NFL News & Analysis

10 worst performances from Sunday's Week 17 action

Every Tuesday, PFF will be releasing its Team of the Week, representing the highest-graded players at each NFL position for that week. But Senior Analyst Sam Monson gets a jump on that by picking out the 10 least-impressive individual performances from Sunday’s games.

Here are the 10 worst performances from Sunday’s Week 17 action:

[Check out the 10 best performances from Sunday of Week 17 right here, or access our Player Grades tool to see how every NFL player measures up through three weeks of the season.]

1. Earl Watford, OT, Arizona Cardinals

When poor guards are asked to kick out to play tackle because of injury, nightmares happen. That particular nightmare was lived through by Watford this week (as well as the past two), and against a defensive line as strong as the Rams it was ugly. Watford only gave up one sack, but surrendered another two hits and nine hurries as well as being flagged twice (one for holding and one for a facemask on Aaron Donald). His pass protection was a nightmare, but he was also beaten up on in the run game, with William Hayes knifing inside him to make a tackle for a loss a particular low point.

2. Dee Ford, OLB, Kansas City Chiefs

Ford’s improved season early on was largely based on the back of beating up on bad tackles, and while he entered this win against the Chargers on the back of five straight games with no sacks, going up against San Diego as a full-time player looked to be the tonic he needed to right the ship. Instead, he generated precisely no pressure at all on 29 pass rushes. That's right — you generated as much pressure as Ford did this week, and the only evidence that he even played the game from the stat sheet was a declined penalty for jumping offside. Aside from that, Ford was completely blanked in the game for one of the most futile performances you will see from a player who had shown so much development earlier in the year.

3. Maliek Collins, DT, Dallas Cowboys

Collins came very close to replicating Dee Ford’s blank stat sheet from his 58 snaps against the Philadelphia Eagles. Collins registered no pressure at all from 37 pass rushes and he too had a declined penalty for jumping offside (encroachment in his case), but – separating him from Ford’s legitimately anonymous day – Collins recorded a single, solitary tackle. Even that tackle was down by the goal line late in the game and saw him carried three yards by the running back who scored on the next play to effectively seal the win.

4. Alec Ogletree, LB, Los Angeles Rams

When your team loses 44-6, things did not go well that day, and while there were some solid performances on the Rams' defense, Ogletree’s was not among them. Ogletree made just three solo tackles in the game, with two assists, a full five solo tackles fewer than the strong safety behind him and the same number as the free safety behind even him. Added to that was a pair of missed tackles, a penalty for jumping offside, and finding a way to make no discernible impact whatsoever in coverage.

5. Briean Boddy-Calhoun, CB, Cleveland Browns

For much of the season Briean Boddy-Calhoun has been something of a bright spot in a dismal Browns season, but that went south in a major way this week, and he doesn’t even have the excuse of trying to cover Antonio Brown to explain it (Brown was rested, as was Ben Roethlisberger). Calhoun allowed six receptions for 106 yards and two touchdowns, surrendering a passer rating of 89.4 even with an interception to his name, and allowing three different wideouts to make significant catches against him. He also fumbled the ball out of the back of the end zone for a touchback on the interception return, which should have been a touchdown. Three missed tackles didn’t help his cause, and it’s an unfortunate way to end a positive rookie year for the undrafted free agent.

6. Mike Adams, S, Indianapolis Colts

A safety’s job is typically to prevent big plays and limit the damage already done by players in front of or around him. Missing tackles as a safety is usually pretty bad, and even more so when those come in coverage away from the line of scrimmage with less chance somebody else can fix the problem. Adams missed a pair of tackles in coverage this week, was beaten for a touchdown and also bailed out by his teammate Vontae Davis deep on a pass he could not defend.

7. Graham Gano, K, Carolina Panthers

This was another ugly week for kickers, none more so than Gano, who was effectively the difference between the two teams this week in Carolina's loss to Tampa Bay, even if Roberto Aguayo on the other side tried to match him miss for miss. Aguayo could at least point to a block for one of his misses, but Gano was simply off-target three times, with two of the misses coming on expected kicks of under 50 yards, one from under 40. Carolina lost this game by a point in the end, and Gano left at least six expected ones out on the field.

8. Jonotthan Harrison, G, Indianapolis Colts

The Indianapolis Colts have had major problems on the line this season when they have been forced to turn to their bench, and Harrison had the worst performance of a season that has had plenty of lows this week. Harrison somehow avoided surrendering a sack in the game, but allowed a hit and five hurries as well as being flagged for holding. His run blocking – typically the relative strength of his game this season – was also poor, and the Colts averaged just 2.8 yards either side of his blocks in the game.

9. Joe Flacco, QB, Baltimore Ravens

Watching Flacco this week in the loss to the Bengals, it was hard to believe that this is the same QB who once caught fire, brought his team to a Super Bowl victory, and earned himself a monster contract off the back of it. Flacco was a disaster this week, throwing an ugly interception, routinely missing his targets and having another pass over the middle fortunate to escape being picked off by the defensive end Will Clarke.

10. Lance Kendricks, TE, Los Angeles Rams

He wasn’t alone on the Rams offense – in fact, pretty much nobody graded even passably this week – but Kendricks was among the worst culprits in an ugly day at the office. Kendricks dropped one of the three passes that came his way and gained only 12 yards from the other two catches, but was completely abused as a blocker, surrendering a sack and getting controlled at the point of attack in the run game.

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