Jerry Jeudy and the Best Games of 2022

NFL Week 18 - With the 2022 regular season over, it's time to look back at the best and worst games of the year, with full-strength final opponent adjustments. Later this week, I'll be back with a rundown of the best and worst players of the season by DYAR, rather than analysis of Week 18.

Quarterbacks

Best Games

• Patrick Mahomes, Week 1 vs. ARI, 270 DYAR
• Patrick Mahomes, Week 7 vs. SF, 259 DYAR
• Jacoby Brissett, Week 11 vs. BUF, 235 DYAR
• Trevor Lawrence, Week 14 vs. TEN, 222 DYAR
• Joe Burrow, Week 7 vs. ATL, 219 DYAR

Patrick Mahomes of the Kansas City Chiefs had the two best games of the year: one against the eventual NFC West champions, the San Francisco 49ers, and one against the last-place Arizona Cardinals. His combined numbers in those two blowout wins: 55-of-73 (75.3%), 783 yards (10.7 yards per throw), eight touchdowns, one interception, and one sack.

The next best game goes to the Cleveland Browns and the notorious quarterback they infamously acquired over the offseason … wait, I'm being told that Jacoby Brissett is a journeyman veteran who had several productive outings while the notorious quarterback Cleveland infamously acquired over the offseason didn't accomplish anything of note. Regardless, Brissett threw for 324 yards and three touchdowns against Buffalo without an interception, the only player to throw for three scores against the Bills all year.

Our list is rounded out by Trevor Lawrence's 368-yard, three touchdown game against Tennessee, without which they would not have won the AFC South, and Joe Burrow's 481-yard, three touchdown game against Atlanta, which ultimately didn't mean a ton.

Worst Games

• Nick Foles, Week 16 vs. LAC, -231 DYAR
• Matt Ryan, Week 2 vs. JAX, -227 DYAR
• Justin Fields, Week 17 vs. DET, -218 DYAR
• Sam Ehlinger, Week 9 vs. NE, -192 DYAR
• Kyle Allen, Week 12 vs. MIA, -191 DYAR

I'm sorry, Colts fans, but it's objectively funny that three different Indianapolis quarterbacks made this list for three different games. We talked about that a little bit more last week, and we'll talk about it more in our Year in Review article. For now, we'll note that these three games, in ascending order of suck, were Sam Ehlinger's nine-sack outing against New England; Matt Ryan's three-interception, five-sack game against Jacksonville that preceded his benching and Ehlinger's arrival in the starting lineup in the first place; and Nick Foles' three-interception, seven-sack day against the Chargers.

Elsewhere, the Chicago Bears have the No. 1 pick in the 2023 draft, and they may well use it to replace Justin Fields, who had seven completions to go with seven sacks against Detroit. As for the Houston Texans, the team that came oh-so-close to getting that first draft pick themselves, I had completely forgotten that Kyle Allen started a pair of games for them this year. Both were terrible, especially his two-interception, five-sack day against Miami.

Running Backs

Best Games

• Joe Mixon, Week 9 vs. CAR, 141 DYAR
• Cam Akers, Week 16 vs. DEN, 88 DYAR
• Aaron Jones, Week 2 vs. CHI, 84 DYAR
• Josh Jacobs, Week 7 vs. HOU, 73 DYAR
• Derrick Henry, Week 5 vs. WAS, 73 DYAR

The runaway winner here, obviously, was Joe Mixon of the Cincinnati Bengals, who had 211 yards from scrimmage and five total touchdowns against the Carolina Panthers. This was the best running back game since 2006, when Indianapolis' Joseph Addai had 145 total DYAR on 208 yards from scrimmage and four touchdowns against Philadelphia. It was also the third-best running back game since 1981, behind only Addai and Priest Holmes, who had 152 DYAR on 307 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns against Seattle in 2005.

The other names here had barely half of Mixon's DYAR total, but we will note that Cam Akers of the Los Angeles Rams had 147 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns against the Broncos on Christmas Day; Aaron Jones of the Green Bay Packers had 170 and two against the Bears; Josh Jacobs of the Las Vegas Raiders had 155 and three against the Texans; and Derrick Henry of the Tennessee Titans had 132 and two against the Commanders.

