Manning-o-Meter measures the prowess of every first- and second-year quarterback on a weekly basis. It is, by nature, a subjective exercise. I will pepper in as many objective observations as I can along the way, but you will probably be mad with my conclusions at some point. DYAR and DVOA are Football Outsiders' defense-adjusted metrics,explained here. The goal is get a better indicator of how these guys are playing and where their teams may hold them back by play-calling and offensive personnel.
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The quarterbacks on the Manning-o-Meter are, from left-to-right: Blaine Gabbert, Christian Ponder, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Jon Kitna, Andy Dalton, Jake Plummer, Joe Flacco, Matt Ryan, Philip Rivers, and Peyton Manning. The scale is not measuring these quarterbacks against those players as rookies, but rather against a "vintage" performance by those players.Teddy BridgewaterTraditional Stats: 17-31, 249 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, two sacksAdvanced Stats: -43.7% DVOA, -64 passing DYARGIF of consequence:
Thing that held him back: This was the worst game I've seen Mike Wallace have in a Vikings uniform. The offensive line was also bad, but that's no surprise at this point.Analysis: Bridgewater and Norv Turner sat down over the bye week and just decided they were going to throw corner routes. All the corner routes.It was fairly effective against the Chiefs, but Bridgewater is still not close to where he was at the end of last season, in my opinion. He's been late in the flow of the offense too often to be great. Some of that can be explained by pressure from the pass rush, but even when he gets through a progression, the ball isn't always coming out on time.
Bridgewater's first interception fell right into both of those categories, as he was hurried, scrambled, and threw late at tight end Kyle Rudolph. His second was just a ball thrown way ahead of Wallace, who had crossed the entire field.
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There are still moments where Bridgewater shows the tools here - the poise, the anticipation throws, and the moments where you can't believe he found a way to make something happen. But this version of Bridgewater looks like what the scouts imagined: an arm without a lot of mustard. There have been a lot of mistakes made in trying to compensate for that.
Blake BortlesTraditional Stats: 30-53, 331 yards, three touchdowns, three interceptions, three sacks, one fumbleAdvanced Stats: -36.3% DVOA, -96 passing DYARGIF of consequence:
Thing you can blame for a poor performance: Again, this continues to look to me like Bortles has the tools and isn't making the most of them. Healthy Julius Thomas even made an appearance this week!Analysis: We are at the point where there are three constants in any Bortles game: inaccuracy, big plays, and scrambling. If two of the three of them can go his way, he can win a game. If it's one or less, the Jaguars struggle.Such was the case this week, when a majority of Bortles' yardage came in garbage time. Both of his last two interceptions, including the pick-six that effectively ended the competitive portion of the game, were the result of terrible accuracy. The pick-six was well ahead of a Thomas curl and landed right in the lap of Texans safety Andre Hall. The last interception of the game was a comeback route where the ball hit A.J. Bouye almost by surprise.
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A fourth interception, called back on a dubious penalty, involved Bortles apparently trying to throw the ball through Kareem Jackson.
Mobile Bortles did not have a good week. He made a few plays via scramble, but mostly was forced to throw the ball away once he got outside the pocket. On a designed roll-out, he missed a wide-open Allen Hurns with no one near him five yards past the Texans defense.The guy I keep settling on when I see the total package here is Ryan Fitzpatrick. Scrambling, check. Inaccuracy, check. Bortles' best throws are better than Fitzpatrick's, especially deep, and he's legitimately enjoyable to watch. I'm pulling for him. But there are just so many flaws in the overall picture and I'm not seeing any improvement yet.
Marcus MariotaTraditional Stats: 21-33, 219 yards, one touchdown, two interceptions, five sacks, two fumblesAdvanced Stats: -78.1% DVOA, -179 passing DYARGIF of consequence:
Thing that held him back: You could make an argument that the entire Titans offense is designed to make Mariota look bad right now. These last few weeks have been vindication for the crowd that has doubted Ken Whisenhunt.Analysis: Football is a tough game. Players pride themselves on gutting it out on the field. When Marcus Mariota incurred injury in this game, he should have been pulled.This Titans offensive line is highly flammable. The Miami pass rush is formidable. Mariota moved like he was in quicksand after he was hit low. The result was a ton of sacks as Tennessee executed a pass-heavy comeback script.
