
Flacco's third-down numbers were pretty mundane, but his first- and second-down numbers are ridiculous: 12-of-17 for 148 yards. That sounds pretty good, but that includes one completion for 54 yards, another for 52, and only one other that picked up a first down. His mean gain on those 17 plays was 8.7 yards, but his median gain was 1. |
Rk |
Player |
Team |
CP/AT |
Yds |
TD |
INT |
Sacks |
Total DYAR |
Pass DYAR |
Rush DYAR |
Opp |
13. |
Carson Palmer | ARI | 28/44 |
291 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
40 |
40 |
0 |
PHI |
Palmer did not have a successful play until the Cardinals were down by 21 points in the second quarter. In the first quarter, he went 3-of-8 for 13 yards with a sack. That includes a 6-yard gain on third-and-16 and a 5-yard gain on third-and-13. | 14. |
Jameis Winston | TB | 26/45 |
334 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
32 |
32 |
0 |
NE |
Winston threw a ton of passes up the middle against New England, going 8-of-13 for 124 yards. | 15. |
Matthew Stafford | DET | 23/35 |
229 |
2 |
0 |
6 |
11 |
11 |
0 |
CAR |
Stafford converted his first third-down play with an 8-yard gain on third-and-1. And he converted each of his last three third-down plays: a 4-yard gain on third-and-4, a 25-yard gain on third-and-2, and a 20-yard touchdown on third-and-10. He failed to convert a single third down in between, going 0-for-5 with a pair of sacks. | 16. |
Jacoby Brissett | IND | 22/34 |
314 |
0 |
1 |
4 |
-1 |
-8 |
7 |
SF |
Red zone passing: 1-of-4 for 9 yards, no touchdowns, one interception, two sacks. | 17. |
Philip Rivers | LACH | 22/44 |
258 |
3 |
1 |
0 |
-10 |
2 |
-12 |
NYG |
The magic passing window for Rivers came 12 to 25 yards beyond the line of scrimmage. On throws of that distance, he went 6-of-7 for 104 yards, with each of those completions picking up a first down. (We won't mention that the seventh pass was intercepted.) | 18. |
Tom Brady | NE | 30/40 |
303 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
-12 |
-6 |
-6 |
TB |
With Rob Gronkowski sidelined, Brady threw just one pass to a tight end, an incompletion on third-and-4 to undrafted rookie Jacob Hollister out of Wyoming. When I saw that, I figured Dwayne Allen had to be hurt too, but no -- he has played in all five games for New England, starting three, and been on the field for more than 40 percent of the team's offensive snaps. That includes 50 snaps this week against the Buccaneers. And in all that playing time, he has yet to catch a single pass, and has only been thrown at six times. This is a guy who put up a 35-406-6 statline last year. I know New England has a lot of weapons on offense, but man, this is weird. | 19. |
Russell Wilson | SEA | 24/36 |
198 |
1 |
1 |
3 |
-27 |
-18 |
-9 |
LARM |
Wilson's first pass of the second half was a 21-yard gain on second-and-7. That was his last time he passed for a first down the entire game. After that pass, he went 4-of-9 for 22 yards. His last three passes were failed attempts to convert on third-and-7, third-and-2, and third-and-6. | 20. |
Josh McCown | NYJ | 23/30 |
194 |
2 |
1 |
3 |
-31 |
-31 |
0 |
CLE |
GABBERT WATCH UPDATE: McCown is now at -119 DYAR for the season and -1,450 for his career, still well short of Blaine Gabbert's career mark of -1,928. We're a third of the way through the year now, and it's looking like Gabbert's record is safe unless he hits the field for Arizona and plays well. For this week, McCown only threw seven passes on Cleveland's side of the 50, but he made them count. All seven passes were completed, six went for first downs, two went for touchdowns, and they gained 65 total yards. | 21. |
Blake Bortles | JAC | 8/14 |
95 |
0 |
1 |
2 |
-35 |
-38 |
3 |
PIT |
Bortles did not throw a single pass in the red zone. He threw only one pass in the front zone (the area between Pittsburgh's 20- and 40-yard lines), an incompletion on third-and-8. He had five other plays on Pittsburgh's side of the 50: completons for gains of 3 and 18 yards; one incomplete pass; one interception; and one sack. With about eight minutes left in the third quarter, he threw incomplete on second-and-7 and then was sacked on third-and-7. He did not have another dropback for the final 20-plus minutes of the game. | 22. |
Tyrod Taylor | BUF | 20/37 |
166 |
1 |
1 |
6 |
-50 |
-50 |
0 |
CIN |
The Bengals scored a go-ahead touchdown to take a 17-13 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Bills had three drives after that, each down by exactly four points. Taylor didn't pick up a single first down on those three drives, going 4-of-7 for 18 yards with an interception and three sacks. |
