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 13 action:
[Check out the 10 best performances from Sunday of Week 13 right here, or access our Player Grades tool to see how every NFL player measures up through three weeks of the season.]
1. Bradley Sowell, OT, Seattle Seahawks
A disaster at left tackle before injury opened the door for George Fant (who has been no less disastrous in his stead), Sowell is proving that he is no better on the right side of Seattle’s line than he was on the left. This week in the win over Carolina he produced arguably the worst performance of an ignominious season. He allowed a sack and five pressures on QB Russell Wilson across 44 pass-blocking snaps, while also getting beaten in the run game and being flagged twice, both for false starts.
2. Ramik Wilson, LB, Kansas City Chiefs
His first four games of the season were excellent, but Chiefs LB Ramik Wilson has struggled far more in recent weeks, and the win against Atlanta this weekend was the first genuinely poor game of his season. He missed five tackles this week, four against Falcons running back Devonta Freeman, but was also struggling more than he typically does in the run game against blockers.
3. Ereck Flowers, OT, New York Giants
About the only positive that can be said for Flowers’ performance in the loss to the Steelers was that he didn’t surrender a sack. He did, however, cough up eight total pressures, most of them to a 38-year old pass-rusher in James Harrison. Flowers was also flagged twice, once for holding and once for a false start penalty in the fourth quarter, as he tried to steal any kind of advantage he could get against the rush. Flowers also had some positive grades in the run game, but his pass-blocking was so poor it wasn’t enough to save him.
4. Bud Dupree, OLB, Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers’ pass-rush right now is leaning on James Harrison to get pressure. Harrison notched seven on his own against the Giants, and the rest of the Steelers outside linebackers combined for four. Bud Dupree, a former first-round pick, recorded no pressure at all from 24 pass-rushing snaps against players who are not among the better pass-blockers in the NFL. Dupree’s futile pass rush will be a disappointment for the Steelers, who have seen him generate just one snap of pressure since returning to the field in Week 11.
5. Daniel Kilgore, C, San Francisco 49ers
Centers aren’t supposed to surrender much pressure. In the middle of the offensive line and protection schemes, they are often helping out as much as blocking players one-on-one, even against 3-4 defenses, so to surrender two sacks and three additional hurries is a spectacular level of pass-blocking failure from Kilgore in the loss to Chicago. To put that performance in perspective, it’s one fewer pressure than Saints center Max Unger has surrendered all season, over 523 pass-blocking snaps — and Kilgore did it in 27 plays.
6. Lance Kendricks, TE, Los Angeles Rams
Rookie quarterback Jared Goff was not good against the Patriots – very not good, in fact – but he also suffered from a league-leading five drops in the game. TE Lance Kendricks was responsible for one of those drops. Kendricks recorded only 13 yards in the game, catching a single pass of more than two yards. Add to that a poor blocking performance and you have a player who really didn’t do anything to help out his first-year QB.
[Check out the full grades recap for the Rams' loss to the Patriots.]
7. Jihad Ward, DL, Oakland Raiders
Oakland has been without an impact presence in the middle of its defensive front all season long. Ward typified that soft underbelly in the win against the Bills this week. Ward generated just three total pressures across 38 pass-rushing snaps, but it was his run defense that was truly woeful, as he was routinely driven out of the point of attack by Buffalo’s offensive line. That’s been an issue for Oakland all season, and doesn’t show any sign of abating.
8. De’Vondre Campbell, LB, Atlanta Falcons
Against the Chiefs and their underneath passing attack, Falcons LB De’Vondre Campbell was unable to prevent consistent and damaging yardage after the catch. In coverage, he gave up five catches for 60 yards on just six targets, but of those yards, 45 of them (75 percent) came after the catch, and he surrendered a touchdown to running back Spencer Ware.
9. Tony Lippett, CB, Miami Dolphins
Against the Ravens, Miami cornerback Byron Maxwell allowed just two receptions for nine yards and recorded himself an interception. On the other side, however, Lippett allowed a catch every time the ball was thrown his way. His receivers caught eight passes for 130 yards and a touchdown, and when he was targeted in the loss by Ravens QB Joe Flacco, he gave up a perfect passer rating of 158.3.
10. Michael Griffin, DB, Carolina Panthers
Griffin led the Panthers in tackles on “Sunday Night Football.” There ends the good news for his performance, and helps illustrate why that is often a very misleading number. Griffin also missed five tackles, or more than a quarter of all of his attempts, and surrendered yardage and a score in coverage as the entire Carolina defense was beaten up by a resurgent Seahawks offense at home.
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