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The worst QB to start at least 5 games for your NFL team? (1 Viewer)

Stephen Orr Spurrier...with his 1600 yards, 7 TD, 12 Int, 50.7 rating, and 0-14 record.

 
The Falcons are the winner here, thanks to Kim McQuilken.

A brief summary: During his career, McQuilken started 7 games, threw 272 passes, and accumulated a total of 9 fantasy points.
This didn't get enough love.

This dude had a career quarterback rating of 17.9. 4 TDs, 29 Interceptions.

272 ATT

108 COMP

39.7%

4.2 YPA

1.5% TD

10.5% INT

Also managed to get sacked 31 times (-322) while rushing for 19-49-0.

The sack stat is actually pretty impressive - it's pretty rare to see someone average over 10 yards per sack.

Small sample size but those numbers are tough to beat.

 
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Here is one version of the "leaderboard", going back to 1969.

Here is another version, if you want to go back to the beginning and pick out the worst passer. Leading the way is the Boston Redskins' Pug Rentner, who threw 26 completions and 24 interceptions from 1934-1936.

 
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I looked pretty far back for the Vikings but I don't see an obvious choice. You could make good case for either Tarvaris Jackson or Ponder. There might have been a one or two guys slightly worse but I think Ponder and Jackson were the most damaging to the franchise due to the amount of time the Vikings stuck with them. Jackson was slightly worse IMO but it's close.

This was the worst quarterbacked game I've ever seen. The weather was #### that game though. 10-for-20, 50 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200612210gnb.htm

 
Here is one version of the "leaderboard", going back to 1969.

Here is another version, if you want to go back to the beginning and pick out the worst passer. Leading the way is the Boston Redskins' Pug Rentner, who threw 26 completions and 24 interceptions from 1934-1936.
Wow - so in the modern era Kim McQuilken is the "leader", and if you go back to the beginning of time, he's 2nd all-time with a minimum of 250 attempts.

 
As a long suffering Jets fan I think I win this one.

With his first Shark Pool post Valjean selects...

... University of Louisville QB, Browning Nagle.

/End of thread
I came in here to post this exact person, but there were years of utter futility for the Jets. I wonder if there isn't one closer to five games.

I was going to write something else, but I think Nagle was quite gone by the time the classic Simpsons classic rip on the Jets on the NYC subway came out. In "The City of New York vs. Homer Simpson" there's a sight gag that if you blink, you'll miss. If I remember right from back in '97, he's wearing number eight, just like Nagle.

When Bart, Marge, and Lisa are on the subway an ad can be seen that says "Can you throw a football? Become a New York Jet. Call 1-800-4NYJETS." This is a reference to the New York Jets, who had the worst season in franchise history the year before this episode came out, with a 1–15 record.

 
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Haven't seen a (serious) response with the Giants, let me give some thought.

Can't speak from pre-simms, so has to be one of Dave Brown, Kent Graham or Danny Kanell.

Without looking into it more, I'd go Kanell, but those guys were like interchangeable suckitude for like 3 years or so in the '90s.

 
Haven't seen a (serious) response with the Giants, let me give some thought.

Can't speak from pre-simms, so has to be one of Dave Brown, Kent Graham or Danny Kanell.

Without looking into it more, I'd go Kanell, but those guys were like interchangeable suckitude for like 3 years or so in the '90s.
You probably aren't old enough to remember Scott Brunner. He was really, really terrible.

ETA: Yeah, just noticed the bolded.

 
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JP Losman or Trent Edwards. I can't call it.
Both just below mediocre.

Dan Darragh started 11 games for the Bills over three years and led them to a scintillating 1-10 record as a starter. For any game he appeared in, the Bills went 1-15-1. In the only game during the 68 season that the Bills won (by a score of 37-35), Darragh went 8 for 18 for 79 yards and a pick.

He finished with the following line for his illustrious career:

296 attempts, 127 completions, 1,353 passing yards (4.57 Y/A), 4 TD, 22 INT. Adds up to a passer rating of 30.4

 
JamieMurphy said:
renesauz said:
Requiring 5 starts, it would have to be Koy Detmer for me and the Eagles, although there have probably been worse at some point before I was paying attention
Did Bobby Hoying start 5? If so he gets my vote. Or Kevin Kolb.
Koy, Hoying and Kolb all had great games on their resume. Mike McMahon was a complete waste of space.

 
seahawk 17 said:
I am going Kelly Stouffer, drafted #6 overall and went 0-7 when he played for Seattle.
Regardless of draft position, I think I'd go Stan Gelbaugh.

