Keep an eye on which quarterbacks are getting hot in December. There are some obvious ones: Aaron Rodgers, Josh Allen and Jared Goff. The veterans know when they have to be at their best. But there are some less obvious ones: Bo Nix, Trevor Lawrence and, heck, even Tyler Shough. Most of these QBs are trying to get their teams ready for the playoffs. Shough is trying to make sure he retains his job next year.
But it’s desperation time. It’s fascinating to see who’s thriving under pressure.
The Stock Market isn’t your typical QB rankings. I’m focused on monitoring the fluctuations of a QB’s performance throughout the season. No one — not even Matthew Stafford — is safe at the top. No one — not even Kenny Pickett — is stuck at the bottom. There is room for quick ascent — and rapid decline. One question holds most important: What have you done for your team lately?
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Philip Rivers returned to the field after a five-year retirement and he … wasn't bad. (Photo by Steph Chambers/Getty Images)
Will the Vikings give him another year?
The young quarterback put together solid performances against bad defenses in the past two weeks, and it has — for now — stopped him from continuing to be the punchline of every meme on X and Instagram. But even as McCarthy’s production increases and his turnovers decrease, he’s not really changing the root issues: his poor mechanics and (overly) aggressive play style. Because as exciting as his first touchdown to Jalen Nailor was this past Sunday versus the Cowboys, he was throwing to a covered receiver with incredibly non-traditional throwing mechanics. He looked like a shortstop trying to turn a double play. It was Derek Jeter-esque. That’s not a good thing.
To finish the season, McCarthy will get two more weak defensive matchups to continue to focus on his process (and, in theory, continue to produce strong results) against the Giants (Week 16) and the Lions (Week 17). But I'm most looking forward to that Week 18 game against the Packers — assuming they’re playing their starting defense. That’ll be a real test of McCarthy’s progress from the first game to the last.
And when it’s over, the Vikings will give McCarthy a list of items to address over the offseason. Minnesota will also have to decide if it wants a backup plan if McCarthy struggles to address those items. What would happen if the Vikings brought back Kirk Cousins or Daniel Jones? How might that affect McCarthy’s long-term development?
Bringing in a stopgap solution might strengthen Kevin O’Connell’s job security, but it would likely be the beginning of the end for McCarthy. And that would go against just about everything O’Connell has preached about QB development.
If you thought Sanders looked uneven in this game — and particularly bad in the first quarter — then you’d be right. The crazy thing is, we got a pretty clear explanation as to why. FOX’s sideline reporter Allison Williams explained that the Browns had to swap out Sanders’ wristband card, which helps him relay the plays in the huddle.
Stefanski said Monday that the card must’ve fallen out during the first drive and was missing for the second drive. One of the Browns’ backups gave their wristband to Sanders for the remainder of the game. And to his credit, Sanders downplayed the issue after the game.
"The card just fell out. It just fell out on the sideline. That was it," he said.
That’s a bizarre situation — and will get immense scrutiny because of the way Sanders’ lightning-rod career has played out to this point. Does it speak to the overall dysfunction and lack of preparedness for the Browns? Maybe. Bad luck? Definitely.
And as we zoom out, it’s a reminder of what we’ve been wondering about Sanders — all along.
How do you handicap his play, given … the Browns?
In Week 15, Sanders made four "oh wow!" plays but, for the most part, he didn’t look confident reading the Bears defense and seemed to look off open receivers at multiple points when the throw was there. Other times, the pocket collapsed before Sanders had anyone ready for the football. Once, Sanders threw an interception that was on him. Once, Sanders threw an interception where his ball placement wasn’t great, but it hit Jerry Jeudy in the hands and he practically gave the ball to the defender.
The Browns could justify running it back with Sanders as QB1 in 2026. They could. It’s going to be a bleak market for QBs, and he’s a prospect who has flashed in a bad situation. I just think back to the draft when GMs and coaches steered clear of him. And I wonder if anyone — whether it’s Stefanski or, more likely, another coach — is going to want to work with him. As unfair as that sounds, it’s a realistic concern. His play and his media-facing comments have certainly helped. But we’re still far from getting clarity about what’s next for Sanders.
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Should the Saints run it back with Tyler Shough as QB1 in 2026? (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)
Keenan Allen. Quentin Johnston. Ladd McConkey. Mike Williams. Omarion Hampton. Oronde Gadsen. Those are some big names. And you’d think, given those high-profile names (high draft picks and historically productive players), that Herbert has help downfield.
That’s not what I’ve seen in recent weeks. And it’s definitely not what I saw in Week 15 versus the Chiefs. The best skill player was Chargers running back Kimani Vidal — maybe for either team. And that’s only Herbert’s second-biggest issue. His top problem is that he doesn’t have healthy tackles, and so he saw pressure on 44% of his dropbacks — even with a speedy time to throw (2.82 seconds). The Chiefs got blitz happy, sending extra rushers on 56% of dropbacks.
The passing offense felt like Herbert. Just Herbert.
Just when I thought things couldn’t get worse, Chargers OC Greg Roman made things weird. On third-and-16, Herbert threw a slant to Allen, who then threw the ball across the field to Hampton — seemingly by design — for a fumble, recovery and 2-yard gain.
It was an embarrassing attempt at creative playcalling. It was that moment where someone had to remind you: I’m funny! If you’re funny — and if you’re creative — we wouldn’t need reminding.