Rk |
Player |
Team |
CP/AT |
Yds |
TD |
INT |
Sacks |
Total DYAR |
Pass DYAR |
Rush DYAR |
Opp |
23. |
Jared Goff | LARM | 22/46 |
288 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
-51 |
-57 |
7 |
SEA |
Goff moved the Rams up and down the field most of the day, but played about as badly as possible in scoring range. Inside Seattle's 25-yard line, he went 1-of-10 for 2 yards with one interception and a sack. | 24. |
Eli Manning | NYG | 21/36 |
225 |
2 |
1 |
5 |
-57 |
-57 |
0 |
LACH |
Manning had 14 third-down dropbacks against Los Angeles, and the results are kind of hard to believe: 5-of-9 for 63 yards and four conversions, including a 29-yard touchdown. He also had an interception and five sacks, with two fumbles. | 25. |
Mitchell Trubisky | CHI | 12/25 |
128 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
-67 |
-73 |
6 |
MIN |
Trubisky's first two throws both resulted in first downs, but then he had only four more the rest of the game, including one in the third quarter and one more in the fourth. | 26. |
Ben Roethlisberger | PIT | 33/54 |
312 |
0 |
5 |
2 |
-68 |
-63 |
-5 |
JAC |
Well, the five interceptions were a problem, but let's not overlook how little success Roethlisberger had in scoring range. Inside the Jacksonville 40, he went 5-of-12 for 24 yards and no touchdowns. And yes, one of those 12 passes was intercepted. | 27. |
Matt Cassel | TEN | 21/32 |
141 |
1 |
0 |
6 |
-72 |
-72 |
0 |
MIA |
Third downs: 6-of-10, 32 yards, two conversions, three sacks. | 28. |
Sam Bradford | MIN | 5/11 |
36 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
-91 |
-91 |
0 |
CHI |
Bradford's first seven plays each resulted in no gain or a loss, including a completion for a 5-yard loss and a sack for a safety. He had five completions for 36 yards and lost 35 yards on four sacks. Yes, that's a net gain of 1 yard on 15 dropbacks. | 29. |
Jay Cutler | MIA | 12/26 |
92 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
-93 |
-97 |
5 |
TEN |
Five of Cutler's seven first downs came in the fourth quarter. By the end of the third quarter, he had gone 7-of-19 for 33 yards (yes) with an interception. He threw five passes that traveled at least 13 yards past the line of scrimmage. None were completed; one was intercepted. | 30. |
DeShone Kizer | CLE | 8/17 |
87 |
0 |
1 |
1 |
-112 |
-113 |
1 |
NYJ |
Kizer had a 19-yard gain on third-and-14 in the first quarter and a 21-yard gain on first-and-10 in the second. Those were his only first downs on the day. Both of those, by the way, came on Cleveland's side of the field. He didn't pick up a single first down on New York's side of the 50 -- which is astonishing, because 15 of his 18 dropbacks came in New York territory. That insane. That's more plays in opponent territory than ten starters had this week. It's as many plays in opponent territory as Ben Roethlisberger had, and Roethlisberger had more than three times as many total dropbacks as Kizer had. Kizer's average dropback came from NEW YORK'S 35-yard line. And now you know why the Browns had to make a quarterback change. You had a whole team of guys putting the quarterback in position to win, and that quarterback was single-handedly putting those opportunities to waste. On that note, if you hadn't heard, here are Kizer's red zone numbers against the Jets: 1-of-3 for 4 yards with an interception and a fumbled snap. |
Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Total) | ||||||||||||
Rk |
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Rush Yds |
Rush TD |
Rec |
Rec Yds |
Rec TD |
Total DYAR |
Rush DYAR |
Rec DYAR |
Opp |
1. |
Melvin Gordon | LACH | 20 |
105 |
0 |
6/8 |
58 |
2 |
57 |
19 |
38 |
NYG |
Six first downs on the ground, and four runs of 10 or more yards, while getting hit for no gain or a loss only three times. His receptions included touchdowns of 6 and 10 yards, plus a 22-yard gain on second-and-11. | 2. |
Aaron Jones | GB | 19 |
125 |
1 |
1/1 |
9 |
0 |
47 |
39 |
8 |
DAL |
A fifth-round rookie out of UTEP, Jones got the start against Dallas in Ty Montgomery's absence and flourished, with seven first downs on the ground and five runs of 10 yards or more, while getting hit for no gain or a loss just twice. One would think Jones is the clear No. 2 man in Green Bay now, and will likely get some carries even after Montgomery returns from his rib injury. | 3. |
Marlon Mack | IND | 9 |
91 |
1 |
1/1 |
2 |
0 |
38 |
42 |
-4 |
SF |
