Manning-o-Meter: The Degradation of Teddy Bridgewater

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.

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.

Blake Bortles

Traditional Stats: 28-50, 298 yards, one touchdown, one sack, one fumble

Advanced Stats: -4.8% DVOA, 21 DYAR

GIF of consequence:

Thing you can blame for a poor performance: The offensive line was fine. The Indy defense afforded Bortles many opportunities they probably shouldn't have.

Analysis: At this point, it's tough to pin down an argument for trusting Blake Bortles.

The first half of this game had me trying. You can design an offense with enough flat routes to keep Bortles going against a bad defense. If he hits his deep throws, you're moving down the field. But that doesn't solve anything in the red zone.

The reason I used the gif above is that I was astonished by how often Bortles broke the flow of the play in this game. He was overly skittish against blitzes, moving before there was even pressure. That can work against undisciplined and talent-poor units like Indianapolis. And in several cases here, it did. But expecting that to deliver long-term success for the Jaguars is like expecting dividends on a third-round punter.

There's just not enough consistency in Bortles' game. I've seen him scratching the edges of playability in some fantasy football leagues, and I get it. The raw yardage numbers aren't bad and he'll chuck it downfield often.

Just don't mistake that for him growing into a great quarterback. Nothing we've seen thus far suggests it's close to happening.

Teddy Bridgewater

Traditional Stats: 27-41, 269 yards, one touchdown, seven sacks, one fumble

Advanced Stats: -11.9% DVOA, -2 DYAR

GIF of consequence:

Thing you can blame for a poor performance: Any time you see seven sacks, you know where to first parcel out blame. Also: this Denver defense is really, really good

Analysis: I'd like to say that Bridgewater adjusted after a shaky start, but he didn't. It's clear that this offensive line sped up his reads. It's also clear that the only route he was really comfortable with against the Broncos was the comeback/curl.

Other than the open drag or corner route on a blown coverage, Bridgewater was having trouble. I want to look at the big picture and give him credit for getting the game to 20-20 after the Vikings looked dead early. But when you look at how the Vikings got there, it had little to do with Bridgewater.

Minnesota has a lot to review during the bye week. A lot of their problems as a receiving corps are derivitive of Cordarrelle Patterson not working out. But when you're treating Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs as key contributors, you're asking for inconsistency. Bridgewater has played poorly in a very bad situation. I'm not sure there's an easy remedy for it, but at this point it's probably time to scale back the offense a bit. The Vikings need to come out of their bye week with a new plan, because what they have created right now is a horizontal offense that's based on Adrian Peterson. That doesn't cut it against teams as good as Denver.

Derek Carr

Traditional Stats: 20-33, 196 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, two sacks

Advanced Stats: -25.6% DVOA, -35 DYAR

GIF of consequence:

Thing that held him back: Oakland's offensive line again held up well.

Analysis: Maybe I'll look back at this game as the turning point for Carr, because I liked how he reacted as a competitor here.

The game plan continues to play to his strengths. Lots of shotgun. Lots of simple throws. The Bears mobbed them in this game. And I actually saw Carr make a few throws I wasn't sure he had in him. His teammates didn't always catch them: going back shoulder to Clive Warford isn't really a recipe for NFL success. But that doesn't make the throws themselves bad. They're just ambitious.

Moreover, Carr took a few sacks and pressed a little after those plays. For the next series or so, he took pressure very seriously and hurried things. But he was able to slow down, and during the game-winning drive, Carr stepped up and hit Michael Crabtree on a post that only Crabtree could catch to get the offense downfield.

I can't say that this was a great game. But there was a little more potential for great things in this one than I've seen from Carr earlier in the year. I may let that carry my ranking a bit too high here.

Jameis Winston

Traditional Stats: 26-43, 287 yards, two touchdowns, four interceptions, two sacks

Advanced Stats: -56.9% DVOA, -134 DYAR

GIF of consequence:

Thing you can blame for a poor performance: Constant offensive line turmoil. Getting sacked twice wasn't the whole story. Winston spent a majority of the game outside of the pocket and on the run, leading to a pair of intentional grounding calls.

Analysis: It's probably impossible for a four-interception game to look good, but after numerous reviews, I never felt like Winston couldn't lead a touchdown drive. There weren't as many tight-area throws as in weeks past, mostly because Winston wasn't able to step into many throws. But the play above is part of the reason why I love watching Winston's game. He's never out of a play when he's pressured. He's the only quarterback in this column I can say that about.

Now, the interceptions.

Winston got baited on this zone by Josh Norman. A second interception to Norman came late. The third Jameis pick was tipped at the line and caught. The fourth was an inability to see Thomas Davis reading his eyes and getting in the flight path of his ball.

Winston still has a lot to learn about safe quarterback play. But through four games, I have to say he's played better than I thought he would. That's especially true considering he's in an offense where Brandon Myers and Louis Murphy find consistent snaps. This is the kind of start to a game a bad quarterback would let sabotage him. Winston never got flustered.