It's either Gelbaugh, Stouffer or Dan McGuire----amazingly this was the stable of QBs on the '92 roster, and explains the 2-14 record that season. My god.

 
Road Warriors said:
NE had a horrific stretch in the late 80s to early 90s, from the end of Berry to Rod Rust to **** McPherson ( the dark ages ended by Savior Bill Parcells ).

The QBs during that stretch were among the worst I recall seeing. It's really hard to pick just 1.

110 year old Steve Grogan ( who I loved as a kid - one tough SOB and in no way the worst QB for the Pats )

Marc Wilson

Hugh Millen

Tom Hodson

Scott Zolak

Jeff Carlson*

Scott Secules*

* Carlson only started 2 and Secules only 4, but I wanted to give a taste of how awesome those years were.

From ( admittedly hazy ) memory, I'd have to select Wilson or Millen as the worst of the crew.
I love seeing Millen on 2 lists so far. This guy does local Seattle sports talk radio and is such an arrogant, chauvinistic, xenophobic, D-bag.

 
ZWK said:
I'd like to nominate a quarterback with a winning record, who led the 2004 Chicago Bears to 3 wins in his 5 starts: Craig Krenzel.

His best game of that season was probably his 28-21 win in New York over the Giants, where he went 8/21 passing for 144 yards, 1 TD, and 0 INTs. He was also sacked 5 times for -35 yards, fumbling twice and losing both. For those scoring at home, that is 109 net yards on 26 plays, with 2 turnovers and 1 TD. The Bears had 11 three-and-outs that game. A respectable enough performance, when your defense generates 5 turnovers.

For the season, Krenzel completed only 46% of his passes and was sacked on 15% of his dropbacks, generating 560 net yards on 150 dropbacks, with 12 turnovers and only 3 TDs.

Krenzel probably wasn't even the Bears' worst quarterback in that glorious year, but Jonathan Quinn (un?)fortunately doesn't reach the 5-game cutoff.
Kordell Stewart's time with the Bears is also up there. If there was no 5 game limit, I'd go with Henry Burris over all of these guys though.

 
seahawk 17 said:
I am going Kelly Stouffer, drafted #6 overall and went 0-7 when he played for Seattle.
Regardless of draft position, I think I'd go Stan Gelbaugh.

It's either Gelbaugh, Stouffer or Dan McGuire----amazingly this was the stable of QBs on the '92 roster, and explains the 2-14 record that season. My god.
Stouffer started the two games Seattle won in 92. Gelbaugh gets my vote. He went 0-8 as a starter in 92.

 
JamieMurphy said:
renesauz said:
Requiring 5 starts, it would have to be Koy Detmer for me and the Eagles, although there have probably been worse at some point before I was paying attention
Did Bobby Hoying start 5? If so he gets my vote. Or Kevin Kolb.
Koy, Hoying and Kolb all had great games on their resume. Mike McMahon was a complete waste of space.
Yep, but he only had one or two starts

 
The Cardinals had an absolutely horrific 3 years from 2010-2012. Here's the list of every QB starting for them in those three years:

Derek Anderson

John Skelton

Max Hall

Kevin Kolb

Ryan Lindley

Brian Hoyer

It is really hard to root for a team that rolls out that ridiculousness for three straight years.

But none of them were as bad as Tom Tupa back in the early '90's. In his "big" season, he started 11 games and threw 6 TD's and 13 picks. He was actually a decent punter, but an absolutely horrible QB.

 
Dolphins are a tough one. Post Marino they have been painful. Bottom three below:

1. Cleo Lemon: Started 7 games in 2007 and led Miami to a 1-15 season

2. Ray Lucas: Single handedly destroyed Miami's 2002 season when he came on for the injured Jay Fielder (who was one Miami's better post Marino QBs - let that sink in). Fumbles and turnovers galore.

3. AJ Feeley: Started 8 games in 2004 and was positively mediocre. Gave up a second round pick for him too.

 
I have to go with Gifford Nielson for the Oilers/Titans.

Looks like you could maybe go with some of those guys in the 60s/early 70s before Pastorini but I don't go back that far to know how they were.

