There are now two weeks left until the end of the NFL regular season and just as the championship doesn't stop, so does our It's QB Time, the Huddle Magazine column that every week will elect the three best and three worst QBs of the NFL round. Very few surprises among the top players of the day, with Goff increasingly in MVP form accompanied by Sam Darnold and Joe Burrow keeping the Bengals clinging to the hope of the playoffs; not many surprises even among the flops of the day with a Thompson-Robinson dominated by the Bengals defense, a Spencer Rattle unable to score even a single point in the winter cold of Green Bay and a Drew Lock who continues to drag the Giants towards the first pick of the next NFL draft.
The best of the day
Jared Goff
23/32 – 336 yard – 3 TD – 0 INT
The Detroit Lions are without a doubt the best team in the entire NFL, despite last week's defeat against the Bills, and in the divisional clash against the Bears in week 16 they gave ample demonstration of this: a game largely dominated, a result never in question, and one of the most explosive attacks in recent NFL history, led by a QB who now seems ten years younger since he was in Michigan; Goff is in fact playing his best regular season of his career, and against the Bears he closes with 23 complete games for 336 yards, not conceding INTs but throwing 3 TDs, with the icing on the cake being the 82-yard TD found for Williams, which is worth the 20-0 momentary and practically closes the game with just under three quarters to play. The Lions will almost certainly have the bye week in the first round of the playoffs, and perhaps it will be used to recover RB Montgomery but, with a Goff like this, Lions fans can rest easy.
Joe Burrow
23/30 – 252 yard – 3 TD – 0 INT
14%, this is the probability for the Bengals to manage to get a pass for the playoffs according to the statisticians; However, seeing how Joe Burrow is playing we can think we can raise this percentage, with the former LSU QB playing a game practically without errors against the Browns: 23 completes out of 30 attempted passes, 0 INTs conceded, 252 yards thrown, three TD passes, one of which is in the tweet below, ridiculous to say the least, in which he demonstrated his effort and his ability to read the game even in the most disparate and dangerous situations.
The next two matches will be decisive for CIN, who must also hope for a misstep from the other teams fighting with them, but Joe Burrow believes in it, and demonstrates it every Sunday on the pitch.
Sam Darnold
22/35 – 246 yard – 3 TD – 0 INT
Not just Jared Goff in the NFC North: the Vikings also have a Mr. QB and Sam Darnold demonstrated this against the Seahawks, leading his team to victory in one of the most competitive games of the last round of the NFL, finishing with 22 complete games for 246 yards , not suffering a turnover and throwing 3 TD passes, including this one for Jefferson, who arrived in the most important moment of the game and with the Vikings down, dampening the enthusiasm of the fast-paced Seahawks who emerged defeated from their own walls housewives.
The worst of the day
Dorian Thompson-Robinson
20/34 – 157 yard – 0 TD – 2 INT – 5 sack
The starting QB changes but the result does not change for the Browns who, after having deployed Dorian Thompson-Robinson under the center they see him end week 16 of the NFL with a defeat and the “award” of worst of the day from our QB Watch.
20 passes completed for 157 yards thrown, 0 TD passes and two INTs for Robinson, with the pick in the end zone weighing heavily, especially because a TD would have allowed CLE to remain hooked to the train of the game, which then ended up in the hands of Cincy. CLE's offseason will be interesting as it will first have to resolve the DeShaun Watson issue, and then will have to decide who to entrust the starting QB role to for the 2025 season.
Spencer Rattle
15/30 – 153 yard – 0 TD – 1 INT – 3 sack – 1 Fumble
It wasn't enough to get used to the cold of Lambeau Field by having meetings in a cold room for Spencer Rattle, who in the MNF against the Packers was completely canceled out by GB's defense, ending up being one of the flops of the day. 50% of completions for 153 yards thrown, 3 sacks suffered and two turnovers, an INT and a lost fumble do not allow NOLA to ever enter the game; However, not only the turnovers weigh on Rattle, who never manages to bring his team closer to a score, thus finishing with 0 points on the scoreboard, which is worth the tenth defeat of the season for the Saints, largely out of the playoffs and among the teams that will have to work more in the offseason.
Drew Lock
22/29 – 210 yard – 1 TD – 2 INT – 3 sack – 1 Fumble
A slow, continuous, exhausting race towards the first pick of the next draft; now this seems like the season of the Giants who, after multiple changes in the control room, are playing with Drew Lock as the starting QB; However, even against the Falcons Lock played a terrible game, but did not win the worst of the day award thanks to the single TD pass thrown. 22 passes completed for 210 yards, 3 sacks, and three turnovers for Lock, 1 fumble and two INTs, with one of which worth the pick-six that brings the Falcons back into the lead after NYG's initial TD, increasingly launched towards the draft: will Sanders be the future in NY? Or will the Ginats shock everyone by targeting another QB coming out of college?
Cover image by Federico Galeotti
