NFL Week 12 Report Cards: Breaking Down the Stars and Duds At QB
NFL Week 12 Report Cards now turns to the quarterbacks. Whether you agree with it or not, the quarterbacks take most of the blame and receive most of the credit for wins and losses.
Peyton Manning had one of his worst days as a professional since his rookie season, and Philip Rivers wasn't impressive but did enough to win.
Aaron Rodgers and Matt Ryan duked it out in Atlanta while Jake Delhomme faced Jimmy Clausen in Cleveland. The results in the first were great, not so much in the other game.
The grades are ready, so let's review.
Carson Palmer
1 of 30
Grade: F
Carson Palmer is just not the same quarterback the Bengals drafted what seems like decades ago now. Injuries to his knee and throwing elbow have taken the zip off of his passes, and he's forcing the ball. Palmer's 135 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions just aren't good enough on a team that needs great performances out of every player.
Jimmy Clausen
2 of 30
Grade: F
Jimmy Clausen was terrible. He had happy feet, no sense of the defense, got an intentional grounding call, and threw for 195 yards and one interception. Clausen can't be impressing anyone in Carolina given how well Sam Bradford and Colt McCoy have looked in their rookie starts so far.
Clausen has a very short window to improve here, or Carolina may be looking for another quarterback again in the 2011 draft.
Rusty Smith
3 of 30
Grade: F
I wanted to cut Rusty Smith some slack given his situation and talent level, but 138 yards and three picks speaks for itself. Smith didn't look like he was ready to step in and quarterback an NFL offense. That's something Jeff Fisher hoped wouldn't happen, but given the circumstances, he had little choice.
Depending on how healthy Kerry Collins is, and if Chris Simms gets up to speed, this might have been Smith's only NFL start.
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Jake Delhomme
4 of 30
Grade: D
Jake Delhomme got the ball to the receivers more, which keeps his grade from being a failing one, but he threw two very bad interceptions and wasn't able to throw for any touchdowns. The Browns offense is 90 percent Peyton Hillis and 10 percent luck at this point.
Josh Freeman
5 of 30
Grade: D
Josh Freeman is usually much better than this in 2010. Freeman only managed 162 yards and one touchdown, which normally would grade a little higher, but his overall performance in the second half didn't have the energy has brought to recent games.
Peyton Manning
6 of 30
Grade: D
Four picks usually would mean a failing grade, but if you watched the game, you know two of those picks really weren't his fault, and the third should've been overturned because of a penalty that for some reason never got called.
Still, Manning didn't have a good day and the Colts now may find themselves at home for the playoffs.
Donovan McNabb
7 of 30
Grade: D+
Donovan McNabb had a good opening drive, and then pretty much stunk the rest of the game. McNabb continues to demonstrate how to be an inconsistent quarterback in the NFL and still get paid well to be average.
David Garrard
8 of 30
Grade: C-
David Garrard didn't do enough to win the game, obviously, but with an offense that relies on Maurice Jones-Drew for a lot of plays, not scoring a touchdown can happen. However, his one pick really hurts him, especially since he did it in such a close game against a very good team.
Bruce Gradkowski
9 of 30
Grade: C-
It's difficult to grade Raiders quarterbacks because none of them ever seem to play more than a few games before getting benched or injured. So based on his stat lines and performance, Gradkowski really was just below the median grade.
Gradkowski threw for 252 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions, but his play was inconsistent, and the Raiders suffered for it.
Matt Hasselbeck
10 of 30
Grade: C-
Relatively speaking, Matt Hasselbeck threw great for an NFC West team, but we're not grading within the NFC West. Hasselbeck threw for 282 yards and two touchdowns, but he had two costly interceptions and the Chiefs capitalized on every mistake the Seahawks offense made.
Shaun Hill
11 of 30
Grade: C
Shaun Hill had a good first half, but just couldn't put together a complete game. With one touchdown and two interceptions, the Lions had to rely on Hill having a good game, which he didn't.
Ben Roethlisberger
12 of 30
Grade: C
The Steelers, led by Ben Roethlisberger, played a flat, sloppy game, and Ben's 246 yards passing shows he didn't make big mistakes, but he really didn't do much to beat a bad team. Whether it was his injured foot, or lack of quality playcalling, or just bad execution, the Steelers offense didn't look good at all on Sunday.
Philip Rivers
13 of 30
Grade: C+
Despite the win, most of the big scoring came from the defense returning Peyton Manning touchdowns, 14 points. Rivers managed the game well and didn't turn the ball over, but he hardly had a great day.
Brett Favre
14 of 30
Grade: C+
Brett Favre did enough to win the game, had two perfect drives, and ran for some very important yards to get the first down that sealed the vicotry. But there's not much more you can say about the performance. The Vikings got saved by their running game and a great performance by the backups.
