QB Charting, Week 4: Patriots-Falcons, Bengals-Browns and Cowboys-Chargers

Just a straight data dump this time, but hopefully some of you will find this interesting!

New England Patriots

Tom Brady: Week 4, at Atlanta.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	9	16	120	0	0	1	0	8.75
Play-Action	10	14	201	0	0	1	0	15.79
Screen	1	1	-5	0	0	0	0	-5.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	20	31	316	0	0	2	0	11.48

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 15 yards	3	4
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	1	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 15 yards	4	6

Atlanta Falcons

Matt Ryan: Week 4, vs. New England.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	29	46	391	2	22	2	0	8.52
Play-Action	2	4	19	0	0	0	1	-6.50
Screen	3	3	11	0	0	0	0	3.67
Designed Rollout	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	34	54	421	2	22	2	1	7.04

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	2, 20 yards	8	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	1, 38 yards	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	0	0	0	3, 58 yards	8	5

Cincinnati Bengals

Andy Dalton: Week 4, at Cleveland.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	17	32	172	1	5	0	1	3.70
Play-Action	1	5	2	1	1	0	0	0.17
Screen	5	5	32	0	0	0	0	6.40
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	23	42	206	2	6	0	1	3.52

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	2	11	1	0	3	6
Play-Action	0	0	0	1, 40 yards	1	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2	11	1	1, 40 yards	4	8

Cleveland Browns

Brian Hoyer: Week 4, vs. Cincinnati.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	15	25	158	2	18	1	0	5.93
Play-Action	8	11	64	1	4	1	0	6.67
Screen	2	2	47	0	0	0	0	23.50
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	25	38	269	3	22	2	0	7.00

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	8	0	0	3	4
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	8	0	0	3	6

Dallas Cowboys

Tony Romo: Week 4, at San Diego.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	25	34	202	2	15	1	0	5.75
Play-Action	2	3	48	1	4	1	0	16.00
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	27	37	250	3	19	2	0	6.78

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	15	0	1, 25 yards	4	2
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	1	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	15	0	1, 25 yards	5	2

San Diego Chargers

Philip Rivers: Week 4, vs. Dallas.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	22	28	247	1	7	2	1	8.10
Play-Action	9	10	140	0	0	1	0	16.00
Screen	4	4	14	0	0	0	0	3.50
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	35	42	401	1	7	3	1	9.51

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 3 yards	0	2
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 3 yards	0	2

QB Charting, Week 4: Eagles-Broncos, Dolphins-Saints, Seahawks-Texans and Ravens-Bills

 

On a time crunch this week, so this’ll mainly just be a data dump post, but I’ll add any nuggets of information from the action I saw that I deem absolutely necessary and/or compelling.

Philadelphia Eagles

Michael Vick: Week 4, at Denver.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	10	18	163	2	10	0	0	7.65
Play-Action	2	6	44	1	3	0	0	5.86
Screen	2	3	41	0	0	0	0	13.67
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	14	27	248	3	13	0	0	7.83

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	5	33	0	0	3	3
Play-Action	2	9	0	0	1	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	1	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	7	42	0	0	5	3

Got victimized by a bunch of drops that dragged his completion percentage lower than it should have been – Vick played really well last Sunday. Take a look at the Eagles’ next five games: a home-and-home with the Giants, a road game at Tampa Bay and home games against Dallas and Oakland. As well as they’ve been able to move the ball this year, there’s certainly a possibility they could go on a bit of a run this next month.

Nick Foles: Week 4, at Denver.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	2	3	43	0	0	0	0	14.33
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Screen	1	1	6	0	0	1	0	26.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	3	4	49	0	0	1	0	17.25

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	0	0	1
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	1

Denver Broncos

Peyton Manning: Week 4, vs. Philadelphia.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	16	20	129	1	6	3	0	8.71
Play-Action	11	13	190	0	0	1	0	16.15
Screen	1	1	8	0	0	0	0	8.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	28	34	327	1	6	4	0	11.46

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 6 yards	1	2
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	1	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 6 yards	2	2

Good luck, Dallas.

Brock Osweiler: Week 4, vs. Philadelphia.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	1	2	5	0	0	0	0	2.50
Play-Action	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	5.00
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	2	3	10	0	0	0	0	3.33

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 16 yards	1	0
Play-Action	1	4	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	4	0	1, 16 yards	1	0

Miami Dolphins

Ryan Tannehill: Week 4, at New Orleans.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	17	26	204	4	33	1	3	1.87
Play-Action	4	6	44	0	0	0	0	7.33
Screen	1	3	1	0	0	0	0	0.33
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	22	35	249	4	33	1	3	2.59

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	2	23	1	0	2	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	2	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	1
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2	23	1	0	4	4

New Orleans Saints

Drew Brees: Week 4, vs. Miami.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	18	23	282	2	16	2	0	12.24
Play-Action	7	10	64	0	0	2	0	10.40
Screen	5	6	67	0	0	0	0	11.17
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	30	39	413	2	16	4	0	11.63

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	0	2	2
Play-Action	1	5	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	1	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	5	0	0	3	2

Brees’ performance Monday Night had Jon Gruden achieving football nirvana, especially when they ran one of Jon’s favorite plays, Spider 7 Y Banana. Actual quote from Gruden: “There’s a beautiful banana…doesn’t that look like a banana, Mike [Tirico]?” Whatever you say, Jon!

