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Christian D'Andrea

Baker Mayfield’s muscles, Kadarius Toney’s hands, Jordan Love’s inscrutability and the best, worst of Week 15

Jordan Love Baker Mayfield Christian DAndrea Tua Tagovailoa Bailey Zappe USA TODAY Sports Justin Fields Tyreek Hill Zach Wilson Tucker Kraft

Week 15 was, honestly, pretty grim.

It all began with an unexpected Las Vegas Raiders offensive explosion (42-0 at halftime) and an expected Los Angeles Chargers firing (of human disaster head coach Brandon Staley). Saturday football got underway with a thriller between the Cincinnati Bengals and Minnesota Vikings and devolved into a pair of blowouts.

Sunday’s games weren’t much better. Six different teams got outgained by a single Bills running back. Bad weather seemed to persist anywhere there wasn’t a dome. Some bad quarterbacks shined, others stunk and the late games provided nary a shred of drama beyond the point spread.

Still, there was plenty of wheat among that chaff. Let’s dive into all the best — and worst — things about Week 15.

Worst: Justin Fields, deflating his trade stock (and maybe kinda/sorta pumping it up, too?)

Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports

Yahoo!’s Charles Robinson interviewed a handful of NFL general managers regarding Justin Fields’ future with the Chicago Bears. While none of them thought his presence would keep the franchise from selecting Caleb Williams at the top of next spring’s draft, they did see him as an asset. Namely, one that could be traded for a moderate haul of draft picks.

Fields’ play coming into Week 15 had only made him more expensive for anyone looking to acquire him. And when he baffled the Cleveland Browns’ stout defense for a touchdown that probably shouldn’t have happened, it looked like his ascent would continue.

This was not the case. Fields struggled mightily against a good Cleveland defense. He needed 40 passes to throw for just 166 yards (19 completions). He added only 30 yards on the ground — his lowest rushing output since October 1. He was everything Bears fans had come to grow so frustrated with, smothering dazzling moments of potential with heaps of underwhelming play.

Worst: Tucker Kraft, learning the hard way hurdles don't always pay off

Dan Powers-USA TODAY Sports

Tucker Kraft plays football with little regard for his own body. Often times this rules. He runs like a moose charging down an Appalachian snow path, ditching the idea of jukes in favor of smashing his way through defenders. The rookie from South Dakota State is a north-south runner with little interest in lateral moves.

But sometimes he goes up. With varying results.

Yep, that’s Kraft going crotch-first into Dee Delaney’s helmet to pick up an extra two yards for the Green Bay Packers. He, understandably, walked gingerly to the sideline after this to take a few plays off. He returned to the game, which the Packers lost 34-20.

Best: Bailey Zappe's first halves

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s what Zappe has done before halftime in his last two starts for the New England Patriots:

Week 14 vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers: 14-22, 206 yards, three touchdowns, zero interceptions, 9.4 yards per attempt

Week 15 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs: 17-19, 141 yards, one touchdown, zero interceptions, 7.4 yards per attempt

That’s 347 yards, four touchdowns and zero turnovers in four quarters of play. Pretty good!

This would all be great news, if not for the existence of…

Worst: Bailey Zappe's second halves

David Butler II-USA TODAY Sports

Here’s what he’s done in the third and fourth quarters of those games:

Week 14 vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers: 5-6, 34 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception, 5.7 yards per attempt

Week 15 vs. the Kansas City Chiefs: 6-12, 39 yards, zero touchdowns, one interception, 3.3 yards per attempt

That’s 73 yards, zero touchdowns and two interceptions in four quarters of play. Granted, all he had to do was protect the ball in a low-effort second half while protecting a lead against the Steelers, but still. Let’s take a closer look at how he fell off vs. the Chiefs.

Over the first two quarters against a potent Kansas City defense, Zappe had only attempted four passes that went at least 10 yards downfield but had completed all four for 70 yards and a touchdown. He was responsible for 2.4 expected points added (EPA) at this point.

Over the last two quarters, Zappe turned his passing chart to mush. He only attempted two more passes that went at least 10 yards downfield; an incompletion and an interception. Specifically, this terrible throw that can only be explained by latent colorblindness.

Zappe’s second half produced a -18.3 EPA. He had seven drives, none of which lasted more than five plays.

Good god. Fortunately for the Patriots, their season is over after only three more games.

Best: Tua Tagovailoa's offense without Tyreek Hill

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Seeing Hill’s name on the inactives list might have scared some backers away from the Miami Dolphins in Week 15. After all, Tua Tagovailoa appeared lost in stretches without his WR1 in last Monday’s loss to the Tennessee Titans.

His 240 passing yards in Week 14 were one of his lowest totals of the season. Hill’s absence as a safety blanket also manifested in a season high five sacks as the fourth-year quarterback scrolled through his target list and held the ball longer than usual.

This made it reasonable to wonder whether Tagovailoa would be able to find consistent success against a New York Jets team that ranks third in defensive DVOA this fall. So Tagovailoa assuaged those concerns by reminding the world Jaylen Waddle is a neat and tidy WR1 when pressed into action.

