by Vince Verhei

Sunday was a good day for wide receivers in the NFL. How good? Mike Wallace, James Jones, Julio Jones, and Pierre Garcon combined to catch 39 passes in 50 targets for 618 yards, but none of them made the top five wide receivers in Week 2.

Going into Monday night, those four wideouts ranked ninth through 12th in the Quick Reads tables, so it's not as if any of them had bad days. And the margin between these guys and the names at the top of the list is slim. For example, Garcon's worst play by DYAR was an incompletion on third-and-5 in field-goal range. Take that one play away and he shoots five spots up the rankings. Still, you'd expect more from a collective 78 percent Catch Rate and 12.4 yards per target.

Garcon struggled on third downs, though. The first four third-down throws to Garcon were all incomplete. By the time he caught a touchdown on third-and-goal from the 6 and then gained 25 yards on third-and-11, Washington was down by 31 points in the fourth quarter. In that context, it's easy to explain why Garcon is missing from the Quick Reads table, despite his impressive raw statline (eight receptions, 13 targets, 143 yards, one touchdown).

Atlanta's Julio Jones (11-14-182-1) had the longest catch of the week, an 81-yard touchdown. That big play, though, masked a trio of failed completions—a zero-yard gain on second-and-8, a 4-yard gain on first-and-10, and a 7-yard gain on third-and-8—that somewhat boosted his fantasy numbers, but hurt Atlanta's chances of winning.

While we're keeping up with the Joneses, let's discuss Green Bay's James Jones (11-12-178-0). Like his namesake in Atlanta, Jones had a handful of failed completions (a 3-yard gain on first-and-10 and a 14-yard gain on third-and-21). More importantly, he fumbled away a ball inside the red zone. Granted, by that point the Packers were ahead by 24 points. Still, fumbles are bad news.

Finally, there's Miami's Mike Wallace (9-11-115-1). Wallace only had three failed plays, the two incompletions and a 4-yard gain on second-and-10. Wallace is not dragged down by a high number of bad plays, but rather a lack of very big ones. Only two of Wallace's catches gained more than 10 DYAR, an 18-yard touchdown in the first quarter and a 34-yard gain in the third. There were 142 catches of 10 or more DYAR this week, so that's hardly a high threshold to cross.

Quarterbacks

Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR

1. Aaron Rodgers GB 34/42 480 4 0 268 268 0

Rodgers threw for 26 completions and 335 yards in the first half. In that half, on third and fourth downs, he went 6-of-7 for 106 yards, with two touchdowns and two other first downs. His two failed completions were 14-yard gains with 21 and 24 yards to go. His only incompletion came on third-and-3. On the ensuing fourth down, he hit Randall Cobb for a 35-yard score.

2. Philip Rivers SD 36/47 419 3 0 236 235 2

Is the deep ball back in San Diego? On throws that traveled at least 16 yards past the line of scrimmage, Rivers went 7-of-11 for 156 yards and a touchdown, plus an 18-yard DPI.

3. Michael Vick PHI 23/36 430 2 0 191 185 6

Vick had a great day on first and second down, but a lousy day on third downs: 2-of-6 for 6 yards, with his only conversion a 5-yard gain on third-and-4. He did run for a 2-yard touchdown on his only third-down carry.

4. Peyton Manning DEN 30/43 308 2 0 171 171 0

Manning was damn near flawless in the second half. After the break, he went 12-of-14 for 108 yards with two touchdowns and six other first downs.

5. Matt Ryan ATL 33/43 374 2 0 144 144 0

Atlanta's game plan included a lot of short passes on first down, where Ryan went 12-of-15, but for just 67 yards and two first downs.

6. Sam Bradford STL 32/55 352 3 1 100 89 11

Saving his best for last: Bradford threw touchdowns on each of St. Louis' last three drives, going 17-of-27 for 188 yards plus an 8-yard DPI in that stretch.

7. Alex Smith KC 21/34 223 2 0 63 50 13

The 49ers benched and then traded Alex Smith in part because they liked Colin Kaepernick's mobility. On Sunday, Smith rushed eight times for 57 yards (both career highs) and three first downs. Only two of those runs were listed as scrambles, and only one of them came after halftime.