Seattle Seahawks

Russell Wilson: Week 4, at Houston.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	4	10	36	2	16	0	1	-2.08
Play-Action	3	7	35	3	16	0	0	1.90
Screen	4	5	46	0	0	0	0	9.20
Designed Rollout	1	1	6	0	0	0	0	6.00
Total	12	23	123	5	32	0	1	1.64

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	3	23	0	1, 15 yards	0	3
Play-Action	3	42	0	1, 33 yards	1	2
Screen	0	0	0	1, 15 yards	0	1
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	6	65	0	3, 63 yards	1	6

Something that worries me about the otherwise-nearly-impossible-to-stop Seahawks juggernaut: the amount of times they run the ball. They might be more talented than every other team in the NFL, but more running plays means fewer plays over the course of a game and more chances for a low-scoring, high-variance game where an inferior team could hang around, hand around, hang around and then steal a win at the end. If they wind up losing in the playoffs, I’m 85% positive that’s the way they’re going to end up losing. Also, Russell Wilson played much worse than Matt Schaub for most of the game Sunday. Just for the record.

Houston Texans

Matt Schaub: Week 4, vs. Seattle.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	23	36	276	2	19	1	1	6.10
Play-Action	6	10	63	2	11	1	1	2.25
Screen	2	3	16	0	0	0	0	5.33
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	31	49	355	4	30	2	2	5.19

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	5	0	2, 29 yards	2	4
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	5	0	2, 29 yards	2	6

Now seems like a good time to point out to the Texans fans who burned Matt Schaub’s jersey after last week’s pick-sixaggedon that the next four career passing yards leaders in Texans history are, in order: David Carr, Sage Rosenfels, T.J. Yates and Tony Banks. Matt Schaub’s no Peyton Manning, but he’s sure as hell no Sage Rosenfels, either.

Baltimore Ravens

Joe Flacco: Week 4, at Buffalo.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	19	40	306	4	26	1	5	1.71
Play-Action	5	9	37	0	0	1	0	6.33
Screen	1	1	4	0	0	0	0	4.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	25	50	347	4	26	2	5	2.52

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	2, 27 yards	4	7
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	2, 27 yards	4	8

Buffalo Bills

EJ Manuel: Week 4, vs. Baltimore.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	6	11	79	1	2	0	1	2.67
Play-Action	4	11	88	1	9	1	1	4.50
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	10	22	167	2	11	1	2	3.58

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	5	0	1, 6 yards	1	3
Play-Action	1	3	1	0	3	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	1	0
Total	2	8	1	1, 6 yards	5	5

QB Charting, Week 4: Bears-Lions

Chicago Bears

Jay Cutler: Week 4, at Detroit.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	23	42	238	3	25	2	3	2.62
Play-Action	3	4	76	0	0	0	0	19.00
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	26	46	314	3	25	2	3	3.96

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	9	1	1, 5 yards	6	6
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	9	1	1, 5 yards	6	7

Cutler suffered his first poor game of the season and was further betrayed by a number of drops from five different receivers. All three interceptions were undoubtedly Cutler’s fault, however. The first came when he stared Alshon Jeffery too long in the middle of the field and Louis Delmas read his eyes for the pick. The second was a fade route to Brandon Marshall that Cutler didn’t get nearly enough on and threw towards the middle of the field, which gave Glover Quin all the opportunity he needed to cement the interception. And the last interception was an airmailed throw deep over the middle, which was one of the easiest interceptions Delmas will ever get.

In between, Cutler was able to hit a number of big plays through the air but couldn’t convert a third down until the Bears’ final attempt of the game, the 10-yard touchdown pass to Earl Bennett with less than a minute left in the fourth quarter that cut the final deficit down to eight. After throwing a grand total of six inaccurate passes in the Bears’ first three games combined, Cutler threw seven against the Lions. It’s tough to sugarcoat the outing as anything other than a shoddy one, but one bad game for every three good ones is ultimately a ratio the Bears would be satisfied with going forward.

Detroit Lions

Matthew Stafford: Week 4, vs. Chicago.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	11	18	104	1	8	1	0	6.11
Play-Action	11	15	129	0	0	0	1	5.60
Screen	1	2	9	0	0	0	0	4.50
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	23	35	242	1	8	1	1	5.81

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	1	0	2	5
Play-Action	1	9	0	0	2	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	1	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	9	1	0	5	7

That’s right – by my count, each one of Stafford’s incompletions were caused by either a poor throw or a drop and not anything the Bears defense did to disrupt the Lions’ timing. Stafford’s lone pick came in the second half when his throw deflected off a diving Calvin Johnson and into Major Wright’s hands. He, of course, also had a second fumble on his quarterback sneak attempt at the goal line in the second quarter that he was fortunate to latch onto before falling back to the ground. 

Though they often got in their own way Sunday afternoon, the Lions were still basically able to do whatever they wanted offensively and that’s been the case in every game they’ve played thus far. Reggie Bush so far is fitting in even better than anyone could have expected and Scott Linehan has done an excellent job of tailoring the Lions’ game plan to exploit their opponents’ weaknesses. Detroit is a legitimate 3-1 team and they could make an even louder statement in the NFC North next week if they were able to beat Green Bay.

