Ian Book report card from Week 16 performance vs. Dolphins

Week 16 marked the NFL debut of New Orleans Saints rookie quarterback Ian Book, who spent the majority of the season as the fourth-string quarterback. Ahead of the season, the consensus was that NOLA wouldn’t see Book under center unless something went horribly wrong and that’s pretty much what happened.

• Jameis Winston, the original starter, got injured in Week 8 and missed the rest of the season.
• Trevor Siemian made three starts while Taysom Hill was recovering from a concussion/injury.
• Hill and Siemian then landed on the COVID-19 list.

This paved the way for Book to make his first-ever appearance and it just so happened to be a start on Monday Night Football against the Miami Dolphins.

It did not go well.

What grade does Ian Book deserve for his Week 16 performance?

Book finished his NFL debut completing 12 passes out of 20 attempts for 135 yards and getting sacked a whopping eight times. It was a difficult position for Book to be thrown into, as the offensive line was being held together by duct tape and several key starters were out due to either COVID-19 or injuries. Not to mention, a good chunk of the coaching staff was missing as well.

To sum up, it’d be hard for any quarterback to succeed in this situation, let alone a rookie quarterback.

While the odds were stacked against Book, he did make a lot of rookie mistakes. He held onto the ball too long and took extra sacks and hits that wouldn’t have happened if he had thrown the ball away.

The numbers looked bad for Book but he did make some good throws and both Marquez Callaway and Lil’Jordan Humphrey helped him out in that department. With the decent throws and everything stacked against him, I’m not going to flunk Book for his efforts.

I’m giving the rookie quarterback a D- for his NFL debut. He wasn’t good but this was a bad situation for anyone to make their first-ever start in. Book might get another chance down the road, maybe not this year, and if he does, hopefully things go much better for the Notre Dame product.