8. Joe Flacco BAL 22/33 211 1 0 56 51 5

Flacco threw two passes to the deep middle of the field, completing both for gains of 23 and 16 yards. To the deep outside, though, he went 0-for-7.

9. Matthew Stafford DET 24/36 278 2 0 55 59 -4

The Lions' game famously ended on a failed completion on fourth down, but even before that point Stafford struggled to pick up first downs when Detroit needed them. On third downs, he went 7-of-10 for 69 yards and a sack, only picking up three first downs.

10. Robert Griffin WAS 26/40 320 3 1 52 58 -7

On his first eight third downs, Griffin had as many interceptions (one) as completions, and that one catch was a 2-yard gain with 9 yards to go. By that point, Washington was down by 31 points. After that, he went 5-of-5 on third downs for 49 yards, with three touchdowns and one other first down.

11. E.J. Manuel BUF 27/39 296 1 1 43 40 3

Manuel found success in the short left area of the field, going 11-of-13 for 110 yards, with one touchdown and four other first downs.

12. Tony Romo DAL 31/43 295 1 0 32 32 1

Romo throwing to receivers not named Dez Bryant: 22-of-30, but for only 154 yards and eight first downs.

Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR

13. Andy Dalton CIN 25/45 280 1 0 28 33 -5

14. Andrew Luck IND 25/43 321 1 1 27 7 21

To his left: 11-of-17 for 133 yards with one touchdown and six other first downs. Up the middle: 4-of-10 for 64 yards with four first downs. To his right: 10-of-16 for 124 yards, but only three first downs with one interception.

15. Eli Manning NYG 28/49 362 1 4 25 25 0

Third and fourth downs: 4-of-12 for 84 yards with one first down and one interception. He also converted third-and-2 and fourth-and-2 with DPIs of 1 and 23 yards.

16. Jay Cutler CHI 28/38 290 3 2 16 13 3

Cutler did better in the Front zone (4-of-5 for 98 yards with one touchdown and three other first downs, plus a sack-fumble that was returned for a touchdown) than he did inside the red zone (3-of-8 for 20 yards, with two touchdowns and an interception).

17. Ben Roethlisberger PIT 20/36 251 1 1 16 14 2

18. Christian Ponder MIN 16/30 227 1 1 10 16 -6

Short passes: 11-of-21 for 109 yards with a pick-six and only four first downs. Deep passes: 5-of-9 for 118 yards with a touchdown and four other first downs. Who are you and what have you done with Christian Ponder?

19. Carson Palmer ARI 22/39 248 1 1 9 9 0

On Detroit's side of the field, Palmer went just 8-of-18 for 83 yards, with one touchdown, three other first downs, one sack, and one pick-six.

20. Russell Wilson SEA 8/19 142 1 1 9 0 9

Not included in the numbers above: Two DPIs for 47 total yards, four sacks, a fumbled snap, plus seven runs for 36 yards. He only had ten first downs and 11 total successful plays (run or pass) all night. Frankly, it was a pretty horrible game except for a handful of big plays. His first four completions totaled 118 yards, but it took him until the middle of the third quarter to get there.

21. Ryan Tannehill MIA 23/33 319 1 0 -4 11 -15

The Dolphins somehow won this game even though Tannehill threw only three passes inside the Indianapolis 40-yard line. Of course, those three passes were all completed for 67 yards with a touchdown and two other first downs. In the middle of the field, he went 7-of-15 for 65 yards with as many sacks (three) as first downs.

22. Chad Henne JAC 25/37 241 1 0 -5 -11 6

A 68 percent completion rate is pretty good, but a league-high 13 of those completions were failed plays. In the back zone (the area between the offense's 20 and 40, where most drives start), Henne had completions for 13 and 18 yards, and otherwise went 7-of-12 for 19 yards with three sacks and no successful plays.

