How the New NFL QBs Fared in Week 7

Of the 24 NFL teams in action last Sunday, six of them gave their backup quarterbacks their first respective starts of the season. Some of those opportunities were born out of the failures of the incumbents, and others out of injuries. While the postman always rings twice, opportunity often only knocks once, and people that are trying to rob your house often don’t knock at all. They usually just smash a window or something.

Anyway, here’s a recap of how the new guys did in Week 7.

John Beck, Washington Redskins

Against Carolina: 279 passing yards, one passing TD, one pick.

Beck was expected to start the season under center, but was beaten out of the starting job in preseason by Rex Grossman. Grossman treaded water under center for a month until blowing up in Grossman-like fashion against the Eagles, throwing four interceptions before Shanahan gave him the hook. Beck finished the fourth quarter under center, and most likely will finish the season there as well.

Beck hadn’t started an NFL game in four years, and played as well as one could have expected. He lost some useful weapons in Santana Moss and Tim Hightower, and his team never led in this one. I think more of that had to do with running into a Carolina team on the upswing. The Panthers have played everyone close this season, and in their last two games, have played well enough to win. This time, they did.  

Beck is probably the guy from here on out, which is too bad. I’m partial to Rex Grossman for reasons that we can discuss down the road.

Kyle Boller and Carson Palmer, Oakland Raiders

Against Kansas City:

Boller: 61 passing yards, 3 picks.

Palmer: 116 passing yards, 3 picks.

The hopes and dreams of an NFL team often crash to earth with the injury of its NFL quarterback, so give credit to the Raiders for making the effort to buck the trend. Instead of crying in their milk and looking ahead to 2012, Oakland made a blockbuster trade to acquire Carson Palmer from the Bengals for two potential first-round draft picks.

But speculation arose as to whether Palmer would be ready to play, and when the decision reportedly was left to Palmer, he opted to sit. That left quarterback vagabond Kyle Boller—the guy the Raiders really, really didn’t want to start—to start.

Boller’s first pass was a pick-six, which was a positive only in the sense that it wasn’t a pick-14. Boller would finish 7-of-14 with three picks before Carson Palmer finally realized that he couldn’t do any worse.

He was wrong. Palmer finished 8-of-21 (also with three picks), and hapless Kansas City ran away in a blowout. Common sense would dictate that Palmer be named the starter for the rest of the season, while Boller be shipped to the North Pole in exchange for a few polar bars, an elf or even just a few crates of snow. Why is he even on a team?

Christian Ponder, Minnesota Vikings

Against Green Bay: 219 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, 2 picks, 31 rushing yards.

Leslie Frazier hasn’t done much in Minneapolis to eschew the ghost of Brad Childress. In Frazier’s first full season with a team that many expected to compete for a spot in the NFC playoffs, the Vikings wobbled out to a 1-4 start with “new” quarterback Donovan McNabb.

In the midst of last week’s Sunday night beatdown at the hands of Chicago, Frazier benched McNabb for Ponder, their rookie first-round draft pick, who showed flashes of brilliance in garbage time. That performance inspired Frazier to give Ponder his first career start against Green Bay, who arrived in the Metrodome undefeated.

Ponder’s first pass from scrimmage was originally ruled a touchdown, but Visanthe Shiancoe was ruled down inside the one-yard line. Ponder’s start seemed to provide Minnesota with the spark that they needed, and trailed...er, led the defending champion Packers by four at the half.

Ponder would finish 13-of-32 with two picks. Despite his paltry production, the rookie from Florida State had a chance to win the game. But with about three minutes left in the game, Frazier called for three downfield passes—all incomplete—and a punt, and Ponder never saw the ball again. One can presume that the Vikings have already written off 2011 and will just use their remaining 10 games to let Ponder garner experience for next year.

Charlie Whitehurst, Seattle Seahawks

Against Cleveland: 97 passing yards, no TDs, one pick, one fumble lost.

You know you're a terrible quarterback when Tarvaris Jackson is in front of you on the depth chart. I watched Whitehurst play extensively in college, and the guy never impressed me. He never had the tools to execute a dynamic offense or the leadership abilities to pull any of his Clemson teams over the hump, and when he failed in big games, Terry Bowden made excuses for him. Today, Bowden is out of a job and Whitehurst is in the NFL. Life is weird sometimes.

To describe anything that happened in Seattle's 6-3 loss to the Browns borders on a war crime. Even the fanbases of these teams would be hard-pressed to say anything positive about this game. Just be grateful that I've finally found a quarterback that annoys me more than Tarvaris Jackson.

Tim Tebow, Denver Broncos

Against Miami: 161 passing yards, 2 passing TDs, no picks, 65 rushing yards, one 2-pt conversion.

After the struggles of Kyle Orton, Broncos coach John Fox announced in advance of the Miami game that Tebow, the polarizing Florida product, would make his fourth career start. Hoping to jumpstart a team still reeling from the two years of the Josh McDaniels regime, Fox entrusted the Broncos offense to a player whom many claim will never possess the tools to become a professional-grade quarterback.

Tebow did little to silence his critics in the first three quarters. The Broncos didn’t give their young signal-caller many opportunities to pass, and when he did, he overthrew open receivers. His offensive line didn’t help; Tebow was sacked seven times.

Denver finished three quarters with total passing yards  in the single digits, but Miami—starting a green QB of their own in Matt Mooredid little to pull away, and only led 6-0 heading into the fourth quarter.

Tebow led his team to two scores to force a 15-15 tie at the end of regulation, and a Miami fumble led to a looooong Matt Prater field goal from 52 yards to win the game. Although Tebow did technically led his team to a W, his fourth quarter, where he went 9-for-19, comes off as an abberation.

A. J. Feeley, St. Louis Rams

Against Dallas: 196 passing yards, one pick.

Feeley might have been better served playing this game with a mop. After Sam Bradford went down against the Packers last week, it was Feeley who punched the clock to work the second shift in the Rams’ sixth straight game. With Bradford unable to go in Dallas against the Cowboys,  it was up to Feeley again to do...something.

Feeley and the Rams found themselves on the receiving end of a 34-7 drubbing. Feeley was predicably awful, but it wasn’t like he had much help. Some Cowboys running back nobody had ever heard of (sorry, DeMarco Murray) torched the Rams for 253 rushing yards. To put that in perspective, that’s more than all but one of our quarterbacks had in passing yardage on the day. Feeley is probably icing down Bradford’s ankle right now so he can return to clipboard duty next week.

Who was the worst new quarterback this week in your eyes?