2012 NFL Playoffs: Ranking the 7 Best Rookie Performances so Far

NFL Rookies have been making an impact in the 2012 Playoffs.

Wild Card Weekend began with the first-ever NFL playoff game featuring two rookie QBs (T.J.Yates and Andy Dalton). And it ended with Denver’s Quinton Carter intercepting Ben Roethlisberger and helping to set up the Broncos' historic overtime win and imminent arrival in Boston.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, “rookie” is defined as a “novice” or “beginner.” It probably evolved from the word “recruit” and denotes either a new member of the police/army or a first-year professional athlete.

The coolest synonym is "abecedarian: one learning the rudiments of something." Usually that something is the alphabet. Get it? You cannot make this stuff up. 

Rudyard Kipling is generally credited with introducing the word in his 1892 poem Barrack-Room Ballads. 

“So ‘ark and ‘eed, you rookies, which is always grumblin’ sore,

There’s worser things than marchin’ from Umballa to Cawnpore.”

And you thought English Literature was a useless major!

Denver Broncos S Quinton Carter and LB Von Miller

Let’s start with Mr. Carter. Perhaps not an obvious choice for this list, but that’s probably because he wasn’t the Broncos' high-profile rookie choice.

Carter wasn’t even the top choice at safety. UCLA’s Rahim Moore was taken ahead of Carter and was the hot young DB on every talk show last spring.

However, I looked up my draft preview article and I came up with this opinion of the young man:

“He’s fast, makes good reads, has good ball skills and hits hard. He has played both Free and Strong Safety.  He has such a high character that he founded a Campus Outreach program in his sophomore year. He plays a little high and needs to improve open field tackling.”

In the 2011 season, Carter started ten games and finished the year with 56 tackles and a sack.

But he finished his first playoff game with five solo tackles, one pass defended and a drive-ending interception returned for nine yards.

Yes, I know that Ben Roethlisberger was hurt and off his stride. But this was a big game for a rookie no one had heard of outside of Oklahoma.

If I were Tom Brady, I would keep one eye on the young man.

Linebacker Von Miller was the high-profile Denver first-round draft choice and has lived up to his hype—even with a broken hand wrapped up in a now-famous club.

Last Sunday night, Miller added three more tackles and a sack to a premiere season that will likely end in winning the Defensive Rookie of the Year award.

All football pundit eyes will be on his performance against the Patriots' less-than-full-strength offensive line. 

Denver Broncos Right Tackle Orlando Franklin

You have to feel for offensive linemen. Nobody gives them stat credit for the number of times they keep Lamar Woodley from dumping their quarterback or how many holes they open up for Tim Tebow and Willis McGahee.

You have to watch the games to evaluate them. And you have to listen.

Orlando Franklin’s number was called quite a few times last week (in a good way) for success in the Broncos' crucial rushing attack.

For Denver to win in Foxboro, he’ll need to become a household name.

Fullbacks Incorporated: Henry Hynoski and Jed Collins

Don’t laugh—I’m serious. New York’s Hynoski and New Orleans’ Jed Collins are having an impressive impact on their teams.

In the 2011 regular season, Big Blue FB Henry Hynoski had twelve receptions for 83 yards. Before the draft he was being compared to Lorenzo Neal. At the time, I thought that was excessive praise for a rookie. Now, not so much.

Hynoski is currently the only FB on the New York depth chart. I know that they have both Brandon Jacobs and Ahmad Bradshaw to run the rock, but I wouldn’t be shocked to see a surprise handoff to Hynoski in a pinch.

Even if he doesn’t touch the ball, young Henry was obviously born to block. Look up his picture. 

All I can say is that, at 6'2" and 260 pounds, this former Pitt Panther must have been the runt of the litter. Otherwise he would have become an offensive lineman.

Jed Collins can also catch the football. Of course he can—he plays on the Saints offense. I’m sure they do “eligible receiver” drills with the O-line every week, too.

Collins started 11 games and averaged a catch every week, plus two receiving touchdowns. He also rushed for two scores.

In his postseason debut, Collins caught two balls for 20 yards.

Fair warning, San Francisco. If it’s wearing a fleur-de-lis, it can catch a football. 

Houston Texans QB T.J. Yates

Houston’s rookie quarterback finished his first playoff victory with 11 completions in 20 pass attempts for 159 yards and one touchdown.

Not as spectacular as Tim Tebow’s game-winning deep bomb perhaps, but it gets them a trip to Baltimore.

T.J. Yates did everything that the team needed him to do. But that doesn’t really do justice to a young man who went from the third-string rookie holding a clipboard to a playoff-winning starter.

Yates led multiple scoring drives, moved the chains consistently and held onto the football. He was the definition of calm, cool and confident in his team’s first-ever playoff appearance. And he completed several perfect passes and a couple of not-so-pretty but critical passes.

It helps when you have two running backs who combine for 190 rushing yards.

It helps when you’re throwing to Andre Johnson.

It helps when your defense reminds America why they are ranked second in the NFL.

But Yates didn’t just “do his job.” His job was to wear a baseball cap and take notes.

He led his team to victory.

Houston Texans Defensive Lineman J.J. Watt

By far the best rookie performance on Wild Card Weekend belonged to Texans defender J.J. Watt. In fact, it rivaled the Tim Tebow/Demaryius Thomas touchdown pass as the best individual performance, period.

