by Vince Verhei

Let's get right to the point: Week 10 in the NFL, from a Quick Reads perspective, was awfully boring. Look, the bar for statistical performance has been set pretty high this season. It seems like every week there's another quarterback throwing for seven touchdowns or a wide receiver having an all-time great game. This week though, there's just not that much to get excited about. Drew Brees was by far the league's best passer, but his performance wasn't one of the five best games for a quarterback this year. The running backs table isn't very fun unless you live in Louisiana. And the best receiver this week caught a whopping two passes.

So, since there's not much to celebrate in Week 10, we're going to look at the season as a whole, and point out which players are having historically extreme campaigns. Take Peyton Manning, for example. Though he's cooled down somewhat after his cartoonishly great start, he still leads the league with 1,455 DYAR in nine games played. (This number, like all others discussed in this article, was calculated before the Monday Night Football game.) That puts him on pace for 2,587 DYAR over 16 games, and that would be the second-best season in our records going back to 1989. Tom Brady's record of 2,674 DYAR is the best season we've ever analyzed, but that record is still a realistic goal if Manning can return to his September form. Brees (1,142 DYAR) is also on pace for a top-ten all-time season, and Philip Rivers (1,027) could also make that list before all is said and done.

Believe it or not, Manning's passing DVOA (44.7%) is no longer the best in the league. That honor, by the slimmest of margins, belongs to Philadelphia's Nick Foles (44.8%). Those marks are well, well short of the all-time record (Wade Wilson's 62.3% with Atlanta in 1992), and even if we raise the minimum from 100 passes to 200, then Manning's 2004 campaign (58.9%) still looks untouchable. There are so many good quarterbacks these days that it's hard to stand out from the pack.

Unless, of course, you're a bad quarterback — then you stand out like a festering boil. The two most prominent boils this year have been Terrelle Pryor and Blaine Gabbert. Pryor was last among quarterbacks in DYAR this week, the second week in a row he's been in last place, and his season-total passing DYAR (-444) has now passed Gabbert (-407) for the worst total this season. Assuming Pryor plays 15 games (he has missed one start this year) at that pace, he would finish with -833 DYAR. That would be right in the middle of the worst passing seasons of all time, although David Carr's -1,130-DYAR campaign with the Texans in 2002 seems safe.

Gabbert has (deservedly) lost his starting job with Jacksonville to Chad Henne, so it's impossible to predict where he'll finish in DYAR. That doesn't mean, though, that he won't make some bad history. Gabbert currently has a -80.4% passing DVOA on 98 pass plays. (And that includes a hefty opponent adjustment for throwing 35 passes with six sacks against Kansas City — his VOA is an even more dreadful -93.0%.) If he can get two more passes this year without any improvement, he'll be only the third quarterback to dip below -80.0% in 100 pass plays in DVOA history. And if those two pass plays are, say, a pair of interceptions, he could fall below Alex Smith's -88.6% DVOA in 2005 and claim the worst DVOA of all time.

Surprisingly, no wideouts in the league are close to the single-season top ten in DYAR. The top receiver, Jordy Nelson, has 258 DYAR, nowhere near the 508 needed to make the top 10, and certainly not close to Michael Irvin's record of 591 DYAR in 1995. Kenny Britt (-91 DYAR) and Jason Avant (-84) both have outside shots of making the bottom 10 receivers list, though neither is a threat to Chris Chambers' all-time worst -294 DYAR in 2006.

There some outliers among wideouts in DVOA, though. Jerricho Cotchery has a DVOA of 54.8%, which would be the second-best of all time behind Dennis Northcutt's 60.5% in 2002. Kenny Stills (47.6%) and Eddie Royal (42.7%) are also shooting for the top ten. Ace Sanders (-43.8%), Avant (-32.5%), and T.J. Graham (-30.9%) are all challenging for the bottom 10, including the all-time worst mark of -59.3% by Tony Jones in 1991.