Jon Kitna
15 of 30
Grade: B-
Jon Kitna and the Dallas offense really gave it a good try on Thanksgiving Day, but his 313 yards were offset by an interception, and he wasn't able to get the ball past the goal line with his arm.
Matt Schaub
16 of 30
Grade: B
Matt Schaub turned in a fine game, throwing for 178 yards and two touchdowns against a Titans team that can't really fight back at the moment. Schaub continues to show good skills and he made no turnovers on Sunday.
Mark Sanchez
17 of 30
Grade: B
Mark Sanchez didn't have a lot to do in the Thursday night game since Carson Palmer helped the Jets out with two picks, but Sanchez still only threw for 166 yards and one touchdown.
He also threw a nice pick to Rey Maualuga, so this wasn't one of Sanchez' better days, but he's shown so much improvement this season, this game now seems more like an aberration than the norm it was last year.
Ryan Fitzpatrick
18 of 30
Grade: B
Ryan Fitzpatrick was victimized by drops all day, including the big one in overtime by Steve Johnson, but even with the drops, Fitzpatrick still had 265 yards passing and one touchdown. He also had one interception, but that was on a great play by Troy Polamalu.
What are you going to do? It's Polamalu, these things happen.
Matt Ryan
19 of 30
Grade: B+
Matt Ryan got it done when the Falcons needed it most, completing four short passes to put the Falcons in field goal range at the end of the game. Michael Turner was the one who had the really good day, but Ryan's 197 yards and one touchdown were good enough to get the victory.
Eli Manning
20 of 30
Grade: B+
Eli Manning led the Giants on a fourth quarter comeback and gave the Jaguars a little taste of their own medicine. Manning looked much better than he has the last few weeks and didn't commit any turnovers.
Manning threw the game-winning touchdown, plus another one earlier in the game, and the offense just generally looked more in-sync this week.
Drew Brees
21 of 30
Grade: B+
Drew Brees played a very solid game, and he had to because the Saints defense wasn't letting the offense get any rest. His 352 yards and one touchdown were needed on Thanksgiving Day to keep the Saints ahead of the Cowboys, who scored on four consecutive possessions.
Michael Vick
22 of 30
Grade: A-
Despite the costly interception right before the half, Michael Vick still had a pretty good day with 333 yards and two touchdowns. If DeSean Jackson or LeSean McCoy would've had a better days, the Eagles might have won.
Jay Cutler
23 of 30
Grade: A
Cutler got the job done despite four sacks, throwing for 247 yards and four touchdowns. More importantly, he didn't throw any interceptions. If Cutler can keep not turning the ball over, the Bears will win a lot more games like the one versus the Eagles.
Aaron Rodgers
24 of 30
Grade: A
Aaron Rodgers did everything he could to win the game. Bad play by the special teams and a weak defense in the last minute of the game negated the effort by Rodgers, who threw for 344 yards and one touchdown.
Kyle Orton
25 of 30
Grade: A
The rest of the team's performance aside, Orton had a good game. He threw for 347 yards and three touchdowns. Whatever complaints you want to make about the Broncos, Orton should not be on that list.
Sam Bradford
26 of 30
Grade: A
Sam Bradford had his first 300-yard game and threw for three touchdowns as he helped guide the Rams to another victory. Bradford's play is one of the main reasons the Rams have been able to turn things around this season, and he keeps earning his paycheck week-after-week.
Chad Henne
27 of 30
Grade: A
It was a redemption game for Henne, who regained his starting position due to default. He was healthy, Chad Pennington was not, and Tyler Thigpen demonstrated last week why he is a third string quarterback.
Henne threw 307 yards and one touchdown while only throwing one pick. Overall his performance was great, and there's no doubt Henne gets the start next week.
Matt Cassel
28 of 30
Grade: A
Matt Cassel had a statement game, and connected with Dwayne Bowe in the end zone three times. Cassel's four touchdowns on 233 yards qualifies as one of his best days as a pro, and it's the kind of performance that's been missing from his resume all season.
Joe Flacco
29 of 30
Grade: A
Joe Flacco had a great day, but he should've had better numbers. A 76-yard touchdown pass to Ray Rice was wiped out by a penalty on Anquan Boldin, but Flacco still had 289 yards passing and two touchdowns.
Only one bad pass marred his day.
Tom Brady
30 of 30
Grade: A+
Tom Brady's second half on Thursday night was epic. Overall, he had a perfect QB rating of 158.3, and threw the ball for 341 yards and four touchdowns.
He had no interceptions, and this game was just further proof on why Brady is one of the best of all time and why the Patriots could make another Super Bowl run.
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