This rookie DE won Houston their first playoff game. No doubts or questions about it. 

He did it on one play.

Maybe we should have seen it coming: he blocked three kicks in college. Three.

When you look at the stats, J.J. Watt didn’t have a record-setting game. He had one sack, two total tackles—and one interception returned for a touchdown.

As usual, LB Brian Cushing led the defense in bringing down opponents. Watt was 13^th on the tackle list.

But Watt and fellow rookie Brooks Reed fit right in with Cushing’s intense D. The starting linebacker is the driver, but J.J. Watt may well be the horsepower.

In his rookie season, Watt recorded 56 tackles and five-and-a-half sacks. 

NFL Primetime noted that Watt is the first rookie with a playoff INT returned for a TD in 10 years, and he is only the fourth player since 1982 to record both a sack and a pick six in a playoff game.

I can’t wait to see what he can do versus Ray Rice and Joe Flacco.

Best Performances by Rookies in a Losing Effort

Cincinnati Bengals

QB Andy Dalton’s statistics from the wild card game are not impressive.

But Dalton’s team was winning that game right up until J.J. Watt’s game-changing interception.

Once the Bengals couldn’t play with the lead, it was over. The RBs totaled a whopping 76 yards on the day.

Dalton had to pass when a great defense knew he had to pass. On the road.

It did not help the Bengals that emerging WR star, rookie A.J. Green, was shut down for good in the second quarter (largely by former Bengal and current Texan Jonathan Joseph). Green finished with five receptions and 47 yards.

But Andy Dalton kept his cool and played very well under the circumstances.

On the year, Dalton completed 58.1 percent of his passes for 20 touchdowns and almost 4,000 yards. He threw 13 interceptions.

The Cincinnati Bengals have found their franchise QB.

Detroit Lions

The future looks bright with this roster.

Not only do they have one of the very best young signal-callers in Matthew Stafford and All Pro WR Calvin Johnson—they also have rookie WR Titus Young. Young hung with the big boys all year.

The novice pro made 48 receptions for 607 yards and six touchdowns. Not bad for a guy playing behind Johnson, Nate Burleson and two excellent TEs.

In the Wild Card Round, Young managed four receptions and 33 yards in a game where Calvin Johnson put up 211 individual receiving yards.

On the defensive side, the Lions not only have fearsome DT Ndamukong Suh—they also have rookie Nick Fairley. Fairley may have only made two official tackles in the loss to the Saints, but he was a presence and a force on that D-line.

After negative publicity about a work ethic hampered by sleep apnea, Fairley had to battle injury for most of his rookie campaign. But that prime time game in New Orleans showed the entire football nation that Nick Fairley is quite probably going to be everything that Detroit fans had hoped he would be.

Pittsburgh Steelers

This year’s Steelers ramped up their passing game and they have several good young WRs in their first few years in the league.

But their shining rookie stars are of the traditional Pittsburgh variety.

DE Cameron Heyward played in every game this year (11 tackles, sack, forced fumble) and was thrust into the starting lineup when both Casey Hampton and Brett Keisel were injured. He kept pace with starter Ziggy Hood and recorded four tackles.

On the other side of the line, Marcus Gilbert plays both guard and tackle and started 13 games as a rookie. I am positive that Ben Roethlisberger would like to have three more just like him.

Running back John Clay sure looks like a FB to me. Clay famously scored a touchdown with his very first NFL carry. He had a grand total of ten carries in his debut season, but I think he will become a goal-line threat in 2012.

Atlanta Falcons

Julio Jones has talent. He makes some spectacular plays. But between injuries and a good-but-not-great showing in the playoffs, I’m not blown away. But I think I might be in future seasons.

Rookies to Watch for in the NFL Playoffs Divisional Round

Just because they did not play on Wild Card Weekend does not mean that the following rookies won't blow your socks off this coming weekend:

1)   San Francisco’s Bruce Miller. For heaven’s sake, it’s another fullback! Yes it is. Miller recorded 83 receiving yards and one touchdown this season.

2)   Niners pass rusher Aldon Smith. Smith wreaked general havoc in the NFC West with 37 tackles, 14 sacks and two forced fumbles.

3)   Baltimore WR Torrey Smith (no relation). I learned the correct spelling of Mr. Smith’s first name in Week 1. Talk about an instant deep threat! This role was supposed to be held by Lee Evans. (Is he still on the team?)  

Working almost exclusively in the vertical game, Smith finished his rookie season with 50 receptions, 841 yards and seven touchdowns. He averaged over 16 yards per catch. On a run-first offense. I am suggesting that Houston’s DBs not lose sight of him.

4)   Packer return specialist Randall Cobb. Cobb broke one in Week 1. He’s a risk-taker and also has 25 receptions as a WR.

5)   Patriots offensive lineman Nate Solder. The Colorado rookie played in all 16 games and started 13. He’s been a bright spot along a line that was formerly virtually impenetrable, but was wracked by injuries in 2011. I’m sure Tom Brady likes the kid a lot.

In a year with no offseason, the 2011 rookies have risen admirably to the challenge.

Their performance is no doubt due to hard work, talent and the increasingly professional standards at the college level.

However, I personally credit the NFL’s coaches for the length of this article.

“The sergeant arst no questions, but 'e winked the other eye…

For 'e saw the set o' my shoulders, an' I couldn't 'elp 'oldin' straight

When me an' the other rookies come under the barrick-gate.”