Speaking of receivers, Jimmy Graham (223 DYAR) should finish comfortably among the top ten tight ends, if not come within shouting distance of Rob Gronkowski's 459 DYAR in 2011. The only other player who might make the list is Julius Thomas (150 DYAR). Graham isn't the best tight end this season according to DVOA, though. That honor would go to Jeff Cumberland of the New York Jets (56.7%), which would be the third-best for a player at that position on record. No tight ends this season are close to the bottom ten in DYAR or DVOA.

Finally, we have the running backs, where it's a bad season all around. Depending on which metric you prefer, the top rushers so far have been either Marshawn Lynch (166 DYAR) or Stevan Ridley (17.4%), neither of whom is anywhere near the top ten in those categories. Darren Sproles (170 DYAR) could make the top ten as a receiver.

The most historic season (and not in a good way) belongs to Ray Rice, who is last in the league in both rushing DYAR (-126) and DVOA (-36.0%). He's just barely behind pace to pass Jonathan Wells (-241 DYAR in 2002), and ahead of Harold Green (-29.5% DVOA in 1993), to finish with the worst season on record in either category. (Yes, the expansion Houston Texans of 2002 had the worst passer and the worst rusher we've ever seen.) Willis McGahee (-98 DYAR, -29.6% DVOA) could also find himself among the bottom ten.

As if challenging for the worst rushing season all time isn't enough, Rice also has -51 DYAR receiving, second-worst in the league, and headed for the list of worst seasons on record. The worst receiver among running backs this year, though, has been Houston's Ben Tate (-78 DYAR). At that rate, he'll break Dave Meggett's -114 DYAR in 1992 as the worst receiver at that position in Football Outsiders history.