QB Charting, Week 4: 49ers-Rams

San Francisco 49ers

Colin Kaepernick: Week 4, at St. Louis.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	7	11	106	0	0	2	0	13.27
Play-Action	7	10	61	1	8	0	0	4.82
Screen	1	2	0	1	8	0	0	-2.67
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	15	23	167	2	16	2	0	7.64

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	2, 32 yards	0	1
Play-Action	2	11	0	0	2	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	1
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2	11	0	2, 32 yards	2	2

Kaepernick made a few silly mistakes, such as getting sacked on a screen pass and losing control of the ball on a handoff. Otherwise, he had infinity times more success passing than he did against the Seahawks and Colts. After watching three weeks worth of games so far and watching him in the second half of last season, I’d personally say that Kaepernick has the strongest arm in the league and it’s not particularly close. That showed up on the deep out routes that made up the majority of his throws Thursday Night – and more importantly, in the wake of last Sunday’s mild disaster against the Colts, his accuracy returned as well.

It seemed like the Rams’ defensive scheme also helped the 49ers get back on track, however, as Anquan Boldin magically started getting wide open again after being completely blanketed by man coverage the past two weeks. Could that possibly have had something to do with the fact that the Rams predominantly played zone coverage Thursday Night? PERHAPS. It also helped Kaepernick that Vernon Davis was back in the lineup and that the running game got fully on track for the first time all season. But, really, the 49ers’ improved performance through the air against the Rams doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve solved the problems that plagued them the previous two weeks – they simply faced a defense that couldn’t (or, perhaps, wouldn’t) take advantage of their weaknesses. With Houston and their aggressive man coverage scheme coming to Candlestick next Sunday Night, Kaepernick and Co. will learn soon enough whether they’ve made any real progress.

St. Louis Rams

Sam Bradford: Week 4, vs. San Francisco.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	13	32	132	4	20	1	1	2.42
Play-Action	3	5	58	1	6	0	0	8.67
Screen	3	3	14	0	0	0	0	4.67
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	19	40	204	5	26	1	1	3.40

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	1	1, 6 yards	5	7
Play-Action	0	0	0	1, 15 yards	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	1	2, 21 yards	5	8

Bradford started 11-of-17 for 140 yards befor e throwing an interception in the end zone that was tipped by Tramaine Brock and spectacularly intercepted by Donte Whitner. After that, things got brutal for the Rams – Bradford went 8-for-22 for 64 yards the rest of the way, got sacked four times, lost a fumble and had six of his eight inaccurate throws. It’s the second game in a row where the Rams offense has had 13 combined inaccurate throws and dropped passes, which is a good way to score 18 combined points in two games and lead to a montage of tortured fan reactions around the Edward Jones Dome. Take out the garbage time production after they fell behind by 21 to Atlanta and you’ve got a legitimate streak of nasty offensive performances.

It’s still early, but right now the Rams’ offseason shuffling of their skill position players hasn’t paid many dividends this season. Tavon Austin has been more productive than Danny Amendola by default since Amendola’s been hurt, but he hasn’t really shown any of the agility and acceleration he was purported to have coming out of West Virginia. Jared Cook’s shown why the Titans were okay letting him walk in free agency, following up a huge game against the Cardinals with three forgettable ones. And the Rams also miss the possession receiving qualities Brandon Gibson is currently providing the Dolphins, not to mention the yards after the catch Steven Jackson provided as a receiving running back. It’s shaping up as yet another poor supporting cast for Bradford, who certainly hasn’t shown the ability to overcome a lack of talent around him. Getting the Jaguars at home next week will provide an opportunity to feel better about themselves for a week, but there’s not a whole lot of other reasons to feel optimistic about the Rams right now.

QB Charting, Week 3: AFC Roundup

Houston Texans

Matt Schaub: Week 3, at Baltimore.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	21	28	181	3	24	0	1	3.61
Play-Action	4	6	14	0	0	0	0	2.33
Screen	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	25	35	195	3	24	0	1	3.32

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	0	1	4
Play-Action	0	0	0	1, 5 yards	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	1	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 5 yards	2	5

Baltimore Ravens

Joe Flacco: Week 3, vs. Houston.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	13	21	157	1	9	0	0	6.73
Play-Action	1	1	7	1	8	0	0	-0.50
Screen	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	5.00
Designed Rollout	1	1	2	0	0	0	0	2.00
Total	16	24	171	2	17	0	0	5.92

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	1	3, 43 yards	2	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	1	3, 43 yards	2	3

Flacco’s first two throws of the game, and then his last, were inaccurate. In between, though, he was able to coax some offense out of an overmatched group of receivers and get his patented two defensive pass interference penalties per game. It looks like Ray Rice will be back for Week 4’s game at Buffalo, but even with him back in the lineup the Ravens look like a team that’ll still have to win with defense and grinding out enough first downs to come up with 20 points on offense.