 
JamieMurphy said:
renesauz said:
Requiring 5 starts, it would have to be Koy Detmer for me and the Eagles, although there have probably been worse at some point before I was paying attention
Did Bobby Hoying start 5? If so he gets my vote. Or Kevin Kolb.
Koy, Hoying and Kolb all had great games on their resume. Mike McMahon was a complete waste of space.
Yep, but he only had one or two starts
He had 7.

 
Dolphins are a tough one. Post Marino they have been painful. Bottom three below:

1. Cleo Lemon: Started 7 games in 2007 and led Miami to a 1-15 season

2. Ray Lucas: Single handedly destroyed Miami's 2002 season when he came on for the injured Jay Fielder (who was one Miami's better post Marino QBs - let that sink in). Fumbles and turnovers galore.

3. AJ Feeley: Started 8 games in 2004 and was positively mediocre. Gave up a second round pick for him too.
Yea don't worry. Eagles turned that pick into Reggie Brown. Exactly.

 
sports_fan said:
This was the worst quarterbacked game I've ever seen. The weather was #### that game though. 10-for-20, 50 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200612210gnb.htm
Nice try, but this was the worst-quarterbacked game we've ever seen. I'm not brooking any argument on this one.
There have been worse.
I kind of dig this one, because, for this particular game, Marshawn Lynch was hurt and the starting Cleveland RB back situation was a mess. Leon Washington and Hardesty got the starts. (Hardesty was 33-95 on the day. Ouch.)

It was 6-3 in the end, but the funny thing was McCoy and Whitehurst combined for 228 total passing yards on 65 attempts with two picks and no TDs. That's a 3.5 average per pass. That's pretty weak.

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/201110230cle.htm

 
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Snoopy said:
Anthony Dilweg

Randy Wright

Jerry Tagge
The Packer List. All your guys would be in the bottom 5, mix Babe Parelli in there. But all these guys crashed the magic 50% completion rate, and none of them threw twice as many INT's as TD's. Scott Hunter checks in at a cool 43.9%, with a 15/30 TD/INT ratio in 29 games for the Green and Gold. The Packers did go to the playoffs in 1972, with a backfield of John Brockington and McArthur Lane 544 rushing attempts to 237 passes

 
sports_fan said:
This was the worst quarterbacked game I've ever seen. The weather was #### that game though. 10-for-20, 50 yards, 0 TD, 1 INT

http://www.pro-football-reference.com/boxscores/200612210gnb.htm
Nice try, but this was the worst-quarterbacked game we've ever seen. I'm not brooking any argument on this one.
There have been worse.
I'm not sure how this morphed into single-game futility, but I'll play along.

9/29//74, Jets at Bills

Joe Namath - 2 for 18 for 33 yards. 0 TDs, 3 INTs

Joe Ferguson - 0 for 2

VIDEO

 
The Cardinals had an absolutely horrific 3 years from 2010-2012. Here's the list of every QB starting for them in those three years:

Derek Anderson

John Skelton

Max Hall

Kevin Kolb

Ryan Lindley

Brian Hoyer

It is really hard to root for a team that rolls out that ridiculousness for three straight years.

But none of them were as bad as Tom Tupa back in the early '90's. In his "big" season, he started 11 games and threw 6 TD's and 13 picks. He was actually a decent punter, but an absolutely horrible QB.
Hall and Lindley were absolutely much worse than Tupa. Tupa's numbers were a bit below league average, but not exceptionally so- basically within one standard deviation across the board. He averaged 4.10 adjusted net yards per pass in 1991, for instance.

Max Hall averaged 0.33. On a team with Larry Fitzgerald. He's the worst QB I've seen if you abolish the 5-start minimum. (And Lindley is the worst if you keep the minimum.)

Edit: Kolb, Skelton, Anderson, and Hoyer were bad, but just of the "garden variety bad" type, not the "historically awful" type.

 
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Jerry Goldsteyn, who started 9 career games, 5 of which were for the Giants in 2 seasons, has to be up there. He had a career completion % of 42.1% on 217 pass attempts, 2 TDs to 13 INTs, sacked 31 times and a passer rating of 36.2. He was worse with the Giants, 39.1% on 110 attempts, 9 INTs, 22 sacks and a rating just over 22. Some how he won 2 of his 9 starts, but it's misleading. He won his first start against the Redskins in 1977, passing for the game tying TD in that one (they won on a Joe Danelo FG) but was benched by week 3 for Paterson Plank Joe Pisarcik, most famous for "The Fumble" in a game vs. the Eagles. He started 2 games the next season, and "won" his start against the Bucs, but actually he was benched after going 3-10 for 27 yards and Pisarcik bailed him out.