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Everyone picked it up by the second half. Herbert hit a few simple throws and a few incredible ones. And the Chargers held on — eliminating the Chiefs.
But still, it sometimes feels like Herbert is playing 1 v. 11 this year. That’s on Roman. That’s on GM Joe Hortiz. That’s on coach Jim Harbaugh.
Because of how well Mac Jones did as the steward of the 49ers’ offense, Brock Purdy has not gotten enough credit for how well he’s operating the offense.
There weren’t a ton of flashy plays from the QB in Week 15 against the Tennessee Titans. And in a league where Caleb Williams’ nonsense plays make headlines and highlights, Purdy’s style of play won’t get much attention. Yes, he’s still a product of Kyle Shanahan’s system. You could plainly see that on Sunday, even against a bad Titans defense. But you can also see Purdy running the system with fewer weapons than he had in 2023. Receivers Ricky Pearsall and Jauan Jennings are nice players, but they’re not nearly as formidable as Brandon Aiyuk and Deebo Samuel. Even Kendrick Bourne got involved on Purdy’s most impressive make-something-out-of-nothing play of the day.
They don’t need Aiyuk, as it turns out. This offense is humming. And it feels like the 49ers have gotten over their hurdle from last year when Purdy was playing like he didn’t have enough support. He is back to playing loose and making plays.
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Lamar Jackson looks like he might be healthy again, just in time to give the Ravens a playoff push. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)
Let’s hit two items right off the top.
First, Nix showed us his (perhaps surprising) upside in this game. He hit sensational throws into tight windows and into places where only his guy could get it. He was better without facing a blitz, but he was still good enough at beating the blitz. And the same was true against pressure. There were so many big-time throws — and into different areas of the field on different routes to different receivers. He was not a game-manager — he was a gunslinger. I’m not accustomed to seeing that from Nix, and for the first time, I found myself seeing elements of Baker Mayfield in Nix’s game. (As much as Mayfield has struggled of late, I make that comparison as a compliment.)
Second, I’d like to at least complicate the idea that Nix is clutch. His most impactful throw of the game came with nine minutes left on fourth-and-2 when he connected with Courtland Sutton for a 26-yard bomb. It was a marvel. But he followed that, on the next drive, with a near interception that led coach Sean Payton to clearly pull in the reins from a playcalling standpoint. Much like I wondered about Caleb Williams’ role in the Bears’ fourth-quarter comebacks, I’m still skeptical about Nix’s.
That should not dampen the enthusiasm surrounding Nix’s win over an excellent Packers team. Some quarterbacks never have a game like this. It was transcendent in a way I didn’t know Nix could be.
The NFC seemed like the better conference, but this game suggested that maybe that’s not true. The Rams might be the best team in the NFL, but below them, there’s a whole lot of parity.
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Jared Goff has somewhat quietly had a strong season, but the Lions might miss the playoffs anyway. (Photo by Tony Ding/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
If Maye wanted to supplant Matthew Stafford or separate himself from Josh Allen for MVP, he needed to capitalize when New England needed a touchdown to beat the Bills with two minutes left.
Alas, on that final drive, he missed a wide-open Kayshon Boutte over the middle on third down — and instead fired it incomplete in the direction of TreVeyon Henderson. And then Maye threw slightly behind tight end Hunter Henry, who dropped the pass on fourth down.
Game over.
As coach Mike Vrabel was quick to point out, the Patriots hadn’t lost a game in 83 days. And as I’ll point out, Maye remains on another level when it comes to advanced metrics of quarterback efficiency. But he didn’t make enough plays against the Bills and, from my viewpoint, he needed to show up in this particular game if he was going to win the MVP. It would’ve been the crowning achievement on his 2025 résumé: a fourth-quarter comeback to maintain the AFC's top seed.
The good news is that, while an MVP would be nice, the Patriots are still going to make the playoffs, and they’ll probably snag the AFC East title, even if they couldn’t lock it up this past weekend. So Maye should have more opportunities to prove himself in big games in January. That’s why — while frustrated — Maye and Vrabel didn’t seem overly worried afterward.
I can’t say one way or another whether the Bills’ methods — if you can call them that — for victory are sustainable. But Buffalo is letting Josh Allen carry them to victory in comeback fashion at a mind-boggling clip.
"That's his superpower. That's who Josh Allen is. We talked about it all week," Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez said postgame.
Consider this, via WGR550’s Nate Geary: the Bills closed out their game against the Buccaneers on a 26-6 run, against the Steelers on a 23-0 run, against the Bengals on a 21-6 run and against the Patriots on a 35-7 run. The defense is helping out in a big way. On offense, it’s all about Allen.
"He's legendary. Love him to death. When the time comes, he's gonna put it on his shoulders and do what he needs to do to get the win," Ty Johnson told me in the locker room after Allen's heroics versus the Pats.
It’s not like defenses are unaware. They know he keeps doing this. They can’t stop him.
It’s amazing to watch. I’m starting to think we’ll watch it all the way until February, when he’ll have to figure out how to do it against the Rams in the Super Bowl.
Before joining FOX Sports as an NFL reporter and columnist, Henry McKenna spent seven years covering the Patriots for USA TODAY Sports Media Group and Boston Globe Media. Follow him on Twitter at @henrycmckenna.
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