Tagovailoa finished his day with just one more incompletion (three) as the Jets had interceptions (two). Granted, he didn’t have the most impressive passing chart, but he took what New York gave him and absolutely shredded a very good defense from there.

via nextgenstats.nfl.com

Hill will likely return from an ankle injury before the new year. But even if he doesn’t Tagovailoa — and Waddle, and Raheem Mostert, and De’Von Achane — proved the Dolphins’ offense can get by without him.

Worst: Zach Wilson's failed resurgence

Jasen Vinlove-USA TODAY Sports

Wilson had the opportunity to keep his Jets rolling after last week’s beautiful performance against the Houston Texans. The former second overall pick finally lived up to his draft billing, throwing for 301 yards and a pair of touchdowns in what was unquestionably his finest performance as a pro.

Then, in his follow-up against the Miami Dolphins, he was responsible for -12 net yards of offense.

That tweet came from late in the second quarter. Wilson had been replaced by Trevor Siemian by then thanks to a combination of dehydration and a possible head injury, per the team’s official communications.

Things didn’t get much better. Siemian and Wilson combined for 80 net yards on 43 dropbacks. Every passing play Robert Saleh dialed up sprung for, on average, 1.9 yards. New York’s quarterbacks had a passer rating of 35.4 Sunday. You could fire 20 passes directly into the turf in the NFL and still earn a rating of 39.6.

Worst and Best and Worst and ...: Jordan Love's complete lack of consistency

Dan Powers-USA TODAY Sports

Love has spent his 2023 vacillating between great and modestly bad. The Packers’ three-game winning streak to creep back into the playoff picture? That was great. His sudden lack of accuracy in the two games that followed? Modestly bad.

Sunday’s game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers put the good and bad on display over the course of three action-packed hours. We got to see the young quarterback who occasionally blanks open wideouts to throw dead-end passes to nowhere:

We also got the guy who can escape pressure, process his route tree on the run, make the correct decision and fire an absolute laser beam right when his offense needs it most:

This is Jordan Love. He is inscrutable. He is amazing and awful and sometimes the only thing that separates the two is a fresh set of downs. Unforunately for Green Bay, the bad Love hung around long enough to doom the Packers to a second-straight loss. At 6-8, their postseason hopes are fading fast.

Best: Baker Mayfield, whose revival is real, spectacular

Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Baker Mayfield was not meant to lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the postseason. He was, unofficially, signed as a stop-gap solution who could lead this team to the top of the 2024 NFL Draft.

It was a tanking plan that made sense. Mayfield was 2022’s worst starting quarterback between stints with the Carolina Panthers and Los Angeles Rams. The former top overall pick had shown signs of life, but was mostly regrettable last year. Bringing him to Florida to battle for a starting role with Kyle Trask felt like a white flag on a season that could end with a premium pick in a draft loaded with talent behind center.

But Mayfield’s been slightly above average this season. And on Sunday, against the Green Bay Packers, he was incredible. He needed just 28 passes to throw for 381 yards and four touchdowns. He finished the day with a perfect 158.3 passer rating.

That kept Mayfield on top of the NFC South for another week, where his Bucs control their own destiny. It also cemented his status as the lovable doofus around whom Progressive was able to build several years of advertising.

It’s very, very difficult not to like Baker Mayfield right now.

Worst: The Atlanta Falcons (all)

Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports

Atlanta was given a gift in Week 15. The Falcons, in need of a win to remain in playoff contention, drew the 1-12 Carolina Panthers. They were getting the league’s worst team in front of a crowd dressed eerily like empty seats. They were getting a defense that had allowed more rushing touchdowns than anyone in the NFL in a rainstorm that, theoretically, played to head coach Arthur Smith’s run-heavy approach.

And, because the Falcons cannot have nice things, Atlanta turned and wiped its butt with the gift provided by a sloppy NFC South. The Falcons became the first divisional opponent to lose to the Panthers this year. They did so without giving up a single touchdown.

That high octane rushing attack failed to gain any kind of purchase in the rain, averaging only 1.7 yards per carry. Desmond Ridder couldn’t lift the passing game to bigger things because only three of his 12 completions traveled more than 10 yards downfield. His offense gained 204 total yards; the Las Vegas Raiders hit that total with five minutes left in the second quarter on Thursday night.

Were you counting on a Falcons’ star to lift your fantasy team to playoff success? You almost certainly didn’t get it! Bijan Robinson? 0.4 points thanks to a fumble lost and the second-lowest snap share of his career so far. Drake London followed up last week’s 10-catch, 172-yard performance with two catches for 24 yards. Kyle Pitts’ three catches and 37 yards made him the team’s leader in receptions.

This was a disaster. Early this week, reports broke that Falcons’ owner Arthur Blank wasn’t considering firing Smith this winter barring a significant setback to finish 2023. Losing to a 1-12 Panthers team while barely gaining 200 yards of offense would seem to qualify.