The good news is that after the opening night catastrophe at Denver, the defense looks capable of shouldering that load again. Schaub played better than his stat line would indicate, but the Ravens took away the Texans’ screens and play-action passes, forcing Schaub and his receivers to beat them with dropback, down-the-field passing. Schaub doesn’t quite have the arm to pull those types of plays off and when Andre Johnson is hobbled like he was last week, the Texans’ depth at receiver gets very shallow, very fast. Remember, however, that the Ravens scored two non-offensive touchdowns in this game and that the Texans gained more yards and had a higher yards per play average. Baltimore ultimately outplayed Houston, but not by nearly as a wide margin as the final score would indicate.

San Diego Chargers

Philip Rivers: Week 3, at Tennessee.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	17	21	157	2	9	1	0	7.30
Play-Action	3	3	54	0	0	0	0	18.00
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	20	24	211	2	9	1	0	8.54

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	4, 32 yards	1	1
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	4, 32 yards	1	1

Tennessee Titans

Jake Locker: Week 3, vs. San Diego.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	21	32	304	1	7	1	0	9.61
Play-Action	1	3	0	1	10	0	0	-2.50
Screen	1	1	1	0	0	0	0	1.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	23	36	305	2	17	1	0	8.11

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	0	5	4
Play-Action	3	59	0	0	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	3	59	0	0	5	5

Week 3’s award for Most Dramatic Improvement from the First Two Weeks of the Season undoubtedly goes to Locker, who occasionally missed some throws but looked nothing like the grossly incompetent passer who appeared in his uniform against the Steelers and Texans. He was consistently accurate on deep out routes and even made one of the best throws anyone’s made this year so far midway through the fourth quarter. With a blitz in his face and while throwing off his back foot, Locker perfectly arced a rainbow to Kenny Britt 35 yards down the sideline. This being 2013 Kenny Britt, of course, the pass was dropped (one of his three drops on the day). I watched that throw on Game Rewind three times in a row, though, and said “HOLY BALLS” or some derivation thereof every time. That, plus the impressive scrambling numbers for as a runner, shows the vast potential Locker possesses and will make watching him ten times more frustrating when he inevitably goes back to firing every other throw three feet away from his intended receiver.

Over on San Diego’s side, the Chargers are officially back to being the team that can rack up a lot of yards through the air yet still ultimately find ways to derp away games at the end. Rivers’ unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, coming swiftly on the heels of an OPI call in the end zone in the first half, ruined any chance the Chargers had of scoring a touchdown on the drive, but there’s nothing to critique about Rivers’ performance as a passer. He stood in against the Titans’ blitz-happy pass rush and carved their single coverage up basically every time he went back to pass. Apparently this went unnoticed by Mike McCoy and Ken Whisenhunt at the end of the game, because before the Chargers got the ball back down three with under 30 seconds left, their run-pass distribution in the fourth quarter consisted of eight runs and one pass. That’s a pretty conservative way to sit on a lead, especially considering how well the Titans had been able to move the ball.

And they still probably would have won the game if John Pagano hadn’t called a blitz with the Titans facing a 3rd-and-10 from the Chargers 34-yard line with only 21 seconds left and no timeouts remaining. If there’s ever a situation to call for a prevent defense and allow a 15-yard completion in the middle of the field, that would be the one. Instead, Locker took advantage of single coverage on the outside and hit Justin Hunter for the game-winning touchdown. Baffling call.

QB Charting, Week 3: Buccaneers-Patriots, Browns-Vikings and Jaguars-Seahawks

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Josh Freeman: Week 3, at New England.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	14	34	204	2	9	0	1	4.17
Play-Action	5	7	32	1	1	0	0	3.88
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	19	41	236	3	10	0	1	4.11

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 20 yards	7	4
Play-Action	1	4	0	0	0	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	4	0	1, 20 yards	7	6

New England Patriots

Tom Brady: Week 3, vs. Tampa Bay.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	18	26	161	1	9	2	1	5.44
Play-Action	4	7	40	2	14	0	0	2.89
Screen	3	3	24	0	0	0	0	8.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	25	36	225	3	23	2	1	5.05

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	2, 33 yards	3	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	1	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	2, 33 yards	4	5

Josh Freeman’s benching was probably fait accompli after his two awful games to start the season. That it happened after easily his best game of the season, though, is somewhat strange. Two of Freeman’s inaccurate throws came on forced throws into the end zone when the team was down by 20 points with under two minutes left and you sort of feel compelled to try those low-percentage throws at that point. He also made a number of terrific throws deep and down the sideline that his receivers dropped, including two drops by Tim Wright and Vincent Jackson that would have gone for touchdowns had they hung on.

It’s probably safe to say that Freeman will never fulfill the franchise quarterback potential he showed back in 2010, so Greg Schiano’s choice to likely punt on the rest of 2013 and see what he has in Mike Glennon makes sense in the long-term. If the Buccaneers’ skill players don’t start playing at a much higher level, though, it won’t matter who’s at quarterback this year. Jackson, Doug Martin and Kevin Ogletree have all dropped roughly as many passes as the Bengals have as an entire team. You expect that sort of thing out of Ogletree because he sucks, but Jackson and Martin both have far superior talent than they’ve shown this year. Freeman’s benching is as much a result of their struggles as it is his own.