Worst Games

• Dalvin Cook, Week 14 vs. DET, -69 DYAR
• Rhamondre Stevenson, Week 16 vs. CIN, -59 DYAR
• Kenyan Drake, Week 7 vs. CLE, -51 DYAR
• Derrick Henry, Week 1 vs. NYG, -50 DYAR
• Jonathan Taylor, Week 11 vs. PHI, -48 DYAR

Our worst game here was a special kind of terrible. Dalvin Cook of the Minnesota Vikings ran 15 times for only 23 yards against the Lions, losing 33 DYAR as a rusher. He caught one of two passes for 13 yards, gaining 6 DYAR as a receiver. And he was sacked on a trick play, fumbling the ball away to Detroit at the goal line, losing 43 DYAR as a passer. That's a total of -70 DYAR, only the 28th game on record to hit that mark. By that standard, Rhamondre Stevenson's 33 yards from scrimmage with a pair of fumbles against the Bengals looks … well, still pretty awful, to be honest.

Other lowlights this year included Kenyan Drake of the Baltimore Ravens running 11 times for only 5 yards (no, we did not flip those numbers) against Cleveland, Derrick Henry's 80 yards from scrimmage with a fumble against the Giants, and Jonathan Taylor's 94 yards from scrimmage with a fumble against Philadelphia.

Wide Receivers/Tight Ends

Best Games

• Mike Evans, Week 17 vs. CAR, 94 DYAR
• Justin Jefferson, Week 1 vs. GB, 88 DYAR
• Tyreek Hill, Week 9 vs. CHI, 83 DYAR
• Jerry Jeudy, Week 18 vs. LAC, 76 DYAR
• Amon-Ra St. Brown, Week 13 vs. JAX, 74 DYAR

Most of these are pretty self-explanatory. Mike Evans of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers had 10 catches for 207 yards and three touchdowns against the Panthers. Justin Jefferson of the Minnesota Vikings went 9-184-2 against the Packers; Tyreek Hill of the Miami Dolphins, 7-143-1 against the Bears; and Amon-Ra St. Brown of the Detroit Lions, 11-114-2 against the Jaguars.

Jerry Jeudy's big day against the Chargers on Sunday requires a little further explanation. The Denver Broncos star gets 53 DYAR as a receiver for catching five of six passes for 154 yards, and 24 more DYAR for gaining 39 yards on three carries. That's an awfully big day for a wideout, even though he didn't score a touchdown.

Worst Games

• Greg Dortch, Week 17 vs. ATL, -60 DYAR
• DeAndre Hopkins, Week 16 vs. TB, -54 DYAR
• Nelson Agholor, Week 15 vs. LV, -53 DYAR
• Diontae Johnson, Week 1 vs. CIN, -49 DYAR
• DJ Moore, Week 6 vs. LAR, -49 DYAR

With the Texans and Colts and Bears constantly throwing up all over themselves, the Arizona Cardinals kind of flew under the radar this year, but they had their share of problems too, with two different receivers having the worst games of the year in back-to-back weeks late in the season. First it was DeAndre Hopkins, who had 10 targets against Tampa Bay, catching one for only 4 yards. A week later, Greg Dortch caught four passes in 10 targets, but only gained 15 yards.

The New England Patriots' loss to the Raiders will always be remembered for Jakobi Meyers' game-losing lateral attempt to Mac Jones, recovered by Las Vegas and returned for a touchdown, but let's not overlook Nelson Agholor turning six targets into one catch for 3 yards that same afternoon. And way back in Week 1, Diontae Johnson of the Pittsburgh Steelers turned 12 targets into seven catches for only 55 yards, with a fumble.

DJ Moore's seven-target, three-catch, 7-yard game against the Rams in Week 6 was not originally listed in Quick Reads; the worst game listed that week was Romeo Doubs' four-catch, 21-yard outing against the Jets. But since we now know that the Jets' defense was awfully good, Doubs gains enough DYAR due to opponent adjustments to climb out of the bottom five. Congrats, Romeo!

Week 18 DYAR