NFL News & Analysis

10 worst performances from Sunday's Week 7 NFL action

JACKSONVILLE, FL - OCTOBER 23: Quarterback Blake Bortles #5 of the Jacksonville Jaguars is tackled from behind by Linebacker Bruce Irvin #51 of the Oakland Raiders during the game at EverBank Field on October 23, 2016 in Jacksonville, Florida. The Raiders defeated the Jaguars 33 to 16. (Photo by Don Juan Moore/Getty Images) *** Local Caption *** Blake Bortles; Bruce Irvin

[Editor's note: Byron Maxwell was removed from this list and Jamar Taylor was added after the article was initially published, following an update to Maxwell's grade during PFF's review process.]

Every Tuesday, PFF will be releasing its list of the lowest-graded players at each NFL position for that week. But Senior Analyst Sam Monson gets a jump on that by picking out 10 individual performances from Sunday’s games that stood out for just how bad they were.

Here are the 10 worst performances from Sunday’s Week 7 action:

[Check out the 10 best performances from Sunday of Week 7 right here, or access our Player Grades tool to see how every NFL player measures up through three weeks of the season.]

1. Jamar Taylor, CB, Cleveland Browns

Surrendering five catches for 124 yards and two touchdowns is bad enough, but when they came on just five targets—and one of them was despite trying to grab the guy to prevent getting beaten on a double move—that's all she wrote. Taylor gave up a perfect passer rating of 158.3 when targeted, and didn't distinguish himself against the run, either.

2. Bradley Sowell, T, Seattle Seahawks

We’ve known for a while that Seattle’s offensive line was bad, but in its 6-6 tie with Arizona on “Sunday Night Football,” the Seahawks would have been as well stationing five large potted plants in front of QB Russell Wilson. Bradley Sowell allowed a sack, hit and three hurries and recorded two holding penalties all in 39 snaps before leaving the game with a knee injury and being replaced by George Fant. His only solace is that Fant was about as bad, and only a low snap count is keeping him from this list, too.

3. Garry Gilliam, T, Seattle Seahawks

The other thing Sowell has going for him is that he isn’t the only Seahawks lineman to appear here, and his partner on the other side of the line Gilliam joins him. Gilliam “only” surrendered a hit and three hurries and recorded two penalties, but he was also destroyed right after the snap on at least two more occasions on quick passes that didn’t have a chance to become pressure, and was bad in the run game, too. This wasn't a good game for the Seattle O-line.

4. Jeremiah Sirles, T, Minnesota Vikings

Minnesota was rotating three tackles between two spots in its loss to Philadelphia, and none of them was able to hold up against the Eagles' pass rush. Sirles has looked like he’s capable of starting and playing well this season, but he just couldn’t block Brandon Graham – one of the league’s best edge rushers this season. Sirles surrendered two sacks, two hits and four hurries in 39 pass-blocking snaps, and wasn’t a whole lot better in the run game.

5. Carson Wentz, QB, Philadelphia Eagles

Even though his team came away with the win, Wentz came down to Earth with a bang against one of the league’s best defenses. For once he was struggling to deal with some of the looks he saw, despite being actually kept remarkably clean by his offensive line. When pressured his passer rating was just 2.8, but even when under no pressure at all, it was just 74.8, and he could only manage to throw for 5.6 yards per attempt.

6. Sean Spence, LB, Tennessee Titans

Spence allowed a catch every time he was targeted by Andrew Luck and the Colts in Tennessee's loss on Sunday. He allowed three different receivers to catch passes on him and surrendered 49 yards and a touchdown when in coverage. Against the run, things didn’t go much better, as he found himself moved at the second level by Colts blockers. The rest of the defense managed to make up for it overall, however, and Indianapolis could only manage 3.4 yards per carry and 81 rushing yards as a team.

7. Matt Jones, RB, Washington Redskins

It’s often said that the single most important statistic for determining who wins games is turnovers, and the turnover differential, so anytime a running back puts the ball on the ground twice he is going to be in store for a poor grade. Add in a rushing performance of 23 yards on 11 carries and you have a very bad day at the office from Jones, as Washington lost in the last minute to Detroit.

8. Blake Bortles, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars

Bortles just hasn’t been the same QB he was a year ago that had made such big strides in his second season. In Jacksonville's loss to the Raiders, he could only complete 53.5 percent of his passes, and when under no pressure in the pocket, he threw more interceptions (two) than touchdowns (one). He completed just four passes that traveled 10 or more yards from the line of scrimmage in the air, or 33.3 percent of his attempts.

9. Germain Ifedi, G, Seattle Seahawks

The third member of the Seahawks line to make this list, Ifedi had an ugly game. He allowed a hit and three hurries, as well as getting flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and being beaten badly by Arizona D-lineman Calais Campbell twice on plays that didn’t get a chance to become pressure because of how quickly the ball came out.

10. Matt Asiata, RB, Minnesota Vikings

Asiata is far from an elite running back, and typically gets what his blocking gives him, but in this game he was particularly poor in the passing game, of which he was involved on 41 snaps over the course of the game. He had two drops, and in 10 snaps of pass protection managed to allow a sack and four hurries.

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