Back over in Foxboro, it’s 2006 all over again – the defense looks like one of the best in the league and Tom Brady’s being a good soldier by being willing to work with a batch of inexperienced/non-NFL quality receivers. His performance against the Bucs was probably his best – and also his receivers’ best – day of the season, though sort of by default. The problems the passing game showed in the first two games – miscommunications on routes, frequent drops, Brady’s own occassional inaccuracy – were all on display again against Tampa Bay, just in shorter supply. Sunday Night’s game against Atlanta will be the Patriots’ first this year against a quality offense, so I’m looking forward to seeing how well the Patriots’ defense matches up against Matt Ryan, Julio Jones and Co. They’ll likely need another strong game because, with Gronk once again looking doubtful to play, the chances of their offensive counterparts suddenly getting back to scoring 30 points per game like clockwork seem slim.

Cleveland Browns

Brian Hoyer: Week 3, at Minnesota.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	22	39	209	2	18	2	3	2.34
Play-Action	8	15	112	1	8	1	0	7.75
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	30	54	321	3	26	3	3	3.86

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	0	4	7
Play-Action	0	0	0	1, -12 yards	1	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, -12 yards	5	9

Minnesota Vikings

Christian Ponder: Week 3, vs. Cleveland.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	17	27	126	5	27	0	0	3.09
Play-Action	7	14	87	1	7	0	1	2.33
Screen	1	1	15	0	0	0	0	15.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	25	42	228	6	34	0	1	3.10

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	4	40	1	1, 15 yards	3	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	5
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	4	40	1	1, 15 yards	3	8

The best harbinger of sustainably good play to come out of Hoyer’s performance Sunday was repeated accuracy and touch on deep passes down the sideline – those are generally the toughest passes to throw accurately, so showing that ability on multiple occasions suggests Hoyer has potential. Two of his three interceptions occurred when he was completely fooled by Vikings coverage schemes (not exactly the Rosetta Stone of NFL pass defenses) and wound up throwing passes straight to Harrison Smith and Chad Greenway. His pocket presence also got progressively more statuesque as the game wore on and he finished with nine inaccurate throws, though that’s not a horrendous figure for 54 attempts. Hoyer did some things well, but considering Josh Gordon was back in action for the first time this season, Brandon Weeden probably would have played just as well, if not better.

Ponder, on the other hand, looks like he might be turning into the statistical doppelganger of Alex Smith, though the two quarterbacks take drastically different paths to their league-average destinations. Smith is much more cautious and doesn’t turn the ball over often but doesn’t come up with many big plays; Ponder forces the ball down the field a lot more and generates his fair share of bigs plays, but winds up with more turnovers than coaches would prefer. Both quarterbacks are arguably better scramblers than passers and both take more sacks than necessary. At the moment, though, it’s certainly better to be Alex Smith: his team is 3-0 and he’s being lauded as one of the main reasons for that turnaround, while Ponder fractured a rib in the Vikings’ third straight loss to start the season and now is in danger of getting Wally Pipped out of his job by the guy Smith replaced in Kansas City, Matt Cassel.

Jacksonville Jaguars

Chad Henne: Week 3, at Seattle.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	11	23	164	2	12	0	1	4.28
Play-Action	6	11	62	1	9	0	1	0.67
Screen	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	17	37	226	3	21	0	2	2.88

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	1	1, 4 yards	4	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	1	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	1	1, 4 yards	5	4

Seattle Seahawks

Russell Wilson: Week 3, vs. Jacksonville.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	7	12	125	2	15	1	1	6.07
Play-Action	7	9	77	0	0	3	0	15.22
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	14	21	202	2	15	4	1	9.65

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	10	1	1, 25 yards	3	1
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	10	1	1, 25 yards	3	2

Tarvaris Jackson: Week 3, vs. Jacksonville.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	3	4	49	0	0	1	0	17.25
Play-Action	3	3	66	0	0	0	0	22.00
Screen	1	1	14	0	0	0	0	14.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	7	8	129	0	0	1	0	18.63

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	0	0	0
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	0

Maybe it was just a small sample size fluke, but Chad Henne actually looked good in both of his starts against the Raiders and Seahawks. As in, maybe another team should give him a shot as a starting quarterback again? The Jaguars are committed to tanking the entire season (as they should be), so they’re starting Blaine Gabbert again this Sunday now that he’s healthy again, but Henne’s been by far the least of the Jaguars’ offensive problems the last two weeks. Even when he’s throwing interceptions off his offensive lineman’s helmet, he’s doing it because he’s trying to hit Maurice Jones-Drew over the middle and throwing the ball normally means the ball goes two feet over MJD’s head. He only threw a total of six inaccurate passes in his two starts and gave the Jags offense a very faint whiff of professionalism. Which is something to be proud of, because holy Moses is the Jaguars offense a crapshow.

Russell Wilson rebounded from a shaky game against the 49ers with an on-point performance that was nearly perfect until the Seahawks went up 31-0 – after that, he threw his interception (off Golden Tate’s hands) and both of his inaccurate throws on his final three passes of the night. So suffice it to say, he was pretty darn good when the game was actually (relatively) close. And Tarvaris was pretty darn good when the game was a blowout! Win-win.