Worst one game performance might have been Richard Todd while with the Saints in 1984, facing the 49ers. Was 2-7, 5 yards, 3 INTs before being benched in the 2nd quarter. A washed up Kenny Stabler actually led the Saints from behind to grab the lead, only to later succumb in the 4th quarter.

Worst single pass has to be the one by Garo Yepremian in the Super Bowl vs. Washington on a botched FG attempt.

 
The Cardinals had an absolutely horrific 3 years from 2010-2012. Here's the list of every QB starting for them in those three years:

Derek Anderson

John Skelton

Max Hall

Kevin Kolb

Ryan Lindley

Brian Hoyer

It is really hard to root for a team that rolls out that ridiculousness for three straight years.

But none of them were as bad as Tom Tupa back in the early '90's. In his "big" season, he started 11 games and threw 6 TD's and 13 picks. He was actually a decent punter, but an absolutely horrible QB.
Hall and Lindley were absolutely much worse than Tupa. Tupa's numbers were a bit below league average, but not exceptionally so- basically within one standard deviation across the board. He averaged 4.10 adjusted net yards per pass in 1991, for instance.

Max Hall averaged 0.33. On a team with Larry Fitzgerald. He's the worst QB I've seen if you abolish the 5-start minimum. (And Lindley is the worst if you keep the minimum.)

Edit: Kolb, Skelton, Anderson, and Hoyer were bad, but just of the "garden variety bad" type, not the "historically awful" type.
The sight of Ryan Lindley one-hopping balls to Larry Fitzgerald is one of the saddest things I've ever seen in sports. He would get separation, break open, catch the ball one-handed when it came him off the turf, and walk dejectedly back to the huddle. Lindley didn't top 72 yards in 3 of his first 4 starts (and threw 4 interceptions in the other game.) That might have been the worst sustained stretch of QB play I have witnessed personally.

The worst QB I've ever seen in person didn't play that night. On Thanksgiving Night - I think this *might* have been the game Fireman Ed quit and went home - I watched Tim Tebow warm up by dropping back from the 5 and attempt to hit the TE who was working with him one on one. Ball after ball went flying behind, over or short. After awhile we just starting giggling and couldn't stop. I have never seen a professional athlete look so incompetent while not even competing. There was no rush, there was no defender, and for five solid minutes he couldn't get the ball to the guy.

Dude was ripped, though. Most muscular QB I've ever seen. So there's that.

ETA: Had to look it up to be sure; yep, that was the Butt Fumble game.

 
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Sean Salisbury, Tavaris Jackson or Christian Ponder.
Did Spergon Wynn start five games?

ETA: Looked it up and Wynn only started two games. His 39 QB rating is easily the worst. Of your nominees Jackson actually had better numbers than I remembered and really shouldn't be in consideration. Salisbury was incredibly mediocre. Ponder still threw more TDs than Ints and his QB rating isn't awful. He's definitely the biggest disappointment we've had, but maybe not the worst. Statistically speaking, Robert Van Kelen is our worst QB to start at least five games: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Vander_Kelen

In short, we've been pretty blessed with decent QB play.

 
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The worst QB I've ever seen in person didn't play that night. On Thanksgiving Night - I think this *might* have been the game Fireman Ed quit and went home - I watched Tim Tebow warm up by dropping back from the 5 and attempt to hit the TE who was working with him one on one. Ball after ball went flying behind, over or short. After awhile we just starting giggling and couldn't stop. I have never seen a professional athlete look so incompetent while not even competing. There was no rush, there was no defender, and for five solid minutes he couldn't get the ball to the guy.

Dude was ripped, though. Most muscular QB I've ever seen. So there's that.
The Broncos had Tim Tebow, Brady Quinn, and Kyle Orton on their roster in 2011. One of those things was not like the others.

