Now that the NFL has all but one preseason game in the books and the starters won’t be playing much—if at all—it’s time to talk winners and losers at the quarterback position.
As always, there have been some quarterbacks who rose to the occasion and took a huge step forward, and there have been others who struggled badly and lost their way.
The following are the biggest quarterback winners and losers from the 2015 NFL preseason.
Winner: Matthew Stafford, Detroit Lions
Stafford looked like the unstoppable gun-slinger that he can be when all the stars align perfectly for him. He took limited snaps in preseason Week 1 completing both of his passes for 57 yards including a 35-yard touchdown to wide receiver Golden Tate.
Preseason weeks two and three saw Stafford complete 17 of 23 passes for a total of 251 yards and three total touchdowns. Completely erasing any doubts from last year, Stafford was in excellent form in his third preseason game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, scoring two touchdowns and hitting up Tate again for this awesome 62-yard touchdown.
Along the course of Stafford’s three games he only endured just one sack and remained clean with no picks. This is the quarterback that the Lions want to see more of once the regular season kicks off, and hopefully deep into the postseason, as well.
Loser: Jameis Winston, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Winston’s first NFL action this summer was rocky.
During his rookie NFL preseason, Winston looked a bit shaky and completed an average of only 48.9 percent of his passes in three games. He did manage two rushing touchdowns which were quite noteworthy, considering that the Florida State product only posted seven total ground scores in his two college seasons.
However, the rookie has yet to pass for a score during his preseason action and he has thrown two picks along the way. Taking an early beating, Winston endured seven sacks—four of which came in Saturday’s action in a loss to the Cleveland Browns. To make matters worse, Winston is currently dealing with an ankle sprain that will hopefully heal up by Week 1.
Needless to say, Winston could stand couple of week’s rest in order to regroup.
Winner: Sam Bradford, Philadelphia Eagles
Not disappointing at all coming off of two ACL surgeries is Chip Kelly’s pride and praised Bradford. Thus far, Bradford has been a knockout in the best possible way. He made his debut in preseason Week 2 when he completed three of five passes for a total of 35 yards.
He also survived a questionable hard hit from linebacker Terrell Suggs whom he accused of going for his surgically repaired knees. Thankfully, Bradford went unscathed.
Even more impressive was Bradford during Saturday’s victory over the Green Bay Packers. He recorded perfect numbers completing all 10 of his passes for 121 yards while hitting up Darren Sproles, Trey Burton and Brent Celek for a total of three touchdowns.
Bradford will probably not play in the Eagles fourth preseason game in order to be fresh for Week 1. The great news here is that Bradford is still in one piece. Fingers crossed for his regular season debut on Monday Night Football against the Atlanta Falcons on September 14.
Loser: Robert Griffin III, Washington Redskins
Poor RG3 has had a nightmare preseason that was more brutal than most horror movies. The bad news surrounding the quarterback worsens day-by-day. In his first preseason game, Griffin completed only four of eight passes for 36 yards and no touchdowns.
Then things turned ugly for Griffin when he took a massive hit and reportedly sustained a concussion against the Detroit Lions in the second preseason game. In that game, RG3 completed only two of his five passing attempts for eight yards. He was also poorly protected by his offensive line and got sacked three times.
Since then, there has been controversy as to whether Griffin was benched due to his alleged concussion, or because the team prefers then-backup Kirk Cousins, who has since been named the team’s starter for the season.
At this point, Griffin is drawing major criticism—even from his own teammates—and his future with Washington is much in jeopardy.
Winner: Teddy Bridgewater, Minnesota Vikings
Bridgewater has been nothing short of a stud so far in the four preseason games for which he has played. The second-year quarterback has looked effortless nailing 29 of 35 passing attempts which equates to a 82.9 percent completion rate. Falling a little short in the scoring department, however, Bridgewater tallied only one passing touchdown.
But, there isn’t any reason to worry. Bridgewater has not thrown an interception and has only endured one sack. He’s made some spectacular passes as well, including this awesome 39-yard catch made by wideout Mike Wallace.
In Bridgewater’s fourth preseason game, he completed a perfect 7 of 7 passes totaling 76 yards. It’s going to be an exciting year for Vikings fans with Bridgewater already looking so incredibly polished.
Loser: Geno Smith, New York Jets
Smith is perhaps the second-biggest quarterback loser of the preseason due to his ridiculous brawl with former teammate IK Enemkapali over $600 that resulted in a a broken jaw for the third-year quarterback.
Any chance that Smith had to prove he is a quality leader to his new coaching and management staff went out the window when tempers heated a few weeks ago in the Jets locker room. At the beginning of the preseason, the starting job was Smith’s to lose. However, he’ll have to fight for his life when he returns to gain ground on backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick, who is thus far doing an sufficient job as the Jets starter.
Fitzpatrick has also drawn praise and admiration from his teammates and has proven to be a solid leader which is something Smith has never quite gotten grasp of during his tenure with the Jets.
Unfortunately, Fitzpatrick’s rise is Smiths demise.
Winner: Tyrod Taylor, Buffalo Bills
Taylor has gone from completing a career 19 of 35 passes and two interceptions as the backup quarterback for the Baltimore Ravens to the starting quarterback for the Bills. Wow. We all know that the Bills quarterback competition was one of the spotlighted events throughout the summer and it has finally come to an end.
Taylor was just named the Bills starter over veteran quarterback Matt Cassel and third-season quarterback E.J. Manuel, who has never lived up to his first-round draft pick status.
Taylor has always had the eye of head coach Rex Ryan since being signed to the team. And, we must admit, Taylor has looked quite impressive—especially in his last preseason game where he completed 12 of 13 passes for 122 yards. While he has failed to complete a passing touchdown, he has also yet to be intercepted.
Additionally, Taylor brings a ground threat to Buffalo, having tallied 108 rushing yards and one rushing touchdown over the preseason. Is Taylor the new Cam Newton of Buffalo? That has yet to be determined, but he looks to be a refreshing change of scenery from the Bills quarterbacks of recent past.