QB Charting, Week 3: NFC Roundup

St. Louis Rams

Sam Bradford: Week 3, at Dallas.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	23	39	160	6	43	1	0	3.04
Play-Action	4	7	65	0	0	0	0	9.29
Screen	2	2	16	0	0	0	0	8.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	29	48	241	6	43	1	0	4.04

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	3, 37 yards	6	5
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	3, 37 yards	6	7

Dallas Cowboys

Tony Romo: Week 3, vs. St. Louis.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	13	19	148	1	7	2	0	9.05
Play-Action	3	4	56	0	0	1	0	19.00
Screen	1	1	7	0	0	0	0	7.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	17	24	211	1	7	3	0	10.65

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 6 yards	1	2
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	1	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 6 yards	2	2

Easily the best performance from any NFC East team so far this year, the Cowboys completely dominated the Rams, who also made things pretty easy for Tony Romo and Co. Sunday afternoon. Tally up the drops and inaccurate throws from St. Louis’s side and you get a baker’s dozen unforced errors, which helps explain how the Rams only scored seven points. To their credit, though, the Cowboys defensive line wreaked havoc on Bradford all day, several times getting pressure from both the edge and up the middle and leaving Bradford nowhere to run. Of course, Bradford has poor mobility to begin with, so he wouldn’t have run very fast even if he was afforded the opportunity.

The Rams also helped out Tony Romo tremendously by continuously playing off coverage on the Cowboys receivers, leaving Romo’s favorite six-to-eight yard slants wide open all day (I know you saw that too, Jon Gruden!). Romo was very sharp, though, and took advantage of that poor play in the Rams secondary.

Detroit Lions

Matthew Stafford: Week 3, at Washington.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	16	26	265	1	7	2	0	11.04
Play-Action	7	12	116	0	0	0	1	5.92
Screen	2	4	4	0	0	0	0	1.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	25	42	385	1	7	2	1	8.67

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 15 yards	1	7
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	2
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	1
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 15 yards	1	10

Washington Redskins

Robert Griffin III: Week 3, vs. Detroit.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	22	31	220	1	8	0	0	6.63
Play-Action	9	17	101	1	13	0	1	2.39
Screen	1	1	5	0	0	0	0	5.00
Designed Rollout	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	32	50	326	2	21	0	1	5.04

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	3	1	3, 14 yards	0	2
Play-Action	2	23	1	0	2	3
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	1
Total	3	26	2	3, 14 yards	2	6

It should probably say something about the state of the Redskins defense that Matt Stafford had 10 inaccurate throws Sunday afternoon (seven more than he had tallied in the first two games combined) and still threw for nearly 400 yards and over nine yards per attempt. Or maybe it says something about the mercurial nature of Stafford’s play, who typically made either an outstanding, ridiculous throw (like his final touchdown pass to Calvin Johnson in between four Redskins defenders) or an errant, off-the-mark pass. Joique Bell helped him out by consistently gaining yards after the catch and the Redskins secondary also aided in forgetting how to tackle at times (though not as prevalently as in their first two games).

As for RGIII, it was sad that the most explosive running play he’s had all season (and, really, the first time he’s really looked like RGIII as a runner all season) was punctuated by a goofy fumble when he awkwardly slid to the ground without being touched. That was the second of Griffin’s two turnovers deep in Lions territory – the first came when he was scrambling towards the sideline at full steam and either unsuccessfully tried to throw the ball out of bounds or made a remarkably poor decision to try to hit Pierre Garcon. Either way, Chris Houston was the beneficiary and that turnover, along with the aborted slide fumble later on, wound up being a large reason why the Redskins lost their third straight game to start the season.

Arizona Cardinals

Carson Palmer: Week 3, at New Orleans.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	15	29	171	3	16	0	2	2.03
Play-Action	1	3	-2	1	10	0	0	-3.00
Screen	2	3	18	0	0	0	0	6.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	18	35	187	4	26	0	2	1.82

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 5 yards	3	5
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 5 yards	3	6

New Orleans Saints

Drew Brees: Week 3, vs. Arizona.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	21	30	270	3	19	3	1	8.06
Play-Action	5	11	53	1	4	0	0	4.08
Screen	3	5	19	0	0	0	0	3.80
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	29	46	342	4	23	3	1	6.68

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	3	24	0	1, 8 yards	3	5
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	2	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	1
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	3	24	0	1, 8 yards	5	7

The Saints are 3-0 even though their offense has hardly been working on all cylinders yet, which is a scary thought for the rest of the NFL to ponder. Brees had his least accurate day of the year so far, throwing many uncatchable passes as I’ve ever seen from him. And his receivers dropped five more passes, including three by Jimmy Graham alone. On the other hand, Brees also made a ton of throws into small windows as usual and Graham ended up with 134 yards and two touchdowns. I’ve been infinitely more impressed with that offense’s performances in past years – but then again they’ve kind of spoiled us, haven’t they?

Palmer started out 8-of-10 for 88 yards, then went 10-of-25 for 99 yards and two interceptions the rest of the way. He had a bout of inaccuracy in the first half, with all but one of his inaccurate throws coming before halftime. He was also sidled with a poor offensive line, however, as Levi Brown continues to be a turnstile for any edge rusher looking for a sack. And the Cardinals also had the misfortune of playing a Rob Ryan defense early in the season – for whatever reason, the Black Sheep Ryan defensive coordinator’s tactics always seemed to work infinitely better in September and October than they do when the games actually matter. I have no idea why this is the case, but I am pretty sure a heavy use of profanity mixed with references to strippers and sweet live ass champagne are probably culprits in some way, shape or form.

