ICYMI in NFL's Week 10: Peyton's career-low rating of 0.0

By foxsports
Published

This was, by pretty much any measure, the worst outing of Peyton Manning's terrific NFL career, and the starkest statistic was his passer rating: 0.0.

Yes, that's right: zero-point-zero.

In 288 previous games in the pros, including the postseason, Manning never had produced a lower rating than 31.3, according to STATS. He managed to eclipse that by virtue of throwing nearly as many interceptions (four) as completions (five) for the Denver Broncos in a 29-13 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.

The 39-year-old Manning was so bad - 5 for 20, 35 yards, zero touchdowns, and one underthrow after another - that he managed to get benched on the same day that he broke Brett Favre's career record for passing yards.

''He's still a great quarterback; just not what he used to be,'' Chiefs linebacker Derrick Johnson said.

Ouch.

After the Broncos' second loss in a row following a 7-0 start, the questions become whether Manning holds onto his starter's job ahead of backup Brock Osweiler, and what exactly is wrong with the only five-time MVP in league history.

Manning came into this game dealing with various health problems, including to his right shoulder, right foot and ribs.

And Manning, who is up to a league-worst 17 interceptions this season, delivered the understatement of the afternoon when he said: ''I did not play well today.''

In case you missed it, here are the other top topics after the NFL season's 10th Sunday:

AMBULANCE: Nothing as scary-looking as the sight of an ambulance driving onto a football field to gather a player. That's what happened in the second quarter of Arizona's 39-32 victory over Seattle at night, when Cardinals offensive lineman Mike Iupati was strapped to a board and driven away after slamming helmets with Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor. The Cardinals later said tests at the hospital came back normal.

HUH?!: Seattle coach Pete Carroll's face said it all, a confused look that basically can be summed up as ''Huh?!'' It was prompted by another ''What the heck constitutes a catch?'' conundrum, when an apparent catch-and-fumble that would have helped the Seahawks was ruled an incomplete pass. Earlier, an apparent TD catch by Odell Beckham Jr. and his Star-Spangled shoes was waved off on review, and the Giants wound up losing to the Patriots on a field goal with a second left. It still seems hard to believe that no one really knows what is a catch and what is not.

MORE QB INJURIES: Philadelphia's Sam Bradford left with a concussion and injured left shoulder; Pittsburgh's Ben Roethlisberger, who left last week's game with a hurt left foot, returned to action because his replacement, Landry Jones, departed with a bad left ankle. Oh, and the most famous of the many injured quarterbacks this season, Dallas' Tony Romo, might return next week from a broken collarbone, but the Cowboys are 0-7 without him.

PACK PROBLEMS: For the first time since 2008, Aaron Rodgers has lost three consecutive starts. Got to go much further back to find the last time Detroit won at Green Bay: 1991. From 6-0 to 6-3, Rodgers' Packers are suddenly stumbling all over the place, most recently in an 18-16 loss to the Lions, who came in at 1-7. And lo and behold, now the Minnesota Vikings (7-2) hold first place in the NFC North heading into next week's game against the visiting Packers, thanks to Adrian Peterson's 203 yards in a 30-14 win at Oakland.

THIS RYAN'S GOT NO DEFENSE: Saints defensive coordinator Rob Ryan - Bills coach Rex's brother - is overseeing about as bad a ''D'' as there can be. New Orleans' past three opponents accumulated 130 points and more than 1,400 yards, including during Sunday's embarrassing 47-14 loss to the Redskins. Washington QB Kirk Cousins threw a career-high four TD passes and compiled a perfect rating of 158.3.

UNBEATENS: New England is 9-0. So is Carolina. Cincinnati can join them by beating the Houston Texans on Monday night.

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

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