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Mariota would try to step up, only to move so slowly that he became vulnerable to more punishment.The pick-six came on a play that the Titans love to run: a packaged play eventually leading to a wide-open slant. (GIFed above.) The Dolphins saw that play on film plenty, and after falling victim to it once, they jumped right on it. They had another near-pick on a curl out of a bunch set. Mariota actually made some impressive throws in this game, but the amount of mistakes clearly outweighed them.Now we have a quarterback with an MCL sprain. I'd urge the Titans to take their time bringing him back. The only reason they're in this race is because the rest of the AFC South is as bad as they are. This offensive line is a death trap. Kendall Wright is not being used enough as a volume target, and Dorial Green-Beckham is raw. The other receivers just aren't that good. Better to prioritize Mariota's bright future over an iffy present.
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Thing that held him back: This was the worst game I've seen Mike Wallace have in a Vikings uniform. The offensive line was also bad, but that's no surprise at this point.Analysis: Bridgewater and Norv Turner sat down over the bye week and just decided they were going to throw corner routes. All the corner routes.It was fairly effective against the Chiefs, but Bridgewater is still not close to where he was at the end of last season, in my opinion. He's been late in the flow of the offense too often to be great. Some of that can be explained by pressure from the pass rush, but even when he gets through a progression, the ball isn't always coming out on time.There are still moments where Bridgewater shows the tools here - the poise, the anticipation throws, and the moments where you can't believe he found a way to make something happen. But this version of Bridgewater looks like what the scouts imagined: an arm without a lot of mustard. There have been a lot of mistakes made in trying to compensate for that.
Thing you can blame for a poor performance: Again, this continues to look to me like Bortles has the tools and isn't making the most of them. Healthy Julius Thomas even made an appearance this week!Analysis: We are at the point where there are three constants in any Bortles game: inaccuracy, big plays, and scrambling. If two of the three of them can go his way, he can win a game. If it's one or less, the Jaguars struggle.Such was the case this week, when a majority of Bortles' yardage came in garbage time. Both of his last two interceptions, including the pick-six that effectively ended the competitive portion of the game, were the result of terrible accuracy. The pick-six was well ahead of a Thomas curl and landed right in the lap of Texans safety Andre Hall. The last interception of the game was a comeback route where the ball hit A.J. Bouye almost by surprise.A fourth interception, called back on a dubious penalty, involved Bortles apparently trying to throw the ball through Kareem Jackson.
Mobile Bortles did not have a good week. He made a few plays via scramble, but mostly was forced to throw the ball away once he got outside the pocket. On a designed roll-out, he missed a wide-open Allen Hurns with no one near him five yards past the Texans defense.The guy I keep settling on when I see the total package here is Ryan Fitzpatrick. Scrambling, check. Inaccuracy, check. Bortles' best throws are better than Fitzpatrick's, especially deep, and he's legitimately enjoyable to watch. I'm pulling for him. But there are just so many flaws in the overall picture and I'm not seeing any improvement yet.
Thing that held him back: You could make an argument that the entire Titans offense is designed to make Mariota look bad right now. These last few weeks have been vindication for the crowd that has doubted Ken Whisenhunt.Analysis: Football is a tough game. Players pride themselves on gutting it out on the field. When Marcus Mariota incurred injury in this game, he should have been pulled.This Titans offensive line is highly flammable. The Miami pass rush is formidable. Mariota moved like he was in quicksand after he was hit low. The result was a ton of sacks as Tennessee executed a pass-heavy comeback script.
Mariota would try to step up, only to move so slowly that he became vulnerable to more punishment.The pick-six came on a play that the Titans love to run: a packaged play eventually leading to a wide-open slant. (GIFed above.) The Dolphins saw that play on film plenty, and after falling victim to it once, they jumped right on it. They had another near-pick on a curl out of a bunch set. Mariota actually made some impressive throws in this game, but the amount of mistakes clearly outweighed them.Now we have a quarterback with an MCL sprain. I'd urge the Titans to take their time bringing him back. The only reason they're in this race is because the rest of the AFC South is as bad as they are. This offensive line is a death trap. Kendall Wright is not being used enough as a volume target, and Dorial Green-Beckham is raw. The other receivers just aren't that good. Better to prioritize Mariota's bright future over an iffy present.