Quarterbacks Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR 1. Drew Brees NO 34/41 392 4 0 248 248 0 Third downs: 9-of-9 for 138 yards with two touchdowns and five other first downs. His only failed third-down plays were an 8-yard gain on third-and-10 and a 5-yard gain on third-and-15. 2. Russell Wilson SEA 19/26 287 2 0 129 120 9 Throwing to his left, Wilson went 8-of-10 for 150 yards, with two touchdowns and five other first downs. 3. Christian Ponder MIN 17/21 174 2 1 103 114 -12 On Washington's half of the field, Ponder — Christian Ponder! — went 9-of-10 for 95 yards with two touchdowns and four other first downs. 4. Robert Griffin WAS 24/36 281 3 0 87 76 11 First half: 16-of-20 for 179 yards with two touchdowns and eight other first downs, plus a 7-yard DPI. At one point, he picked up two touchdowns and four first downs on six straight throws. Second half: 8-of-16 for 102 yards and only five first downs, plus four sacks. 5. Nick Foles PHI 12/18 228 3 0 83 61 23 Foles had a good day overall, but a lousy day on third downs. In seven dropbacks, he only completed two passes, both for first downs, for 33 total yards. Otherwise, he had two incompletions and was sacked three times, with one fumble. 6. Peyton Manning DEN 25/36 330 4 0 82 82 0 Manning struggled on third downs too, going 3-of-7 for just 18 yards with a sack. All three of those completions picked up a new set of downs. But still. 7. Ryan Fitzpatrick TEN 22/33 264 2 0 76 66 10 Fitzpatrick, on the other hand, killed it on third downs, going 7-of-9 for 100 yards with two touchdowns, five other first downs, and one sack-fumble. It helped that six of those plays came with 5 yards or less to go for a first down; Fitzpatrick converted all of them. 8. Kellen Clemens STL 9/16 247 2 0 76 95 -19 First and second downs: 2-of-7 for 18 yards with one first down and two sacks. Third downs, for 229 yards, with two touchdowns and four other first downs. 9. Carson Palmer ARI 20/32 241 2 1 65 65 0 Palmer had big problems in short yardage. In seven plays with 5 yards or less to go for a first down, he had one completion for 12 yards, five incompletions, and an interception. 10. Ryan Tannehill MIA 27/42 229 2 1 57 55 2 11. Matthew Stafford DET 18/35 219 3 1 56 72 -16 Red zone passing: 3-of-5 for 23 yards with three touchdowns. 12. Matt Ryan ATL 23/36 172 1 0 55 50 5 Ryan's fourth-down touchdown in the third quarter, which cut Seattle's lead to 16, was the first time all game that he completed a pass for a first down in Seattle's territory. On that side of the field, he finished up 5-of-9 for 15 yards with one touchdown, one other first down, two completions that lost yards, and one sack. Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR 13. Case Keenum HOU 23/43 201 3 0 49 45 4 The Texans had a third-and-3 in the third quarter, down by 3 points at their own 42-yard line. Keenum was then sacked for a 23-yard loss. That's 5 yards longer than any other sack this season. 14. Mike Glennon TB 11/21 139 1 1 30 29 1 15. Philip Rivers SD 19/29 218 1 0 25 27 -1 Rivers had eight dropbacks with more than 10 yards to go for a first down. He had one sack and two incompletions, but he also completed four passes for 57 yards, plus an 8-yard DPI, for four total conversions. 16. Josh McCown CHI 6/9 62 1 0 24 24 0 McCown only played on one drive at the end of the game. His biggest plays were a 12-yard gain on third-and-13, a 14-yard gain on the ensuing fourth down, and an 11-yard touchdown on third down that came within a two-point conversion of tying the game. 17. Jay Cutler CHI 22/40 264 1 1 13 13 0 It sure looks like Cutler was hurt by the end of the game. On his last four drives, he went 6-of-13 for only 38 yards and one first down. 18. Scott Tolzien GB 24/39 280 1 2 6 -3 9 Red zone passing: 3-of-10 for 12 yards with no first downs and one interception. 19. Ben Roethlisberger PIT 18/30 204 1 1 -29 -29 0 Third-down passing: 5-of-9 for 82 yards and four first downs, plus four sacks. 20. Tony Romo DAL 11/24 128 1 0 -46 -46 0 Romo did not complete a pass for a first down until the Cowboys were down by 18 points in the third quarter. On third downs — Dallas fans might want to sit down — he went 0-for-6 with two sacks. 21. Chad Henne JAC 14/23 180 0 2 -50 -50 0 Jordan Todman's 5-yard touchdown run in the third quarter put Jacksonville up 20-7. From that point forward, Henne went 3-of-9 for 34 yards with one first down, one interception, and one sack. 22. Cam Newton CAR 16/32 169 0 1 -66 -46 -20 On San Francisco's side of the field, Newton went 5-of-11 for 39 yards with two first downs and two sacks. He had no plays in the red zone, perhaps because his only two plays inside the 40 were both sacks. He ran six times for 18 yards, with one first down and one fumble. Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR 23. Eli Manning NYG 12/22 140 1 1 -76 -76 0 From last week's Quick Reads: [Nick] Foles completed 7-of-9 deep balls against Oakland for 241 yards and three touchdowns. He threw one other pass that went exactly 15 yards downfield. It was caught in the end zone for another touchdown. Playing against that same secondary, Manning threw only two deep balls, completing one for 25 yards. 24. Jake Locker TEN 4/9 24 0 1 -76 -84 8 In limited time, Locker ran only one play in Jacksonville territory. It was a fumbled snap, recovered by the Jaguars. 25. Andrew Luck IND 29/47 353 1 3 -85 -83 -3 Third downs: 2-of-7 for 74 yards (both for first downs) with an interception, two sacks, and a fumble that was returned by St. Louis for a touchdown. 26. Joe Flacco BAL 20/36 140 2 2 -98 -96 -1 In the first quarter, Flacco went 4-of-7 for 37 yards with a touchdown and two other first downs, plus a 48-yard DPI. He actually led all quarterbacks this week in first-quarter DYAR, but was dead last from that point forward. 27. Colin Kaepernick SF 11/22 91 0 1 -98 -94 -4 Kaepernick had twice as many sacks (six) as first downs (three). He also officially had a 6-yard loss on a running play. 28. Andy Dalton CIN 24/50 274 2 3 -120 -132 12 Two weird plays broken down: the Hail Mary touchdown that forced overtime was worth 43 DYAR. The completion for an 11-yard loss on fourth-and-2 on Cincinnati's last play was worth -20. In the first half, he went 8-of-21 for 47 yards with three first downs and an interception. 29. Terrelle Pryor OAK 12/26 122 0 1 -121 -130 9 Third-down passing: 2-of-9 for 29 yards with one first down, two sacks, one fumble, and one interception. 30. E.J. Manuel BUF 23/39 155 1 1 -127 -138 10 Manuel spent a lot of time throwing ineffectively to his right, going 8-of-15 for 38 yards with two first downs and an interception.

