It took nearly half the season, but Bryce Young finally got his first win as the quarterback of the Panthers, and he had an impressive performance in his first NFL victory.
Sam Howell and Brock Purdy were outstanding in losing efforts. Meanwhile, Desmond Ridder and Kenny Pickett struggled.
Let's dive deep into the individual efforts of each quarterback and assign a grade on a per-snap basis, taking every individual aspect of their performance into account. More than 10 attempts were needed to qualify for this piece, which publishes weekly on Tuesdays.
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- Ridder's second throw of the game was an anticipatory fastball to Drake London between multiple defenders. Not a long pass but accurate and before the receiver turned for the football.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- In the first, he took a very bad sack when he held the football far too long as a defender converged on him.
- A deep middle attempt to Kyle Pitts was well overthrown and made into double coverage.
- In the second, Ridder threw well to the inside on what should've been a back-shoulder attempt to London.
- His final snap of the game was another instance in which he held onto the football, and failed to get to the second read, and took a sack.
Summary: Ridder threw with authority early on -- plenty more velocity on his throws the past few weeks -- but he mostly got stuck on his first read and had a few misfires before getting injured. Rough go against a pesky defense in Nashville.
Grade: D
Season Grade: C-
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- Young had an Alabama-esque escape from a rusher and found Adam Thielen deep down the field with tight coverage.
- There was another escape -- this time to his right -- with a perfect downfield throw, but the pass was dropped.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- He threw too early on an in-breaking route to Thielen in the second half.
- Young took a bad sack in the start of the fourth quarter.
Summary: Not an unbelievable amount of spectacular plays from Young -- and he did take a string of sacks late in the game -- but he did provide a few Alabama-like flashes in his first NFL win. And he took care of the football.
Grade: B-
Season Grade: C-
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- Howell's first touchdown to Terry McLaurin was thrown gorgeously up and over the cornerback.
- Late in the second, Howell ripped a strike to Jahan Dotson for 13 yards through three defenders.
- Early in the fourth, Howell bounced in the pocket and found space to pick up a first down with his legs on a 3rd-and-4 inside the red zone.
- His touchdown to Logan Thomas in the fourth quarter was a rope against air-tight coverage.
- Howell somehow fit a pass on a wheel route to Antonio Gibson, who didn't appear open, for 16 yards in the fourth.
- His final throw of the day was a dime to Jamison Crowder for 26 yards while rolling left.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- Late in the second quarter, Howell threw too far to the inside on an out-breaker and was nearly intercepted.
- He totally airmailed a deep out to Dotson in the fourth.
Summary: Another encouraging performance for Howell, this time against the mighty Eagles defense. There was plenty of schemed-open looks early by way of screens, but through the second half, Howell made some impressive throws. Unfortunately, a few misses were sprinkled in as well, as the Commanders tried to keep pace with Philadelphia to no avail.
Grade: A-
Season Grade: B-
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- On his third drop back of the day, Pickett was forced to his right on 3rd-and-15 and found Diontae Johnson between defenders past the sticks but the ball was dropped.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- In the first, Pickett clearly had a miscommunication with his wideout but stared at his stationary target and threw the ball directly to the Jaguars cornerback near the play, who dropped the football.
- Later in the first quarter, he underthrew an open Pickens on a deep corner that was broken up.
Summary: Only 18 dropbacks for Pickett before his injury against the Jaguars, and the rainy conditions in Pittsburgh softens my grading stance on this effort. However, only one quality throw from Pickett essentially until the end of the first half was not encouraging for the Steelers starter.
Grade: C-
Season Grade: C-
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- Early in the game, Levis, while fading away, dropped one in the bucket to Treylon Burks between two defenders. The ball ultimately fell incomplete, but it was a gorgeous throw.
- In the second, he looked middle, then came back to the left and placed a long ball into the hands of Burks again down the sideline, but the second-year receiver was unable to stay in bounds.
- His fourth touchdown of the day was an amazing demonstration of his arm strength, as he rolled right and threw all the way across the field deep for a long score.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- The second touchdown to DeAndre Hopkins on a shallow cross from a clean pocket was high and well behind the intended target. Hopkins made a ridiculous catch while on the run to corral the football and continue forward into the end zone.
- Early in the fourth, Levis threw well behind his receiver on an out-breaking route near the sideline. The wideout slid down to stop his route and made the catch.
- While being forced from the pocket to his left, Levis forced a check down to a covered Titans tight end that was nearly intercepted.
Summary: Levis wasn't as good as his statline -- one of his touchdowns came on a blown coverage and another was a tremendous downfield adjustment by Hopkins -- but he certainly did not look overwhelmed or overtly confused by what the Falcons threw at him coverage-wise. And the physical attributes that made him an early second-round pick were on display.
Grade: B
Season Grade: B
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- While rolling well to his right, Purdy found an open Brandon Aiyuk deep down the field for 31 yards. Took a lot of arm strength.
- He had an impressive 10-yard scamper in the second quarter.
- With under a minute to go in the first half, Purdy sent a rocket up the middle of the field to George Kittle for 34 yards.
- He threw a perfect anticipatory deep over to Aiyuk in the second that was dropped in the first half.
- Purdy made another gorgeous connect down the seam to Kittle in the second half.
- He slid away from a free rusher before finding Aiyuk on a deep in-breaker.
- After eluding multiple defenders a rolling right, Purdy found Kittle on the opposite side of the field for 10 yards near the goalline.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- Purdy made throw to the inside on an out-breaking route in the third quarter that should've been intercepted.
- His fourth-quarter interception by Logan Wilson was a total misread of the underneath defender. Never saw him despite Wilson sinking directly into Purdy's passing lane.
Summary: Ironically one of Purdy's finest individual performances of the season came in a two-touchdown defeat at home. He generated more tremendous plays himself than usual, but a few turnovers ultimately doomed San Francisco against Cincinnati.
Grade: B
Season Grade: B-
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- Late in the first, he ripped a fastball through a closing window near the sideline to Nico Collins.
- His next throw was essentially the same play to the opposite sideline from the far hash.
- On a 3rd and 10, Stroud threw a rocket down the seam to Noah Brown for 22 yards. A diving Panthers defender nearly knocked the ball away but the timing and placement on the throw were perfect.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- He took a bad sack deep in his own end on a third down in the second quarter.
- His next drop back, on the next possession, featured antsiness in the pocket and a spin that ended in an easy sack for an 11-yard loss.
Summary: Far from a bad performance from Stroud in the loss to the Panthers. Just not nearly as many strikes as normal, and he never really got into a rhythm moving the football methodically down the field.
Grade: C+
Season Grade: C+
High-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- While rolling left in the third, he squeezed a fastball into the hands of Cole Kmet near the sideline.
- Bagent found D.J. Moore running across the field with a perfect touch throw over the outstretched arms of the diving cornerback in coverage.
Low-Caliber Throws/Plays:
- A high throw a short out-breaking route in the second led to an interception.
- A fadeaway toss down the seam in the third was nearly picked.
- On the first play of the fourth quarter, Bagent was late on a comeback to the outside and was intercepted.
- He well overthrew Tyler Scott down the field in the fourth.
Summary: There were a few flashes from Bagent, mostly by way of his strong arm. Otherwise he looked overwhelmed on a road against a quality pass rush.
Grade: D+
Season Grade: D+
