NFL Week 15 Report Cards: Rating the Studs and Duds at Quarterback
Michael Vick had a pretty good day. John Skelton? Not so much. The NFL Week 15 report cards turn their focus to everyone's favorite scapegoat and hero, the quarterback.
There were a lot better performances this week, and a lot of good performances on bad teams that ended up not meaning much.
With so many good performances, it's hard to really distinguish the great performances from the really good ones, but we'll do our best to do that here.
So let's run down the quarterbacks and see how things turned out.
John Skelton
1 of 30
Grade: F
John Skelton is young, and this only is his second start.
But this was the Carolina Panthers. This is the team that finds new ways to lose every week.
Of course, so do the Cardinals, and Skelton became yet another passer statistic on the Cardinals in the negative column.
Alex Smith
2 of 30
Grade: F
Alex Smith was given another chance to prove he can be the quarterback of 2011 for the San Francisco 49ers.
Smith responded by throwing for 169 yards and one interception.
Matt Hasselbeck/Charlie Whitehurst
3 of 30
Matt Hasselbeck was largely ineffective, throwing two interceptions. So Hasselbeck was replaced by Charlie Whitehurst, who threw for 83 yards.
But those 83 yards were something!!
What exactly were they? I have no idea.
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Sam Bradford
4 of 30
Grade: D
Sam Bradford went up against the Kansas City Chiefs and threw 181 yards and two interceptions.
At least he didn't throw three interceptions.
Josh Freeman
5 of 30
Grade: D
Josh Freeman has been great with fourth quarter comebacks, but despite throwing for 251 yards and a touchdown, he couldn't get the Bucs to an overtime victory.
Jimmy Clausen
6 of 30
Grade: D+
Jimmy Clausen got a victory, but can a 141-yard one touchdown performance, against one of the worst defenses in the league, really be considered a "victory?"
At least none of the Panthers wide receivers were publicly feuding with him after the game this week.
Ben Roethlisberger
7 of 30
Grade: C-
It's hard to say what was worse, the overall performance of the Steeler's offense toward the end of the game, or Roethlisberger's two fumbles during the game.
Nobody looked like they knew what they were doing, and the last two plays of the game were just awful if you are a Steelers fan.
Mark Sanchez
8 of 30
Grade: C
Mark Sanchez threw for 170 yards and ran for a touchdown, but if it weren't for the special teams play at the beginning of the game, the Jets lose this contest.
Chad Henne
9 of 30
Grade: C
Chad Henne didn't go out on the field today and fail miserably by any stretch of the imagination.
The four missed field goals obviously weren't his fault, but at some point you have to put that ball in the end zone, especially if your kicker is having a bad day.
Drew Stanton
10 of 30
Grade: C+
Drew Stanton wasn't great, but he did do what he had to do to get the Lions in a position to win the football game.
Stanton threw for 252 yards and one touchdown, but he got the team in field goal range in overtime.
David Garrard
11 of 30
Grade: B-
David Garrard had a good game statistically, but he couldn't keep up with the Colts. While 294 yards and two touchdowns is a pretty good day, it wasn't enough this week.
Jason Campbell
12 of 30
Grade: B-
Jason Campbell had 238 yards and one touchdown, but he also had two picks.
It was those two turnovers that led to two Denver scores, so Campbell gets lucky the rest of the team picked him up and got the win.
Carson Palmer
13 of 30
Grade: B-
Carson Palmer did the unthinkable on Sunday, he not only didn't throw a pick six, he didn't even throw an interception during his 209-yard performance.
Matt Schaub
14 of 30
Grade: B-
Matt Schaub pretty much did what he had to do, throwing for 325 yards and two touchdowns with only one pick.
The Texans never really were in this game, and some of those gains came at the end of the game when the Titans defense began letting up.
Matt Cassel
15 of 30
Grade: B
Matt Cassel played as well as you could've hoped just a week-and-a-half removed from an emergency appendectomy. Cassel threw when he had two and handed the ball off to Jamaal Charles and Thomas Jones.