Worst: Kadarius Toney (again)

Eric Canha-USA TODAY Sports

The good news for the Kansas City Chiefs is that one of the wide receivers on which the team spent a Day 2 draft pick has thrived. Rashee Rice’s arrival continued in Week 15 with nine catches for 91 yards and a touchdown. That’s great!

However, the other wideouts the Chiefs have spent mid-draft capital on have failed to live up to even modest expectations. Skyy Moore hasn’t had a catch since Week 13. This is still better than Kadarius Toney, whom Kansas City traded away a late third-round pick to acquire, because Kadarius Toney is actively poisoning his own team.

Things have gotten so bad even Patrick Mahomes is beginning to show his frustration with a player who, Super Bowl touchdown aside, only ever seems to make news for being terrible at football.

Best: Jacoby Brissett, who remains an undervalued asset

Brad Mills-USA TODAY Sports

The Washington Commanders benched starting quarterback Sam Howell with nine minutes to play in Week 15’s showdown against the Los Angeles Rams. Backup Jacoby Brissett — last seen being the best passer in the Cleveland Browns’ arsenal post-2020 — entered in his stead. He needed just six dropbacks to out-gain Howell for the day.

Brissett jump-started the Washington offense with one simple trick. He actually delivered the ball to consistent WR1 Terry McLaurin. The three-time 1,000-yard wideout had 126 total yards over his previous four games alongside Howell. In Week 15, Brissett got him to 94 yards of the course of three straight plays.

This is a pretty damning turnaround for Howell, who was given three months to prove himself a franchise quarterback and, despite a ton of passing yards, left the Commanders’ offense stuck in neutral. Brissett arrived late in a 28-7 game and led back-to-back touchdown drives, albeit against a slightly disinterested Rams defense that wasn’t expecting him. Still, that’s a hell of a turnaround from the Washington offense.

Howell finished his day with 102 passing yards in 51 minutes of game time and 10 drives. Brissett got nine minutes and two drives and wound up with 124 yards on 10 passes. It looks like the Commanders’ pending overhaul is going to include a young quarterback as well — and that Brissett will once again be a high-value backup/low-end starter for any interested teams in next spring’s free agent marketplace.

Worst: Darnell Mooney, inches from greatness

Scott Galvin-USA TODAY Sports

Look, I hate this for Darnell Mooney. The former fifth round pick has punched above his weight class since entering the league. He emerged as a viable starting wideout thanks to his ability to adjust to the ball and his strong hands when it came to making catches away from his body. He was everything a struggling quarterback should need as a complementary wideout.

Of course, the Bears have only fulfilled the first half of that bargain. Mooney struggled with the spotlight of being Chicago’s top target amidst a wretched passing offense the past two years. This has changed slightly in 2023 thanks to DJ Moore’s arrival, but the fourth-year wideout has still mostly underwhelmed despite his talent.

So with five seconds on the clock in a game the Bears trailed 20-17, Mooney had a chance for redemption. A Justin Fields Hail Mary caromed off the fingers of Bears and Browns players alike, plummeting toward his outstretched arm as he fell away from the ball. Mooney made one hell of a play to tip the ball to himself and into his lap.

And then it caromed away, up into the air for a Cleveland interception to seal Chicago’s fate.

Well, at least this helps the Bears’ draft stock.

Best: The Buffalo Bills, capable of beating the Dallas Cowboys even without Josh Allen's arm

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

With 13:40 left in the fourth quarter, Josh Allen had only completed six passes for the Buffalo Bills in a game vital to their playoff hopes. This was a feature, not a bug.

Allen’s arm wasn’t needed on a rainy evening in western New York. His run game had put the Cowboys’ top five defense through the ringer, crushing it to pieces under the weight of Allen’s legs and James Cook and, huh, Ty Johnson. Together they ran for 266 total yards, which was way more than the Cowboys’ offense could muster in a storm.

Just as importantly, the beleagured Buffalo defense battered Dak Prescott’s MVP aspirations, hitting him early and often and only sometimes legally.

This all created a stultifying effect that allowed Allen to complete just seven of 15 passes and still lead the Bills to a 31-10 win that wasn’t as close as the final score suggests. Buffalo is dangerous again. Its defense is back online and the offense has a support system capable of surviving an Allen drought. And now the playoffs are back within reach; after dropping to 14 percent in Week 13, the Bills’ postseason odds are currently 63 percent, per the New York Times.

Best: James Cook, who either saved your fantasy season or buried it

Gregory Fisher-USA TODAY Sports

Week 15 was the start to most fantasy football league playoffs. It was, frustratingly, short on big performances from star players. So while some unfortunate souls were getting buried by Mayfield or Aidan O’Connell, a select few had the remedy; a heaping dose of Cook in Buffalo:

Cook had 221 total yards Sunday. That was more than:

  • the Dallas Cowboys
  • the Atlanta Falcons
  • the New England Patriots
  • the Pittsburgh Steelers
  • the New York Jets
  • the Tennessee Titans
  • or the New York Giants

Pretty good!

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