There were some absolutely atrocious NFL quarterback performances during the Week 4 slate. It started across the pond in London where Atlanta Falcons signal caller Desmond Ridder did not provide the Europeans with a great example of quarterback play in a loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars.
It concluded on Monday Night Football as Daniel Jones accounted for more points for the Seattle Seahawks defense than his own offense.
In what has been a weekly theme here at Sportsnaut, we check in on the worst NFL quarterback performances from the past week of action.
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Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons
- Desmond Ridder stats (Week 4): 19-of-31 passing, 191 yards, 1 TD, 2 INT, 1 lost fumble
Ridder’s struggles continued across the pond in a 23-7 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday morning. The second-year quarterback turned the ball over three times, including an ugly pick-six into the hands of Jags defensive back Darious Williams.
It just has not gone according to plan for Ridder through the first four games of his sophomore campaign. He has accounted for three touchdowns with five giveaways for a Falcons team that has actually performed much better than anticipated. Despite this, Ridder remains QB1 in Atlanta.
“Obviously,” Falcons head coach Arthur Smith said after Sunday’s loss. “I wouldn’t be sitting, pontificating about what went on in the game if we were making a change.”
At some point, the 2-2 team will strongly have to consider a change to veteran Taylor Heinicke. He’s proven to be at least a serviceable stopgap throughout his career (34 TD, 24 INT). We’ll see what happens after Week 5. But for now, Ridder doesn’t seem to be it in Atlanta.
Related: NFL quarterback rankings heading into Week 5
Dorian Thompson-Robinson, Cleveland Browns
- Dorian Thompson-Robinson stats (Week 4): 19-of-36 passing, 121 yards, 0 TD, 3 INT
This rookie fifth-round pick out of UCLA was a star during the preseason. It led to him earning Cleveland’s backup job with the Browns trading current Arizona Cardinals QB1 Joshua Dobbs ahead of Week 1. This just goes to show us how little the exhibition slate means.
Thompson-Robinson was in way over his head as a replacement for injured starter Deshaun Watson Sunday against the division-rival Baltimore Ravens. Two of his three interceptions turned into Ravens touchdowns. Each one gave Baltimore a short field with 10 yards and 38 yards to go, respectively. In particular, this one into the hands of Ravens safety Geno Stone was atrocious.
Pressure impacted DTR, but he threw that ball about 10 yards away from Donovan Peoples-Jones. Sure, the youngster might end up being a good quarterback. But he was not prepared to take regular season snaps. It led to one of the worst NFL quarterback performances from Week 4.
Kenny Pickett, Pittsburgh Steelers
- Kenny Pickett stats (Week 4): 15-of-23 passing, 114 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
At this point, Pickett’s early-season struggles are on Steelers offensive coordinator Matt Canada as much as the sophomore quarterback. A prime example of this on Sunday was when the youngster went down in the third quarter with a knee injury after Canada called a dropback on fourth-and-one against the Houston Texans.
What in the heck was that play call?
Even then, there is no sugarcoating how bad Pickett was in laughable 30-6 loss to the Houston Texans on Sunday. The dude averaged four net yards per pass attempt. The one long completion was aided by Najee Harris’ brilliant catch-and-run for 32 years.
Pickett’s passing chart was about as embarrassing as it gets with seven passes completed between 1-15 yards down the field and eight passes completed at or behind the line of scrimmage. Once he returns to action — whenever that might be — this must change. Just horrific stuff here.
Related: NFL power rankings heading into Week 5
Daniel Jones, New York Giants
- Daniel Jones stats (Week 4): 27-of-34 passing, 203 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 1 lost fumble
We get it. New York’s offensive line gave Jones no chance in a 24-3 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Monday night. The quarterback was sacked 10 times and hit a total of 14 times in the humiliating defeat. In no way does this mean that Jones didn’t put up one of the worst NFL quarterback performances of Week 4.
One play in particular comes to mind. With New York down 14-3 in the third quarter, the team’s offense was actually driving. That’s when Jones threw a pick-six into the hands of rookie cornerback Devon Witherspoon. Simply put, it was some ugly stuff from the high-priced signal caller.
“We knew he liked to stare down his first target,” Witherspoon said of Jones after the game. When a rookie cornerback puts you on blast for telegraphing a pass, you know there is something wrong. It’s justifiable to blame the offensive line and a lack of weapons. But as of right now, Jones is not a starter-caliber quarterback. After all, he’s accounted for three total touchdowns and seven giveaways in four games. Ouch!
Mac Jones, New England Patriots
- Mac Jones stats (Week 4): 12-of-21 passing, 150 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT, 1 lost fumble
Turning the ball over three times within the context of a limited offense is bad enough. Doing it against a dominant defense like the Dallas Cowboys boast adds another layer to that. Having two of those turnovers turn into defensive touchdowns will get you benched. That’s what we saw from Jones when Bill Belichick finally gave him the hook in the third quarter as the head suffered the worst defeat of his career (38-3).
“As a team, we can’t win turning the ball over three times in a game, two for touchdowns. We’ve got to do a better job of that,” Belichick told reporters in his day-after press conference.
The 54-yard pick-six into the hands of Cowboys cornerback DaRon Bland at the end of the second quarter gave Dallas a 28-3 lead and pretty much put this one away.
Jones made his 35th career NFL start on Sunday. There is absolutely no excuse for a mistake like that. He threw it late and from one hash to another. That’s going to get picked off pretty much all the time at this level.
Despite Jones’ struggles on Sunday and the fact that he was benched, the third-year signal caller will start next week. Continued performances like we saw in Week 4 won’t enable him to keep that position for too much longer. That’s for sure.