Five most valuable running backs Rk Player Team Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR 1. Mark Ingram NO 145 1 15 0 59 60 -1 Ingram only had 14 carries on Sunday night, but six of them went for 10 yards or more, including two of 30 or more. He finished with one touchdown and seven other first downs, and failed to gain positive yardage only once. The Saints threw him three passes, and he caught two of them. 2. Marshawn Lynch SEA 145 1 16 0 58 54 3 Lynch had four 10-yard runs, including a 37-yarder, and four other first downs, including a 1-yard touchdown on third down. Meanwhile, he was stuffed for no gain or a loss just once in 24 carries. He caught each of the three passes thrown his way, including a 9-yard gain on third-and-four. 3. Darren Sproles NO 12 1 76 1 48 8 40 Sproles only had five carries, but one was a 3-yard touchdown on third down. He caught each of the seven passes thrown his way, with a 28-yard touchdown and three gains of exactly 11 yards. 4. Pierre Thomas NO 87 1 24 1 44 40 4 Three running backs from one team in Quick Reads. That is almost certainly a first. A model of consistency, Thomas' longest run gained only 10 yards, but 12 of his 17 carries gained 5 yards or more, and he had a touchdown and five other first downs. He caught each of the seven passes thrown his way, but only two gained successful yardage, one a 1-yard touchdown on third-and-goal. 5. Alfred Morris WAS 139 0 0 0 43 43 0 Four of Morris' 26 runs went for 10 yards or more, including a 26-yarder, and he finished with seven first downs on the ground, with only two stuffs for no gain or a loss.

Least valuable running back Rk Player Team Rush

Yds Rush

TD Rec

Yds Rec

TD Total

DYAR Rush

DYAR Rec

DYAR 1. Matt Forte CHI 33 0 16 0 -54 -20 -34 A model of consistency, though not in a good way. Ten of his 17 carries gained 2 yards or less, none went for more than 7 yards, and he had only one first down. He only had three receptions in seven targets, and all three of those receptions were failed catches on third down. Ray Rice, by the way, finished right behind Forte. His 18 carries gained only 30 yards and no first downs, with a long carry of 5 yards. In fact, he had only one successful run on the day: a 3-yard gain on first-and-5. Six of those carries were stuffed for no gain or a loss. He caught all six of the passes thrown his way, but that includes an 11-yard gain on third-and-21, a 2-yard gain on third-and-11, and a 4-yard loss on second-and-1.

Five most valuable wide receivers and tight ends Rk Player Team Rec Att Yds Avg TD Total

DYAR 1. Tavon Austin STL 2 3 138 69.0 2 60 If you follow me on Twitter, you know I've been very harsh on Austin through the first half of his rookie campaign. He had been one of the worst receivers in the league, and one of the worst punt returners we've seen since the merger. Well, forget that. He had touchdown receptions of 57 and 81 yards (both on third down), and his DYAR does not account for his 98-yard touchdown on a punt return. For one week, he shut me the hell up. 2. Marques Colston NO 7 8 107 15.3 1 59 Each of Colston's receptions gained at least 6 yards and a touchdown, including three gains of 20 yards or more and a pair of third-down conversions. 3. Rishard Matthews MIA 11 14 120 10.9 2 57 4. Demaryius Thomas DEN 7 10 108 15.4 3 55 Each of Thomas' receptions gained at least 7 yards and a first down, including touchdowns of 34, 28, and 11 yards. 5. Brandon Marshall CHI 7 12 139 19.9 2 54 Six of Marshall's receptions gained a first down, including touchdowns of 32 and 11 yards and a 44-yard gain on second-and-10.