Robert Griffin III Only One of Fab Five Rookie QBs to Shine in Debut

One of the best story lines of the preseason involved the five rookie quarterbacks that were slated to start the NFL season for their respective teams, a Fab Five of QBs (Jalen Rose can get bent out of shape all he wants, but when your team doesn't win a title and your second place finish gets vacated you have no hold on a cool nickname!).

There were high hopes for all five (okay four; Brandon Weeden didn't look so hot in the preseason) as the regular season kicked off. When the dust settled on Sunday only one of them played like a star while the other four looked like, well--rookies.

Robert Griffin III: The Washington Redskins were sure glad that the Colts passed on RG3. His career officially started off with a bang as he led the Redskins to a 40-32 upset win over the News Orleans Saints. Last season the Redksins never scored more than 30 and the Saints were undefeated at home.

He started off the game with seven straight completions for 123 yards and a TD--a beautiful 88-yard catch and run by Pierre Garcon--before throwing his first incomplete pass. By the end of the game he had made fantasy owners very happy completing 19 of 26 passes for 320 yards and two TDs to go with 42 yards on the ground. He easily had the best QB rating of the day for the Fab Five with 139.9.

Andrew Luck: Luck was one thing that the Indianapolis Colts and Andrew Luck did not have against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. The former Stanford QB looked like a little raw at times, but he did have some pretty solid moments too. Poor defense play and the lack of a running game forced him to throw often, something the Bears were looking for.

In the end the new franchise player in Indianapolis barely completed half of his passes (23-45) for 309 yards and just one touchdown with three interceptions; his QB rating was a dismal 52.9.

Brandon Weeden: The Cleveland quarterback is in the toughest spot of them all; his best potential play makers are both rookies (wide receiver Josh Gordon and running back Trent Richardson). Surprisingly, his team was in the game against the Eagles, but it had nothing to do with him. On the day he was 12-35 for 118 yards and four interceptions for a QB rating of 5.1.

Yes, that's right--5.1.

Ryan Tannehill: The Dolphins are fully aware that they are in need of help at the wide receiver position; they should have told Tannehill not to look for it himself on other teams. Miami was actually in the game against the Houston Texans until Tannehill threw three interceptions in the second quarter leading to 17 points for Houston.

When the day was done he had gone 20-36 (to his own team) for 219 yards and the three picks for a QB rating of 39.0 (at least he's better than Weeden).

Russell Wilson: The Seahawk quarterback earned the job through stellar play during preseason games; he kind of forgot to keep it going when the regular season started. He looked nothing like the calm, cool, and collected guy he was in the preseason throughout the first half. He started to regain a little of the magic in the second, but by then it was too little too late to save his team from the Arizona Cardinals (yep--the Cardinals).

Like most of his fellow rookies, he barely completed half of his passes (18-34) for  153 yards, one TD, and one interception for a the second best rating of the bunch, 62.5.

Better luck next week guys!