Everyone highlights the best players every week (including us). It’s far less common to celebrate those who played poorly, however. Luckily, the PFF Worst Team of the Week is here once again, highlighting the players who didn't put up numbers to be proud of on Sunday.
(Editor's note: Changes might be made following our review process, and once the Monday Night Football game have been analyzed and graded.)
Quarterback: Nick Foles, Rams (-8.4)
Foles went 11-for-30 yesterday. That’s a 36.7 percent completion rate, one of the worst you’ll ever see. He only managed 141 yards. He threw four terrible interceptions. Under pressure, he was an abysmal 5-for-17 for 110 yards. It was not an easy day for Foles, and as such, he more than earned a spot on this team.
Running back: C.J. Anderson, Broncos (-1.8)
The season of disappointment continues for Anderson, with another clunker on Sunday. After all the hype from last season, Anderson has now run for 139 yards total in five games. Yesterday, he had 11 carries and gained 22 yards. He did force one missed tackle, but the 2.0 yards per carry is really all that needs to be said for him making it onto this team.
Fullback: Cory Harkey, Rams (-2.7)
Harkey was struggling at lead blocking for the Rams rushing attack. He was beaten multiple times for tackles, and even more often, was unable to get any movement on Packers defenders. The Rams definitely expected more than what Harkey produced yesterday.
Tight end: Martellus Bennett, Bears (-4.4)
Finally, a tight end makes the team due to his poor receiving, as compared to the usual poor blocking. Bennett was targeted a team-high 11 times in the Bears' game yesterday, and he managed to catch only four of those passes. Only two of them were pure drops, which is still not good. Even worse than all of that, Bennett managed to gain only nine yards after the catch, an incredibly small number.
Wide receivers: Golden Tate, Lions (-2.2) and Brian Hartline, Browns (-2.0)
Tate was targeted a ridiculous 15 times by Lions’ quarterbacks, and hauled in eight of them for 74 yards. He dropped one pass and only gained 36 yards after the catch. He also fumbled, which is a big no-no. All in all, a rough day for Tate and the Lions. Hartline was nearly invisible for the Browns, seeing only three targets. He caught one, dropped one, and the third he couldn’t control all the way to the ground. Oh, and his lone catch was for 5 yards on a screen.
Tackles: Charles Leno Jr., Bears (-10.8) and Marshall Newhouse, Giants (-4.9)
Leno Jr. struggled mightily in his second start for the Bears, and what’s interesting is that he was near equally bad at run blocking (-4.3) as he was at pass blocking (-5.8). He didn’t allow a sack or a QB hit, but did allow seven QB pressures, which is a lot. He also lost his block on 10-of-27 run blocks, and even when he didn’t lose it, he only cleanly won one block in the run game. It truly was a rough day for him. Newhouse wasn't as bad, as the majority of his grade comes from his struggles in pass blocking (-4.2). He also allowed seven QB pressures, a QB hit, and twice was called for holding. It wasn’t a day he’ll be proud of.
Guards: Jamon Brown, Rams (-8.7) and Jamon Meredith, Titans (-3.7)
Two guards named Jamon on the list? What a nice little coincidence. But there was nothing nice about Brown’s play yesterday. He allowed two QB hits, and two more pressures, but that isn’t even the worst of it. He had a -5.7 run block grade, and was beaten 14 times on running plays. It was a rough day all around for the Rams' offensive line, and Brown by far had the most issues of the bunch. Meredith actually graded positively in pass blocking, but a -5.1 run block grade really did him in. He was constantly whipped around by that Bills' interior, and really got nothing going for a run game that struggled.
Center: Marcus Martin, 49ers (-5.8)
Martin struggled equally with pass and run blocking in the 49ers' game yesterday. He posted a -3.0 pass block grade (thanks to one QB hit and three QB hurries, all of the “beaten in less than three seconds” variety). He also had a -2.9 run block grade, thanks to multiple times where he was unable to open up any holes for Carlos Hyde and the 49ers' run game.
Each week, we put forward a hybrid defense that features two edge rushers (4-3 defensive ends or 3-4 outside linebackers), three players on the “interior” of the defensive line (3-4 defensive ends or defensive tackles), and two linebackers (all inside linebackers and 4-3 outside linebackers).
Defensive interior – ends: Randy Starks, Browns (-4.4) and Kendall Langford, Colts (-3.3)
Starks rushed the passer 25 times and recorded zero pressures. But that wasn’t even the worst of it, as he made very few positive plays against the run. On multiple occasions, however, he was blocked completely out of the play to open a hole for a very successful Ravens' run game. Langford had one QB hurry, but he had to rush the passer 33 times to get it. He also missed what would have been his only tackle of the game.
Defensive interior – tackle: Domata Peko, Bengals (-2.9)
Peko was invisible rushing the passer, but he only had 11 rushes, so that’s not a huge negative. However, he was unable to get off his block on nearly every rushing play the Seahawks ran. He finished with only one defensive stop and two tackles. He also had a key offside penalty on a third-and-long.
Edge rushers: Mario Williams, Bills (-4.8) and Za’Darius Smith, Ravens (-4.6)
It wasn’t a great day for Mario Williams. He rushed the quarterback a ridiculous 41 times, and came away with only one sack (unblocked), one hit, and one hurry (unblocked). Not good. Against the run, though, he didn’t have a single positive play. Instead, he was pretty much average, with a handful of times that he was cleanly and badly blocked out of the play. As for Smith, he rushed the passer an even more ridiculous 46 times, and came away with a big goose-egg in terms of any kind of QB pressure. Not the kind of performance that any team should expect out of a pass rusher.
Linebackers: Keenan Robinson, Redskins (-8.2) and Nate Palmer, Packers (-6.7)
This was a bad day for a lot of inside linebackers, but these two take the cake in terms of the worst performances. Robinson was an absolute mess out there, consistently unable to beat any blocks in the run game. When he finally had chances to make tackles, he missed four of them. That’s a huge number, and that’s why he’s on this team. Palmer missed only one tackle, but was generally invisible in the run game. His worst play involved him jumping in the complete wrong direction, allowing Todd Gurley to break off a 55-yard run right where Palmer should have been.
Cornerbacks: Tim Jennings, Buccaneers (-6.1) and Morris Claiborne, Cowboys (-4.8)
Jennings was targeted 10 times, and allowed seven catches for 123 yards and two touchdowns. Not a great day at the office for him. He also missed two tackles and had a pass interference penalty. Claiborne was targeted far less, only four times. But, he allowed all four to be completed, and even worse, allowed 80 yards after the catch. When your average catch allowed goes for 30 yards, you definitely didn’t have a great day.
Safeties: Kam Chancellor, Seahawks (-4.6) and John Cyprien, Jaguars (-3.1)
Chancellor was picked on significantly in the passing game, and clearly for good reason. He was targeted 11 times and allowed nine receptions for 102 yards and a touchdown. He also missed four tackles, which is really bad. Cyprien mostly struggled in the run game, getting blocked out of plays or missing tackles (two of them). He only allowed one catch on one target, but it was a 56-yard gain on a screen that was originally caught 4 yards behind the line of scrimmage.
Kicker: Travis Coons, Browns
Coons is here solely for his bad kickoffs. On seven of them, he forced only one touchback, and on average didn’t even kick it to the end zone (only averaging 63.4 yards per kick).
Punter: Johnny Hekker, Rams
Hekker averaged only 40.3 yards per punt, and one really bad touchback punt. If we were counting his fake punt pass for this, he might not be here.
Returner: Bishop Sankey, Titans
Sankey saw three kickoff returns, and muffed two of them (one was called back on a penalty).
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