 
Interesting about the Eagles:

Koy Detmer was only 1-4 for them in his 5 starts in 1998. He completed only 53% of his passes and had 5 TD's and 5 Ints. I think Koy somewhat redeemed himself in 2002, when he started for an injured Donovan McNabb and led the Eagles to a big road win in SF before he suffered a season ending injury late in the game. What is interesting is that after a decent 1997 as QB, Bobby Hoying in 1998 completed 50% of his passes and had 0 TD's and 9 Ints. He was also sacked 35 times in his seven starts and went 1-6. Detmer was only sacked 5 times in his 5 starts that season so you can't just blame it on the line. Hoying was absolutely dreadful that season for a dreadful football team.

 
Favre early in his career.
incorrect :no: Favre had it down pat from the start..

I believe if you watched Bart Starr "Coach" the team into the basement each Season?...



Jefferson was traded to the Green Bay Packers in 1981.With the Packers, Jefferson starred opposite future Pro Football Hall of Fame wideout James Lofton. Jefferson, Lofton, and tight end Paul Coffman teamed up with quarterback Lynn Dickey to give the Packers one of the most explosive passing attacks in the NFL at the time; however, a defense which hovered near the bottom of the league relegated Green Bay to three 8-8 finishes :wall:

You would recall Forest Greg taking the reins..

Greg still had Dickey to start, but finished w/ a guy named Randy Wright! (1986) It was very sad.. Majikman looked like the real deal for Packer Fans.. He was good. However Favre sorta matched him from the start, and surpassed in a short time.. :yes:

But before all that suck, read below ,, :rant:

In the following season, after he was beaten out for the starting quarterback position by James Harris, he was traded to the Green Bay Packers for five draft picks—first and second round picks for 1975 and 1976, as well as a third round pick in 1975. Reportedly, head coach and general manager Dan Devine felt that an experienced quarterback was the only thing standing between the Packers and only their second playoff appearance since 1967. The trade turned out to be an unmitigated disaster; it is reckoned as one of the worst (if not the worst) trades for a starting quarterback in NFL history. Hadl played a total of 22 games with the Packers and threw for 9 touchdowns and 29 interceptions behind a porous offensive line; the team posted a 7-15 record over this span. The trade caused irreparable harm to Hadl's legacy and hastened a two-decade fall from glory for the Packer franchise; they would not make the playoffs again in a non-strike year until 1993.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hadl

 
renesauz said:
Requiring 5 starts, it would have to be Koy Detmer for me and the Eagles, although there have probably been worse at some point before I was paying attention
Any number of QBs from the dreadful late 60s/early 70s teams were worse than Detmer. A good example is John Reaves, who started 7 games in 1972 and lost them all, with 7 TD, 12 INT, a completion percentage of 48.2% and a rating of 58.4.
For the Eagles, there has to be a mention of that 1991 season. Jeff kemp and brad goebel both made 2 starts each after Cunningham and McMahon went down. Pretty ugly stuff. They still 10-6. One of those teams that could of won a super bowl with an adequate offense
You forgot Pat Ryun played in two games that season. His Statline: 10 for 26 for 98 yards, 0 TD's and 4 ints. You combine Rich Kotite's offensive coaching with an Over-the-hill Jim McMahon, an Aging career backup in Jeff Kemp, an even more aging career backup in Pat Ryun, a rookie undrafted QB in Brad Goebel (who did even start in his senior year at Baylor), a running game that was dead last in yards per attempt (3.1), and an offense that tied for 2nd in giveaways (43), and you have more than enough bad offense to ruin one of the greatest defensive seasons of all time. If all that weren't enough their schedule included the defending Superbowl Champ Giants (twice), the current year superbowl champ Redskins (twice), the next year superbowl champ Cowboys (twice), the Over-the-hill but still good 49ers, the potent run and shoot Oilers, and the NFC West champion Saints.

 
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Toss up between Derek Andersen or Matt Leinart. For the money we paid him, Leinart wins. The cards have has some terrible starting QB's, mostly due to injury, in the past.

ETA: Leinart stats (four years) with the Cards: 57% completion, 14 TD' s vs 19 Int's - Career QBR 53, 34, 54 & 48. Fitz should be considered for the HOF because he was able to put up numbers despite 4 years in his prime wasted by this flop.

 
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You could make the argument that Rick Mirer was the worst QB to play for every team that he was on.
This was who I was going to post about.

4 years with the Seahawks, 3 of those with more INTs than TDs. 20-31 record. Could NOT throw to his left.

And we used the #2 overall pick on him.

 

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