QB Charting, Week 3: Raiders-Broncos

Oakland Raiders

Terrelle Pryor: Week 3, at Denver.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	13	19	210	1	11	1	0	10.95
Play-Action	5	8	57	1	6	0	0	5.67
Screen	1	1	14	1	6	0	0	4.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	19	28	281	3	23	1	0	8.97

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	9	0	0	1	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	1	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	9	0	0	2	3

Matt Flynn: Week 3, at Denver.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	1	2	19	0	0	0	0	0.00
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	1	2	19	0	0	0	0	9.50

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	0	0	1
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	0	0	1

A caveat to keep in mind while perusing Pryor’s box score: other than his 74-yard touchdown pass to Denarius Moore (which largely occurred because Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and Duke Ihenacho collided with each other) in the second quarter, most of Pryor’s production came late in the third quarter and into the fourth after the Broncos had built up a 23-point lead. With that said, though, this was easily the best game Pryor’s played so far as a pro. His accuracy noticeably improved from last week’s performance against Jacksonville and he looked far more poised and comfortable in the pocket than he did in either of the Raiders’ first two games.

With this being the Raiders and everything, naturally Pryor suffered a concussion at the end of the game, putting his status for next week’s game against Washington in doubt. Which is too bad, since if Pryor played this well against a reputable defense, who knows what he could put up against a team that has a defense in name only?

Denver Broncos

Peyton Manning: Week 3, vs. Oakland.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	18	23	189	1	2	2	0	9.46
Play-Action	8	8	155	0	0	1	0	21.88
Screen	6	6	30	0	0	0	0	5.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	32	37	374	1	2	3	0	11.37

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	1	0	4	0
Play-Action	0	0	0	1, 24 yards	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	1	1, 24 yards	4	0

Feels fitting that the first charted game with no inaccurate incompletions this season belongs to Forehead, although he did throw one inaccurate completion high and behind Eric Decker in the third quarter that Decker made a great catch on. Manning also fumbled twice, the one not appearing in his ledger above coming on a botched snap where Manny Ramirez’s handoff actually seemed perfectly acceptable. PEYTON’S TURNING INTO REX GROSSMAN, YOU GOTTA BENCH HIM!

Seriously, though, here’s how good Manning was at dissecting the Raiders’ admittedly easily dissectable defense Monday Night: of his five incompletions, four came on perfectly thrown drops. The only time a Raiders defender touched a Bronco pass all night came with 30 seconds left in the first half, when Kevin Burnett got a hand on Manning’s out route to Julius Thomas. So, really, it would have been completely reasonable for Peyton to have ended up 36-of-37 Monday Night. EJ Manuel couldn’t have completed 36 out of 37 handoffs Sunday. Different ends of the quarterback accuracy spectrum on display this past week, for sure.

QB Charting, Week 3: Giants-Panthers

New York Giants

Eli Manning: Week 3, at Carolina.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	10	18	106	5	30	0	1	1.35
Play-Action	0	2	0	2	15	0	0	-3.75
Screen	2	3	13	0	0	0	0	4.33
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	12	23	119	7	45	0	1	0.97

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	14	0	0	3	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	1	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	14	0	0	4	4

Curtis Painter: Week 3, at Carolina.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	2	4	16	0	0	0	1	-7.25
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	2	4	16	0	0	0	1	-7.25

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	1, 2 yards	0	1
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	0
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	1, 2 yards	0	1

Most of the time when a quarterback gets sacked seven times in a game (and six times in one half), it means that the quarterback is holding on to the ball too long or scrambling into the pressure or some other exhibit of poor pocket presence that makes his offensive line’s job ten times harder. And Eli’s mobility, or lack thereof, certainly wasn’t any help to a beleaguered Giants offensive line that didn’t seem to remember that games could begin in the early afternoon. On the other hand, though, Eli’s been slow as Fuddrucker forever and yet his brother’s the only quarterback who’s been conclusively better at avoiding sacks than him over the past three years. So what was going on Sunday that made one of the hardest quarterbacks to sack in the league suddenly sackable?

Four simple words adequately describe the Giants’ problems Sunday: pressure up the middle. Charles Johnson and Greg Hardy were racing around the edges all day long on Will Beatty and Justin Pugh, but that doesn’t normally bother Eli – he knows the right way to avoid edge rushers is to step up in the pocket and let them race by him. Except Sunday, whenever he tried to do that, Star Lotulelei or Kawann Short would be pushing one of the Giants guards back into Eli’s face, giving no room to sidestep the edge rush and thus making him a sitting duck. It was exactly the sort of performance the Panthers undoubtedly dreamed about when they drafted Lotulelei and Short in the first two rounds this year and would make the team a very scary matchup for opponents if it weren’t for the fact that they’re not remotely capable of winning a close game.