Matt Flynn
16 of 30
Grade: B
Matt Flynn looked great for 59 minutes. That last minute was rough, though, but there's a first time for everything, and Flynn's improvement in just one week was staggering, especially against the red hot Patriots.
Despite the last-minute breakdown, the Packers now can feel confident they have a quarterback if Aaron Rodgers can't go the last two weeks of the season.
Ryan Fitzpatrick
17 of 30
Grade: B
Ryan Fitzpatrick continues to play well, and continues to put the Bills in a position to not draft Andrew Luck next spring, should Luck declare.
Whether Fitzpatrick has a future in Buffalo will depend on the offseason plans, as Fitzpatrick will have a place on someone's roster come 2011.
Eli Manning
18 of 30
Grade: A
Eli Manning threw for 289 yards and four touchdowns. Manning played a great game, it's not his fault the defense fell apart and the punter had a brain cramp.
Tom Brady
19 of 30
Grade: B+
Tom Brady had less than 200 yards passing and two touchdowns. But he also didn't have any interceptions for the ninth game in a row. Brady again had a great day, handed the ball off to Benjarvus Green-Ellis, and the Patriots squeaked out a win against the Green Bay Packers.
Drew Brees
20 of 30
Grade: B+
Brees had a great day, but it wasn't great enough against the Ravens, who are fighting just as hard as the Saints to capture a Wildcard spot.
Brees finished with 267 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. That normally would be enough to win most games, but not this week.
Tim Tebow
21 of 30
Grade: B
It wasn't always pretty, but Tim Tebow looked solid enough for his first NFL start. In fact, Tebow's stat line has a Michael Vickian flare to it with the ratio of passes to runs, and one touchdown on each line.
Tebow may not be the next Michael Vick, but Denver fans have reason to be encouraged after his first start.
Joe Flacco
22 of 30
Grade: B
Joe Flacco was just part of the machine on Sunday, but he still had 172 yards and two touchdowns, while Ray Rice took care of the rest of the business.
Jon Kitna
23 of 30
Grade: A-
Jon Kitna threw for 305 yards and two touchdowns, giving the Cowboys an edge over the Redskins and Rex Grossman's improbable performance.
Kitna continues to be about as good of a backup as you could ask for in Dallas.
Philip Rivers
24 of 30
Grade: A
Philip Rivers went out and took apart the 49ers defense. No surprises there, and the Chargers remain in the playoff race.
Colt McCoy
25 of 30
Grade: A
Colt McCoy did everything the Browns asked of him. It's a shame the Browns don't trust him more, they might have won the game. McCoy went 19 of 25 for 243 yards and two touchdowns. He looked good in the colder weather and didn't make any big mistakes.
But the Browns decided not to use him for most of the game, instead opting for a three-and-out gameplan.
Peyton Manning
26 of 30
Grade: A
Peyton Manning went two weeks in a row without an interception and kept the offense moving, even after Austin Collie left the game.
He did all of this against a division rival.
Matt Ryan
27 of 30
Grade: A
Matt Ryan took apart the Seahawks and kept the Falcons on top in the NFC. Ryan only had 174 yards, but he had three touchdowns and kept the Seahawks constantly trying ot keep up with him.
Kerry Collins
28 of 30
Grade: A
Kerry Collins is back, after a sub-par performance last week, Collins got back on track against Houston. Along with Chris Johnson, the Titans offense was pretty good throughout the whole game.
Rex Grossman
29 of 30
Grade: A+
Rex Grossman came out, defied the odds, played the Cowboys well, and threw for more than 300 yards and four touchdowns.
That's how you make an impression, now let's see how he does next week.
Michael Vick
30 of 30
Grade: A+
No matter how inconsistent Vick looked in the first half, that second half, the fourth quarter in particular, is something every football fan can watch with awe.
Vick had 242 yards, three touchdowns through the air, 130 yards and one touchdown on the ground.
Vick is just stunning to watch, and games like Sunday's are the reason why.
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