If there was any lingering doubt regarding the gigantic talent gap between certain starting quarterbacks, Week 4 of the NFL season proved it. Once again, some of the league’s worst quarterbacks delivered the worst performances by a wide margin.
Daniel Jones continues to earn his reservation among the worst quarterbacks every Sunday. After another terrible outing, the New York Giants might even start wondering if they’ll need an open mind for the 2021 NFL Draft.
Speaking of first-round quarterbacks, Kyler Murray’s NFL MVP campaign has crashed and burned. While the second-year passer is struggling, the situation is wildly better than the one in Chicago. No matter where Matt Nagy turns, the Bears still can’t enjoy a strong performance from their starter.
Here are the worst quarterback performances across the NFL in Week 4.
Ryan Fitzpatrick, Miami Dolphins
Everyone loves FitzMagic, but this roller-coaster has some agita-inducing movement this season. Fitzpatrick’s matchup against the Seattle Seahawks felt perfect, after he racked up five total touchdowns and 488 passing yards in his last two starts. Instead of a 300-yard game, the 37-year-old was fortunate to escape with two interceptions.
Opposing quarterbacks entered Week 4 with a 95.8 quarterback rating, 67.1% completion rate and averaged 430.7 yards per game against Seattle. While Fitzpatrick surpassed 300 passing yards, it took 45 attempts and he easily should have had more than two picks. While his job is safe for now, the Dolphins (1-3) are looking for any reason to start Tua Tagovailoa.
Brett Rypien, Denver Broncos
Denver won on Thursday Night Football, but it felt like Rypien did everything humanly possible to prevent that. An signing Rypien as an undrafted free agent in 2019, the Broncos raved about his intelligence and decision-making ability coming into this game. We’re a bit concerned about their evaluation process after Rypien’s ugly Week 4 performance on NFL Network.
On paper, two touchdowns and 242 passing yards might seem adequate. However, rookie wide receiver Jerry Jeudy literally stole an interception from Pierre Desir back and turned it into a score. Rypien’s teammates could only erase his mistakes for so long. He threw three interceptions, making some atrocious throws to the outside. The Broncos are counting the days until Drew Lock returns.
Kyler Murray, Arizona Cardinals
Don’t let Murray’s box score deceive you, this was one of the NFL’s worst performances in Week 4. We highlighted the good and bad from his Week 3 outing; the improvement didn’t come in a great matchup. Facing a secondary allowing a 90.8 quarterback rating and 258.3 passing per game, Murray needed garbage time to make his stats respectable.
At halftime, Murray had 54 passing yards on 13 completions. It wasn’t until Arizona trailed 28-7, with the Carolina Panthers scaling down their defensive attack, when Murray started moving the football. The NFL MVP talk is over. He’s not ready to even be near that conversation. The Cardinals can only hope he stops missing his receivers and becomes far more efficient as a passer.
Daniel Jones, New York Giants
It might be time for New York to consider a different future at quarterback. While it’s easy to blame a porous offensive line and a below-average supporting cast, Jones is the biggest problem. Not only are we not seeing “Danny Dimes” this season, he isn’t even doing a better job protecting the football.
In what feels like a weekly tradition, Jones fumbled. While the Giants recovered it, he lived up to his penchant for turnovers by throwing an interception. It would be one thing if he put up Jameis Winston-like numbers, but he can’t even do that. Jones averaged 5.3 yards per attempt against the Los Angeles Rams and sunk Big Blue’s offense in a game in which the defense played well. There are no signs of improvement from Jones, and in a 2021 draft class with some great quarterback talent, the Giants will need to consider taking one.
Nick Foles, Chicago Bears
Chicago thought it solved its quarterback woes by benching Mitch Trubisky and starting Foles. There’s no doubt the Bears don’t win in Week 3 without Foles’ incredible comeback. He is an upgrade over Trubisky, but in the same way getting punched in the stomach is less painful than getting hit by a car. That was evident in Week 4.
Before the final drive, when the Indianapolis Colts turned to a prevent defense, Foles’ stats were ugly. He completed 18-of-34 attempts for 159 passing yards, one interception and an awful 53.4 quarterback rating. Everyone likes to focus on Foles’ Super Bowl heroics, but remember how happy the Jacksonville Jaguars were to get rid of him this offseason. On a short week, we’re not expecting good things from Foles on Thursday Night Football.
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