Three of Eli’s inaccurate throws, meanwhile, came during his final drive when he said to himself, “Bleep it, we’re down 38, I’m throwing the ball downfield and seeing what happens.” He misread zone coverage for man on his lone interception by Melvin White, but otherwise was actually pretty good when he had a chance to throw the ball. It’s hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel after getting shut out, turning the ball over three times and gaining only 150 yards on offense, but the Giants aren’t going to get dominated at the line of scrimmage this badly again and really should be fine offensively the rest of the season. The defense may be another story entirely.

Carolina Panthers

Cam Newton: Week 3, vs. NY Giants.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	10	20	128	1	15	2	1	5.14
Play-Action	5	7	97	0	0	1	0	16.71
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	15	27	225	1	15	3	1	8.04

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	1	14	0	0	2	4
Play-Action	0	0	0	0	0	1
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	1	14	0	0	2	5

Cam had a remarkable small sample size second half, going for five-for-five for 111 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another. That performance after halftime took the spotlight off a shaky first half throwing the ball, where he had five inaccurate throws, took a fifteen-yard sack and tossed an interception on a deep out route where (oddly enough) he didn’t get enough velocity on his throw.

More distressingly, he appears to be standing even more rigidly and upright than ever before when he sets up to throw and hasn’t progressed mechanically the way you’d hope would after a legitimately great rookie season. He’s probably going to be one of the most dangerous short-yardage backs in the league until he retires, so his prowess as a runner definitely makes him an above-average quarterback overall. He certainly hasn’t scratched the ceiling on his potential as a passer, though, and so far 2013 hasn’t looked like the year he’s going to do it, either.

QB Charting, Week 3: Bills-Jets

Buffalo Bills

EJ Manuel: Week 3, at NY Jets.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	16	35	204	7	28	1	0	4.67
Play-Action	2	5	38	1	7	0	0	5.17
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	1	2	1	0	0	0	0	0.50
Total	19	42	243	8	35	1	0	4.56

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	2	4	0	4, 53 yards	3	12
Play-Action	1	4	0	0	0	3
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	1	0
Total	3	8	0	4, 53 yards	4	15

Holy balls, EJ Manuel was terrible against the Jets. Let’s put things this way: Manuel had nearly as many inaccurate passes (15) as he did completed passes (19). By the end of the fourth quarter, Rich Gannon was having an aneurysm trying to plead Manuel into keeping his throws on the field. Each deep ball thrown five yards out of bounds must have been another knife to poor Rich’s heart. And it wasn’t just the deep passes he was missing, either. Intermediate throws, short throws, throws towards the sidelines, throws down the middle, throws where Stevie Johnson didn’t even bother running routes because he knew there was no chance the ball would be catchable – EJ didn’t discriminate.

And that’s before you even add in the eight sacks! On at least half of them, EJ was ducking around with the ball outstretched in one hand and his eyes purely focused on the pass rushers trying to kill him and not the possible places he could get rid of the ball. The fact that the game was close was 100% due to the Jets setting a team record for penalties – at one point in the fourth quarter, Quinton Coples jumped offsides on consecutive plays. What an abomination. If you have access to the Game Rewind, I plead with you: DO NOT WATCH THIS GAME. Your sanity will thank you.

New York Jets

Geno Smith: Week 3, vs. Buffalo.

Passing Breakdown

	Comp.	Att.	Yards	Sacks	Sck Yards	TDs	INTs	ANY/A
Dropback	12	19	311	0	0	2	1	16.11
Play-Action	3	7	18	0	0	0	1	-3.86
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Designed Rollout	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	0.00
Total	15	28	329	0	0	2	2	9.96

Rushing/Miscellaneous Stats

	Scrambles	Yards	Fumbles	Penalties	Drops	Inaccurate throws
Dropback	0	0	0	2, 35 yards	3	3
Play-Action	0	0	0	1, 22 yards	0	3
Screen	0	0	0	0	0	0
Designed Rollout	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	0	0	0	3, 57 yards	3	6

Hopefully Geno took Buffalo defensive back Justin Rogers out for dinner after Sunday’s game…and will continue to do so for the next three months because all of Smith’s success against the Bills stemmed from one of the worst cornerback performances you’ll ever see. Pressed into action because of Stephen Gilmore’s broken wrist (and then Leodis McKelvin’s injury early in the game against the Jets), Rogers was the victim of both of Smith’s long touchdown throws and got abused virtually every other time he was targeted, too. Buffalorumblings.com’s Brian Galliford tallied the results every time Rogers was targeted and the findings were gruesome:

The Jets threw to receivers covered by Rogers nine times on Sunday. One of those plays was an incompletion that nonetheless yielded the Jets 22 yards when Rogers was flagged for pass interference. On the other eight throws, Jets receivers caught six of them – for 254 yards and two touchdowns.

Oh my sweet Lord. Quick suggestion for Doug Marrone and Mike Pettine: sign a cornerback off the street – anyone with a pulse will do – and stick them ahead of Rogers on the depth chart next week against Baltimore. Bills fans have been through enough. As for Smith, knowing that simply targeting Rogers equaled nearly 32 yards per attempt takes a lot of the luster out of his stat line Sunday. In fact, if you take the throws to receivers covered by Rogers out of the picture, you’re left with nine completions out of 20 attempts, 75 yards and two interceptions. Good for Geno for taking an advantage of someone who had no business being on the field Sunday, but don’t expect to find someone that bad lining up across from him every week.