You might notice that there were some pretty elite players that made this team this week. It just goes to show that even the best players can have bad days. Some players just have them a lot more often than others. And if you’re the Chargers’ offensive line, you have them all at the same time. This is the PFF Worst Team of the Week.
(Editor's note: Changes might be made following our review process and once Monday Night Football games have been analyzed and graded.)
Quarterback: Zach Mettenberger, Titans (-4.6)
Mettenberger’s stat line didn’t look so bad, but anyone who watched the game could see that he did not play particularly well. He relied almost entirely on his receivers making plays after the catch, as only 86 of his 242 yards came in the air. When he had to throw deeper (over 10 yards in air), he only completed 4-of-10 for 81 yards and two interceptions.
Running back: Jeremy Hill, Bengals (-2.8)
Two touchdowns doesn’t mean he did anything good. Hill had 19 carries and gained 31 yards, less than two yards per carry. He didn’t force a single missed tackle, and fumbled. To top it off, he had one target in the passing game, which he dropped.
Fullback: Zach Line, Vikings (-4.0)
Line had two targets in the passing game, one was a four yard touchdown, the other was a dropped pass, so an average day there. But his blocking was bad, as he was unable to provide any effective lead blocking for the Vikings runningbacks
Tight end: Vance McDonald, 49ers (-3.5)
McDonald had a tough time run blocking, grading out negatively there. But in the pass game he struggled even more, as he was targeted four times and caught just one for ten yards. Oh and he had two dropped passes, which never hit the ground, because they were then intercepted.
Wide receivers: Odell Beckham Jr., Giants (-5.5) and Chris Hogan, Bills (-4.0)
Beckham didn’t play terribly, as he caught 6-of-9 targets for 76 yards and a touchdown. But he also dropped two big time passes that would’ve led to big plays. Coupled with his ridiculous penalties that really shot his grade down as well, that’s how he ended up the lowest graded receiver this week. Hogan just struggled plain and simple, seeing only three targets and catching one for 13 yards, and dropping the other two.
Tackles: Chris Hairston, Chargers (-10.4) and Joe Barksdale, Chargers (-7.2)
That’s two weeks in a row for Hairston, thanks to an extremely poor pass protection game. He was absolutely manhandled by Olivier Vernon, and ended up allowing two hits, six hurries, and was beaten three additional times on his way to a -7.3 pass block grade. Barksdale had a below-average pass block grade too, but it was more his -4.5 run block grade, the lowest among tackles this week, that put him on this team.
Guards: Dallas Thomas, Dolphins (-7.1) and D.J. Fluker, Chargers (-5.1)
Thomas allowed three sacks and two hurries, which isn’t a good amount of pressures to allow. He also finished below-average in his run blocking, thanks to multiple run stops allowed. Tough day for the Chargers’ line, as Fluker had a pretty even combination of poor pass protection (one sack, three pressures) and run blocking (-3.6 grade). Not a day to remember for either man.
Center: Trevor Robinson, Chargers (-6.9)
Why not? Make it four of five offensive linemen on this team being Chargers’ players. Robinson wasn’t great in pass protection, allowing three hurries. But it was his -4.7 run block grade — thanks to plenty of disruptive plays allowed — that really did him in and put him on this list.
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: Taylor Hart, Eagles (-3.6) and T.Y. McGill, Colts (-2.4)
Hart had just one hurry rushing the passer, and finished with just one defensive stop on the day. He had a run defense grade of -3.1, the lowest among 3-4 DE’s, thanks to his inability to get off his blocks and affect the play. Same problems for McGill, although he didn’t even manage a single defensive stop all game.
Defensive interior – tackle: David Parry, Colts (-4.3)
Parry isn’t there to rush the passer, so his zero pressures don’t really mean a ton. But his -3.4 run defense grade, the lowest among all interior defenders, does matter. Parry finished with just two stops on the day, but other than those was often blocked completely out of plays and unable to get involved at all.
Edge rushers: Bud Dupree, Steelers (-5.3) and Cliff Avril, Seahawks (-4.9)
Both players struggled at similar things this game and their grades ended up similar because of it. Dupree had just one QB hit on 25 pass rushes, had a -1.3 run defense grade, and had an offside and defensive holding penalty. Avril had two QB hurries on 31 pass rushes, a -1.2 run defense grade, and two offside penalties. Not a great day for either defender.
Linebackers: James Laurinaitis, Rams (-7.2) and Will Compton, Washington (-5.7)
Laurinaitis is continuing his string of horrible games, as he’s now graded below -1.3 overall in his last eight games. If a blocker gets even a hand on him, it’s over, because he doesn’t even try to beat blocks. Just waits for the play to be over. He finished this game with only two defensive stops and a -6.2 run defense grade. Compton wasn’t great in the run game either, often blocked out of plays and finishing with just one defensive stop. He also missed three tackles, which isn’t great.
Cornerbacks: Chris Harris, Broncos (-7.0) and Josh Norman, Panthers (-5.9)
What a tough day for Chris Harris. He matched up solely against Antonio Brown, and was beaten like a drum all game. He saw 15 targets, and allowed 14 of them to be caught for 164 yards and two touchdowns. Not much that needs to be said about that. Norman allowed 5-of-8 targets to be caught for 28 yards and a touchdown. Not bad, but he was beaten badly on a couple of those incompletions, including what would have been a 52-yard touchdown early on. Norman also missed three tackles, and had a couple of bad penalties fighting against Odell Beckham.
Safeties: Daimion Stafford, Titans (-5.0) and Daniel Sorensen, Chiefs (-4.6)
Stafford struggled at everything, getting no pressure on his couple of blitzes, missing two tackles in the run game, and allowing 6-of-7 targets to be completed for 71 yards. He didn’t record a defensive stop, but did have one pass defense. Sorensen’s grade was due mainly to his run defense. He missed a tackle and was generally blocked out of plays completely, ending up with the lowest run defense grade among safeties at -2.9.
Kicker: Chandler Catanzaro, Cardinals
This was all due to kickoffs as Catanzaro forced just three touchbacks on eight kicks, and most of them didn’t even make it to the endzone.
Punter: Brad Wing, Giants
Wing’s punts averaged just 42.1 yards and 4.25 seconds of hangtime, which lead to multiple returns and a touchback.
Returner: Jamison Crowder, Washington
Crowder had one punt return and gained just five yards. He had a chance for another one, but he muffed it and the Bills recovered it.
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