In the first four weeks of the year, Mack had 24 yards on one run, and 4 total yards on his other 15 carries, with eight of those carries going for no gain or a loss. He was hit for a loss three more times against San Francisco, but also had gains of 11, 16, 22, and 35 yards. On the season, he now has a stuff rate of 44 percent, a success rate of 28 percent, an average of 4.8 yards per carry, a median of 1 yard per carry, and a standard deviation of 9.8 yards per carry. This is unusual. | 4. |
Jerick McKinnon | MIN | 16 |
95 |
1 |
6/6 |
51 |
0 |
32 |
7 |
25 |
CHI |
McKinnon only had two first downs on the ground, and just one 10-plus-yard run, but that one big play was a 58-yard touchdown. Meanwhile, he was hit for no gain or a loss three times. Three of his receptions produced first downs, including a pair of third-down conversions. | 5. |
Leonard Fournette | JAC | 28 |
181 |
2 |
1/1 |
3 |
0 |
29 |
30 |
-1 |
PIT |
Fournette's 90-yard touchdown run in the final minutes of the game was worth 27 DYAR by itself -- nearly the value of Fournette's entire day. However, he did have seven total first downs on the ground, and four other 10-plus-yard runs, while getting hit for no gain or a loss four times. |
Five Best Running Backs by DYAR (Rushing) | ||||||||||||
Rk |
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Rush Yds |
Rush TD |
Rec |
Rec Yds |
Rec TD |
Total DYAR |
Rush DYAR |
Rec DYAR |
Opp |
1. |
Marlon Mack | IND | 9 |
91 |
1 |
1/1 |
2 |
0 |
38 |
42 |
-4 |
SF |
2. |
Aaron Jones | GB | 19 |
125 |
1 |
1/1 |
9 |
0 |
47 |
39 |
8 |
DAL |
3. |
Leonard Fournette | JAC | 28 |
181 |
2 |
1/1 |
3 |
0 |
29 |
30 |
-1 |
PIT |
4. |
Orleans Darkwa | NYG | 8 |
69 |
1 |
1/4 |
3 |
0 |
11 |
30 |
-19 |
LACH |
Not a lot of opportunities, but just one hit for no gain or a loss, seven gains of 4 or more yards, three gains of 10 or more, and four first downs. | 5. |
Dion Lewis | NE | 7 |
53 |
0 |
2/2 |
10 |
0 |
22 |
22 |
0 |
TB |
Six runs gained at least 2 yards, three gained first downs, one gained 31. |
Worst Running Back by DYAR (Total) | ||||||||||||
Rk |
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Rush Yds |
Rush TD |
Rec |
Rec Yds |
Rec TD |
Total DYAR |
Rush DYAR |
Rec DYAR |
Opp |
1. |
Todd Gurley | LARM | 14 |
43 |
0 |
2/4 |
7 |
0 |
-43 |
-32 |
-11 |
SEA |
Only three first downs on the ground, and that includes his longest run of the day, an 11-yarder, which ended in a lost fumble at the goal line that may have cost the Rams the game. He was hit for no gain or a loss four times, including a 7-yard loss on second-and-4. His only catches were 1- and 6-yard gains on first-and-10. |
Worst Running Back by DYAR (Rushing) | ||||||||||||
Rk |
Player |
Team |
Runs |
Rush Yds |
Rush TD |
Rec |
Rec Yds |
Rec TD |
Total DYAR |
Rush DYAR |
Rec DYAR |
Opp |
1. |
Todd Gurley | LARM | 14 |
43 |
0 |
2/4 |
7 |
0 |
-43 |
-32 |
-11 |
SEA |
Five Best Wide Receivers and Tight Ends by DYAR | ||||||||||
Rk |
Player |
Team |
Rec |
Att |
Yds |
Avg |
TD |
Total DYAR |
Opp |
1. |
Ed Dickson | CAR | 5 |
5 |
175 |
35.0 |
0 |
61 |
DET |
All of Dickson's catches gained at least 18 yards. Four produced first downs, including conversions on second-and-14 and third-and-1. His longest plays gained 57 and 64 yards, respectively. That's two plays in the first half longer than any of the 137 catches he had between his rookie season and this year. | 2. |
Mike Wallace | BAL | 3 |
3 |
133 |
44.3 |
0 |
60 |
OAK |
52-yard gain on first-and-10, 54-yard gain on second-and-9, 27-yard gain on third-and-8. | 3. |
T.Y. Hilton | IND | 7 |
9 |
177 |
25.3 |
0 |
58 |
SF |
Only one of Hilton's catches failed to pick up a first down, and that was a 7-yard gain on second-and-8. His biggest catches went for 26, 46, and 63 yards, respectively. | 4. |
Will Fuller | HOU | 2 |
3 |
57 |
28.5 |
2 |
39 |
KC |
Fuller's DYAR totals include 36 DYAR receiving, 3 DYAR rushing for his one carry for 5 yards. His two catches were a 9-yard touchdown on fourth-and-1 and a 48-yard touchdown on second-and-6. | 5. |
Odell Beckham | NYG | 5 |
8 |
97 |
19.4 |
1 |
36 |
LACH |
Four of Beckham's catches gained at least 13 yards and a first down, the longest a 48-yard touchdown on second-and-12. |
Worst Wide Receiver or Tight End by DYAR | ||||||||||
Rk |
Player |
Team |
Rec |
Att |
Yds |
Avg |
TD |
Total DYAR |
Opp |
1. |
Benjamin Watson | BAL | 2 |
4 |
2 |
1.0 |
0 |
-33 |
OAK |
One of Watson's catches was a 2-yard loss on second-and-7; the other, a 4-yard gain and a fumble on second-and-8. |
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63 comments, Last at 11 Oct 2017, 6:35pm