In a pressure-packed weekend of NFL football, some of the best quarterbacks in the league failed to deliver.
In fact, you’ll find more big names than bottom feeders on this list.
The Week 16 schedule provided more than a few shocking moments. Surprisingly, many of them were brought about because of poor showings by quarterbacks who usually dish out punishment, rather than suffer on the receiving end.
These were the worst quarterback performances from the action around the league.
Ben Roethlisberger, Pittsburgh Steelers
After putting up jaw-dropping numbers most of the year, Roethlisberger finds himself on this list for the second weekend in a row.
Last Sunday it was pretty much just one horrible decision that landed him on the naughty list. But Big Ben was outplayed by Ryan Mallett Sunday against the injury-ravaged Baltimore Ravens, and the Steelers lost by a score of 20-17.
The loss didn’t eliminate Pittsburgh but it did make this team the odd man out, one game behind the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Jets with one left to play.
Roethlisberger was the reason the Steelers lost, too. He threw two interceptions and failed to complete a single touchdown, and his two turnovers led directly to 10 points on the scoreboard. It could have been much worse, too, as he had a pick-six taken off the board due to a penalty against the Ravens in the fourth quarter.
Somehow, the Ravens kept Antonio Brown, Martavis Bryant and Darrius Heyward-Bey in check the entire game. Brown finished with just 61 yards to lead the team, and Pittsburgh’s normally dynamic passing attack was rendered stagnant.
The Atlanta Falcons stomped all over Carolina’s perfect season on Sunday with a stunning win at home. In defeat, Newton had the worst game of his season gaining just 142 yards on 17-of-30 passing and losing a fumble.
For only the second time all year long, Newton failed to throw a touchdown pass.
It wasn’t all bad for the quarterback, though, who scored a touchdown on the ground in the first half. He also set social media on fire for a while after carrying almost the entire Falcons defense on his back to gain some extra yards (watch here).
The game was sealed in a fitting way, as Newton gave the ball up on a sack/fumble trying to buy time in the pocket, down by a touchdown late in the fourth quarter. Atlanta’s defense was tremendous against the pass all game long and frustrated the quarterback to no end.
Zach Mettenberger, Tennessee Titans
To the surprise of nobody but Mettenberger himself, the second-year quarterback struggled against the vaunted Houston Texans defense.
Slinging the ball 51 times, he completed 27 of those attempts for just 234 yards (4.6 measly yards per attempt), throwing a touchdown and an interception while losing a fumble late in the game on a J.J. Watt sack/strip.
In case you missed that last part at the end, Watt’s “selfie” celebration was in reference to his old beef with Mettenberger (read about that here).
Mettenberger and the Titans failed to register anything on the scoreboard until after the two-minute warning in the fourth quarter. It was a dominating performance by the Brandon Weeden-led Texans, who completely outclassed their AFC South rivals.
Ryan Tannehill, Miami Dolphins
Tannehill has clearly regressed this season after showing real promise last year.
It’s not altogether surprising, considering offensive mentor Joe Philbin was canned early on. But this is a critical time in a young quarterback’s development. In his fourth year, the Miami trigger man was supposed to take a giant leap forward, not step back.
For the second weekend in a row Tannehill failed to throw a touchdown pass.
He finished with 329 yards on 26 of 38 passing, which are respectable numbers. However, he threw an interception right into the arms of Vontae Davis in the end zone, and on the final drive for Miami failed to punch it in from the five-yard line, getting sacked on the fourth-down try.
Johnny Manziel, Cleveland Browns
Sunday wasn’t fun day for Manziel, who was simply miserable against the Kansas City Chiefs.
To be fair, a lot of NFL quarterbacks have had bad days going up against the Chiefs this year, but Manziel’s performance was particularly ugly. He completed just 40.6 percent of his passes for 136 yards, averaging a pitiful 4.3 yards per attempt, and failed to throw a touchdown while getting intercepted once by Defensive Rookie of the Year favorite Marcus Peters.
Even worse than his statistical failures was a bad faux pas by him at the end of the game. After getting his team into the red zone with the final seconds ticking off the clock, Manziel wasted time looking to the sideline for a play call instead of hustling to the line of scrimmage to spike the ball.
The mistake highlighted a distinct lack of preparation on his part. That’s basic situation awareness stuff that even high school quarterbacks know how to handle. Manziel’s teammates all ran to the line of scrimmage so Manziel could spike the ball and stop the clock, but he never showed up to do the job.
Instead, he was left to slam his helmet into the turf in frustration after he realized what a bone-headed mistake he had made.
This better be a learning moment for young Manziel, who isn’t exactly wowing Browns ownership with this one. That said, he does have the support of team leader Donte Whitner, who after the game said the Browns “have a starting quarterback next year.”
Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers
Like Roethlisberger, Rodgers surprisingly finds himself headlining this list for the second week in a row. It was so bad on Sunday that head coach Mike McCarthy finally had mercy on the veteran and pulled him in the fourth quarter for Scott Tolzien.
But to be honest, Rodgers might wish he’d been yanked before that. He endured eight sacks on the day against the Arizona Cardinals, had two fumbles returned for touchdowns and finished with just 151 yards passing on 15-of-28 attempts with a touchdown and an interception.
Clearly, Rodgers’ poor performance wasn’t all on him. His offensive line was atrocious and offered little protection, and his defense couldn’t stop a cold against the red-hot Arizona offense.
Playing from behind was the worst possible thing that could have happened to him on this day, and he’ll be feeling the punishment doled out by the Cardinals for days after this brutal defeat.
Whereas the first two on this list were shocking inclusions, nobody should be surprised that Moore struggled Sunday on the road against the Buffalo Bills.
The diminutive lefty completed just 13-of-31 passes for 186 yards with no touchdowns and an interception.
Playing without receiver Dez Bryant, Moore’s top targets were Terrence Williams (10) and Brice Butler (9), who combined to catch eight balls for 136 yards. For the most part, Buffalo’s talented cornerbacks were able to sit on shorter routes, knowing “little bitty dude” Moore doesn’t have the arm strength to beat them deep.
It was never a fair fight. Moore and the ‘Boys had not the firepower to conjure a victory without Bryant in the lineup, despite another really strong performance from running back Darren McFadden (99 yards rushing).
It was easy to see which team had a shot at the playoffs and which team had already been eliminated during Sunday night’s NFC clash featuring the Giants and Minnesota Vikings.
Manning and the Giants came out extremely flat after they were eliminated the night before when Washington beat Philadelphia to clinch the NFC East. Playing without Odell Beckham Jr., who was suspended for a week following his run-in with Josh Norman in Week 15, New York’s offense was downright pathetic against Minnesota, which won handily by a score of 49-17.
Manning was just dreadful to lead the disinterested charge before being benched for Ryan Nassib in the fourth quarter. He finished with 234 yards on 15-of-29 passing, throwing one touchdown and three interceptions, including a terrible throw that led to a Harrison Smith pick-six.
It was a typical “bad Eli” kind of game. He just never had it from the get-go, and when things start sliding the wrong way for the younger Manning it turns ugly fast.
Given how well Minnesota played on both sides of the ball, it’s not likely Beckham Jr. would have given the Giants enough of a spark to win the game. But his suspension and the team’s crushed postseason dreams took the wind out of the sails completely for the franchise, which now has endured three losing seasons in a row.
More from Sportsnaut:
