Welcome to the first set of QB grades we've attempted here at throw_ology. Pretty high marks in most cases, but they are warranted and I'll get into the explanations below.
As far as the logic of these grades, I stuck by a pretty simple formula that essentially hinged on four categories: proximity to 100% completion percentage, proximity to 300 yards passing, total touchdowns versus total turnovers and room for slight eye test adjustment. The goal is a grade that is more objective than subjective. Here are the findings for Wild Card Weekend:
The Matt Moore grade probably jumps off the chart at you, as it should. It was not a good day for the Dolphins and Moore's turnovers on three consecutive drives in the middle of the game held back any hopes of a comeback. But honestly outside of the three turnover plays, he put up some impressive numbers and consistently moved the ball down the field. He showed fight in the face of poor protection, no running game (Ajayi managed just 2.1 yards per carry this time around) and an absolutely hellacious hit that left him wondering if he still had all of his teeth. The hit sidelined him for one play and the whole situation was a perfect example of the fact that he was pretty much the only Dolphin (have to credit Jarvis Landry too) who showed up to fight on Sunday. Clearly, I was impressed with Moore's performance on the whole and the numbers, for the most part, back it up.
The was not so much the case for Ben Roethlisberger, who hit it big for long touchdowns to Antonio Brown on the first two possessions and then did little else the rest of the game. Le'Veon Bell turned in an historic performance and all Pittsburgh needed to do was ride him to victory. But Ben still managed to sneak in two interceptions. The combination of these mistakes and his overall small role in the offense in this game led to an actually very solid, but middle of the road for this group, 8.6 rating.
Russell Wilson was also aided by a record-setting day from his running back (and some outrageous catches from Paul Richardson), but he was far sharper than Ben in Seattle's victory over Detroit. His over-the-shoulder throw to Richardson on 3rd and 5 in the fourth quarter was the best QB moment of the weekend before Rodgers took the field and effectively ended the game (watch it below). He also didn't turn it over and led Seattle to 9/16 on third down and 2/2 on fourth down (including a TD pass) conversions on the night.
I was also impressed with Brock Osweiler and do feel he is deserving of his grade in the middle group with Moore, Roethlisberger and Manning. Not even thinking about the pressure he faced heading into the game, he made consistently impressive throws throughout and didn't make that critical error that has haunted him as a starter so far. He also led one of the best drives of the weekend, and his young career, late in the second quarter (including the outstanding throw below) which helped blow the game open before halftime. The performance was absolutely a game to build on for the young QB and I can guarantee he enjoyed watching the tape of this one.
Good Eli Manning showed up for the Giants, at least in the first half, but the GMen squandered his rare presence with four early drops. We've all heard about those. And there is a pretty good reason there's no outrage pointed in Manning's direction this week. On the flip side, we did not get good Matthew Stafford, something I will continue to chalk up to his finger injury. He has admirably downplayed it in the media time and time again over the last few weeks, but Stafford was once again clearly not as sharp throwing the ball as he had been before the injury. And the Lions needed his A game to have a shot in Seattle.
The only QB that was out and out bad this weekend was Connor Cook. It was not exactly shocking as he was the first rookie QB ever to make his starting debut in a playoff game. As we discussed here last week, there were some reasons to have hope and some reasons to worry after his limited performance in Week 17 against the Broncos. Unfortunately, he was very poor and unlike Matt Moore, did little to lift a team that was struggling everywhere else.
And then there's the best and hottest quarterback in the world, who earned a 9.8 despite a balky start to the game. After what he did in the second half, that grade might be too low. Aaron Rodgers is playing as well as a quarterback can right now, and we will dive into the details of this later in the week.
How would you rank the QB's of Wild Card Weekend? Tweet us @throw_ology or @Producer_Tom and stay tuned for the next batch of playoff QB grades next week.