There were so many bad NFL quarterback performances from Sunday’s Week 6 action that we had a hard time narrowing it down to five.
Meanwhile, injuries defined this position more than anything with the likes of Justin Fields, Jimmy Garoppolo, Ryan Tannehill and Trevor Lawrence all suffering injuries.
Of those who completed games, San Francisco 49ers youngster Brock Purdy put up the worst outing of his career as they lost their first game of the season. Seattle Seahawks star Geno Smith couldn’t come up with plays when it mattered the most as they fell to the Cincinnati Bengals on the road.
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These are among the five worst NFL quarterback performances from Sunday’s Week 6 action.
Desmond Ridder, Atlanta Falcons
- Desmond Ridder stats (Week 6): 28-of-47 passing, 307 yards, 2 TD, 3 INT
Teams can’t win when their quarterbacks throw three interceptions in a game. NFL defenses are just too talented with little-to-no margin for error at this position. Unfortunately, Ridder’s struggles as a sophomore continued on Sunday in a 24-16 loss to the Washington Commanders.
All three of Ridder’s interceptions came in the second half. The first one landed in the hands of veteran cornerback Kendall Fuller on a pass intended for the recently-acquired Van Jefferson.
It’s something we’ve seen far too often from Ridder thus far on the season. That is to say, failing to get through his progressions and going with one read. But this wasn’t even the extent of his struggles as the former Cincinnati star put up one of the worst NFL quarterback performances from Week 6.
Throwing late and off his back foot. What was Ridder even thinking here? Not only did the quarterback set up a short Commanders field with his first interception, he took points off the board with his second pick. Through six weeks, Ridder has tallied six touchdowns with eight giveaways. That’s not giving your team a great chance to win games. It really is that simple.
Related: NFL quarterback rankings after Sunday’s Week 6 action
Gardner Minshew, Indianapolis Colts
Replacing an injured Anthony Richardson under center for Indianapolis, there was some confidence in Gardner Minshew to do his thing. The veteran has played exceedingly well throughout his career, rarely making mistakes (15 interceptions in 1,016 career attempts heading into Sunday’s action). About that?
Yeah, accuracy was a major issues for Minshew throughout. The veteran threw three interceptions in what ended up being an ugly 37-20 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars. The three picks turned into 10 Jaguars points, pretty much making it impossible for the Colts to remain in the game. It was among the worst NFL quarterback performances from Week 6. That’s for sure.
Related: NFL power rankings after Sunday’s Week 6 action
Mac Jones, New England Patriots
- Mac Jones stats (Week 6): 24-of-33 passing, 200 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT
Jones and the Patriots were not the very same disaster that saw them blown out each of the past two weeks. Then again, they were taking on yet another pedestrian squad in the Las Vegas Raiders on the road Sunday afternoon.
Jones’ one interception in the 21-17 loss represented the very same mistakes we saw through the first five weeks of the season. A failure to see the field and a lack of accuracy.
With New England down 19-17 and less than two minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, it was facing a third-and-long from the team’s own four-yard line. That’s when Jones inexcusably took a sack for a safety to pretty much put the game away. To say that Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was frustrated by that play would be an understatement.
Geno Smith, Seattle Seahawks
- Geno Smith stats (Week 6): 27-of-41 passing, 323 yards, 0 TD, 2 INT
Seattle had five opportunities inside the Bengals’ red zone, coming away with a mere 10 points in the process. After a game-opening touchdown, four opportunities in that money situation resulted in three points. And in reality, Smith was to blame for these struggles as Seattle fell to the Cincinnati Bengals by the score of 17-13.
That was one of two interceptions Smith threw on Sunday. The second one resulted in a Bengals field goal and a 17-13 Seahawks deficit.
Seattle then had the ball inside Cincinnati’s 10-yard line twice within the final 128 seconds of the game. They turned the ball over on downs twice, leading to an ugly road loss in a game that the Seahawks should have won. Smith was to blame for these struggles and a lack of cashing in on opportunities throughout the afternoon.
Brock Purdy, San Francisco 49ers
- Brock Purdy stats (Week 6): 12-of-27 passing, 125 yards, 1 TD, 1 INT
We can point to San Francisco losing both Christian McCaffrey and Deebo Samuel to injury. We can point to star left tackle Trent Williams playing through an ankle sprain. We can also point to San Francisco’s offensive line struggling in front of Purdy (10 hits, 3 sacks).
But if we’re going to give the young quarterback credit for the historic start to his career, we also have to blame him when things don’t go right. The sophomore signal caller was off his game throughout Sunday’s ugly 19-17 loss to the Cleveland Browns. Sure, Cleveland’s defense is dominant. But Purdy’s struggles with accuracy were a major issue as San Francisco dropped its first game of the season.
Much like this pass, Purdy threw behind his receivers all game. In reality, he was lucky to get picked off only one time.
“It’s the NFL. You get opportunities and you’ve got to take advantage of them. There were definitely some throws and opportunities there for me that I missed,” Purdy said after the game, via 49ers.com. “It’s something I’ve got to learn from. We’ve all got to look at ourselves in the mirror and see the flaws and get better from it. That starts with me.”
