Week 8 Write-Up

HEAD OF THE CLASS

AARON RODGERS

QB Supp: 2.24

RESULT: 44-31 Win over the Vikings

TAVA: 3.67

Rodgers lit up on the Vikings on Sunday night. With only 8 active drives, Rodgers and the Packers offense scored five touchdowns and three field goals, scoring 5.5 points a drive, which, on a scale of 1-10, ranks as ‘ridiculous.” Let’s be clear: Rodgers got plenty of help from an effective run game powered by Eddie Lacy and James Starks. Neverthless, Rodgers completing 82% of his passes, averaging almost 10 yards a throw, and adding 31 rushing yards of his own was a huge reason the Packers converted 15 out of 20 third and fourth down situations and basically scored at will. 

Honor Roll: Matt Stafford (sponsored by Megatron) made up for costly errors with huge drives in the second half to pull out the win, earning him a TAVA of 2.83. Their teams didn’t necessarily need a stellar effort, but Drew Brees (TAVA: 2.67), Colin Kaepernick (TAVA: 2.25), and Andy Dalton (TAVA: 2.13) all put in very strong performances in lopsided wins.

WRONGFULLY ACCUSED

CHRISTIAN PONDER

QB Supp: -0.99

RESULT: 44-31 Loss to the Packers

TAVA: 1.32

It would be easy to chalk this up to another poor QB performance from the Minnesota Vikings, and sure, Ponder doesn’t always see the open receiver and could have played better. Still, this team has problems that go far beyond the QB position. Ponder’s pasing stat-line isn’t going to wow anyone (14/21, 145 yards, 0 Tds, 0 Ints), but it’s not awful either. Add in a long PI call, and a 19 yard TD run, and you start to see that Ponder was more effective than that stat-line. Cordarelle Peterson spotted the Vikings an early 7-0 lead, but Ponder still lead the offense to 24 points without great field position or a ground game that was THAT effective (Peterson and Gerhart rushed for less than 73 yards). Scoring 24 points on 9 drives wasn’t enough to keep pace with Rodgers that night, but it’s not as bad as people may try to make you believe. I mean, it’s not Josh Freeman bad, but who’s counting?

Also Acquitted: Chad Henne (TAVA: -.41) had his struggles, but with a QB Support level of -1.17, there’s almost no QB who could have helped the Jaguars win this one.  Mike Glennon (TAVA: 0.06) and Jason Campbell (TAVA: 0.58) both made some nice plays, but needed a little more help from their team if they wanted to win.

THE TRENT DILFER DIVISION

CARSON PALMER

QB Supp: 6.02

RESULT: 27-13 Win over the Falcons

TAVA: -1.17

This might be a running theme each week. Palmer throws what could be a costly interception. The defense comes up big, the running game finally gets going, and Palmer barely has to throw the ball the rest of the game as Arizona cruises to a win (He threw just 14 times in week 8). The Cardinals often don’t need good QB play to pull out a win. Can you imagine if this team actually got a halfway decent signal caller?

Also unimpressive in victory: At some point, Tom Brady (TAVA: 0.38) has to accept SOME of the blame for the lack of production in the passing game. Lucky for him, his defense bailed him out. Speaking of getting bailed out, Peyton Manning (TAVA: 0.24) had his weakest game of the season, but still left with a 45-21 victory thanks his defense and the five turnovers they generated. Terrelle Pryor (TAVA: 0.08) and Eli Manning (TAVA: 0.06) also picked up wins that had more to do with the rest of the team than their individual effort, 93 yard TD runs or not.

THE BLAINE GABBERT DIVISION

KELLEN CLEMENS

QB SUPPORT: 5.44

RESULT: 14-9 Loss to the Seahawks

TAVA: -4.91

You think the Rams miss Sam Bradford yet? Clemens was completely ineffective, and his TAVA gets hit especially hard because this was a game the Rams should have won (though even if he had helped pull out the win at the end, his TAVA score still would have been pretty low). The Seahawk scored an 80 yard bomb, and you can’t blame him for that. You can blame him for throwing an INT putting the Seahawks within 26 yards of the Rams endzone (resulting in Seattle’s only other score). You can also blame him for taking 11 drives (some with good field position), 189 yards of rushing from his teammates and converting all that into ZERO touchdowns. Zero. Completing 48 percent of your passes, gaining less than 5 yards an attempt and throwing two picks in 31 passes sounds ugly… sometimes the box score can be misleading though. Not this time. It was ugly. It was really ugly. 

GENO SMITH

QB SUPPORT: 0.25

RESULT: 49-6 Loss to the Bengals

TAVA: -2.19

Smith didn’t blow this game. The Jets got clobbered from start to finish and, short of a miracle, there was little that Smith could have done to pull out a win here. That, however, doesn’t entirely excuse the fact that he was absolutely terrible. He struggled to get much of anything going, and he spotted the Bengals 14 points with his two pick sixes. The Genocoaster bottomed out again and what should concern Jets fans is that his top-end isn’t really as good as it seems anyway. It might be a long second half of the season for Geno and the Jets.

ALSO SHAMEFUL: Ryan Tannehill (TAVA: -1.95) sank the Dolphins AGAIN with his turnovers. Speaking of turnovers, RGIII, just one game removed from a demolishing of the bears, resumed his 2013 struggles, posting a -1.99 TAVA score. The Vick/Barkley combination (TAVA: -1.84) was ineffective, and Matt Ryan (TAVA: -1.09) may not have received a lot of help, but he wasn’t exactly helping the team himself.