Rk Player Team CP/AT Yds TD INT Total

DYAR Pass

DYAR Rush

DYAR

23. Terrelle Pryor OAK 15/23 126 0 0 -39 -43 4

Pryor ran nine times for 50 yards, though 27 of those yards came on one play, and only one other run counted as a success. On Oakland's half of the field, he went 8-of-13 for 88 yards with five first downs and a sack, with six carries for 46 yards. On the other side of the field, he went 7-of-10 for 38 yards with one first down and one sack-fumble, plus three runs for 4 yards.

24. Drew Brees NO 26/45 322 1 2 -40 -40 0

On the game-winning field-goal drive, Brees went 3-of-3 for 54 yards. Of course, they might not have needed a game-winning field-goal drive if Brees had played better in the red zone, where he went 2-of-4 for 7 yards with no first downs and two sacks.

25. Matt Schaub HOU 26/48 298 3 2 -41 -41 0

On Houston's last three drives (a game-tying touchdown, a missed game-winning field-goal attempt, and a game-winning touchdown in overtime), Schaub went 9-of-17 for 175 yards with every completion going for a first down or touchdown. Before that, he went 17-of-31 for 123 yards with two touchdowns, four other first downs, two sacks, and two interceptions, including a pick-six.

26. Tom Brady NE 19/39 185 1 0 -42 -37 -5

Brady has now been below replacement level two games in a row. From the desk of FO boss Aaron Schatz: Last year, he did not have a single game with negative passing YAR, and only one game had negative passing DYAR after opponent adjustments (-23 in Week 16 against Jacksonville). In fact, the last time Brady had a game with negative passing YAR before opponent adjustments was -6 YAR in Week 7 of 2010. That's a long streak. The last time Tom Brady had two straight games with negative passing DYAR after opponent adjustments was -- this is mind-blowing -- during the record-setting 2007 season. No, seriously. He ended the season with these five games: -15 DYAR against Baltimore; 276 vs. Pittsburgh; -30 vs. the Jets; -21 vs. Miami; 230 vs. the Giants.

27. Brandon Weeden CLE 21/33 227 0 0 -46 -46 0

On Cleveland's side of the field, Weeden went 19-of-29 for 221 yards with 11 first downs. On Baltimore's side of the field, he went 2-of-4 for 6 yards with three sacks. Those two completions went for 3 yards apiece, one on first-and-10, one on fourth-and-four. That's a whopping zero successful plays across midfield.

28. Jake Locker TEN 17/30 148 2 0 -48 -52 5

On Tennessee's first drive, Locker went 4-of-5 for 42 yards with two first downs and a touchdown, plus two sacks. On their next ten drives, he went 5-of-13 for 18 yards (not a typo) with no first downs, two sacks, and a 12-yard loss on a fumbled snap. He did manage to run for one first down in that stretch, but add it all up and you get exactly zero yards of total offense. In ten drives! On their next drive he went 7-of-8 for 79 yards with a touchdown and two other first downs. On their last two drives he went 1-of-4 for 9 yards.

29. Cam Newton CAR 21/38 229 2 1 -55 -62 6

Cam oh Cam, where hath thy deep ball gone? He only threw two deep passes against Seattle in Week 1. He threw six against Buffalo, but completed only one of them for 40 yards. Without the home run in his arsenal, Carolina needed Newton to deliver in scoring range, and he came up short. Inside the Buffalo 40, he went 4-of-8 for 29 yards with one touchdown, one other first down, two sacks and an interception. On the day, he ran four times for 15 yards with two first downs.

30. Josh Freeman TB 9/22 125 1 1 -71 -74 3

On Tampa Bay's side of the field, Freeman went 8-of-17 for 120 yards with five first down. That's not very good. Across midfield, he went 1-of-5 for 5 yards with one touchdown, one sack-fumble, and an interception. That's significantly worse.

31. Colin Kaepernick SF 13/28 127 0 3 -164 -189 24

Kaepernick ran nine times for 87 yards and each of San Francisco's five first downs on the ground. The Seahawks could live with that, though, because they shut his passing down so effectively. Kaepernick was 0-for-4 on deep balls with two interceptions. On third downs, he went 4-of-8 for 24 yards with one first down, one sack-fumble, and two interceptions.

32. Geno Smith NYJ 15/35 214 0 3 -166 -170 4