Week 12’s NFL All-Star Team

By Rhys Knott

Week 12 provided seven one score games. An absolute thrashing (that means you Washington). One OT thriller and a couple of upsets to boot. One thing’s for sure it provided an absolutely sparkling All-Star team.

Week 12’s All-Star Quarterback

Embed from Getty Images

It’s C.J Stroud. Yes, technically Trevor Lawrence threw for more yards and won that game. But the rookie is on some tear. And if Ka’imi Fairbairn had been playing there would have been a different result. Matt Ammendola first missed from 50 yards and then, surprisingly, was asked to attempt one from 58 yards as the clock ran down. Surprisingly the 58-yard attempt hit square off the crossbar and fell short. 

But Stroud was again immense. He threw for more than 300 yards for a fourth consecutive week. He also threw two touchdown passes without throwing an interception. Lawrence threw one scoring pass and a pick. They both scored rushing touchdowns. Lawrence ended the game with a 90.2 QBR compared to Stroud’s 116.0. Stroud only threw 10 incomplete passes, by comparison Lawrence threw 15. 

Week 12’s All-Star Running Back

Kyren Williams, he looks old but he’s really only 23. Another thing Kyren Williams is, is inevitable. Imagine if Thanos was a running back, well that’s Williams. He had a relatively understated start to the season, but he still averaged a respectable 3.4 yards per carry. But since he became the feature back on the 1st of October, he’s averaged 6.2 yards per carry! He’s also scored nine touchdowns this season and he’s only started seven games. 

Against the Cardinals Williams amassed a total of 204 yards from the line of scrimmage! Bringing his season’s total to 765 yards. At an average of 109 yards per start! If the Rams can keep him healthy, they could be headed for a Wildcard spot. 

Week 12’s All-Star Wide Receivers

Even when the game is ugly, and the offenses struggle, D.J Moore manages to put up numbers. In a scrappy divisional battle with the Vikings Moore caught 11 passes for 114 yards. All three All-Star receivers ended this week with 114 yards and none of them scored touchdowns. Which is just weird. 

Jaylen Waddle can sometimes be overshadowed by Tyreek Hill in Miami. But the Alabama connection with Tua and the fact that he made the NFL writer’s all-rookie team in 2021 shouldn’t be easily forgotten. This week he averaged 14.3 yards per reception. He racked up 114 yards on just 8 catches as the Dolphins battered the Jets (who doesn’t?). 

Chris Olave continued his campaign to make Derek Carr look like a competent quarterback this week. And that probably deserves some sort of award all of its own. Olave caught seven of his nine targets against the Saints conspired to lose to the Falcons. 

Week 12’s All-Star Tight End

It’s definitely not George Kittle this week! There’s still six weeks of the regular season left though (and the 49ers will surely make the playoffs too). Pat Freiermuth wasn’t just the best tight end catching passes this weekend, he was the best pass catcher of any position. He hauled in nine passes from Kenny Pickett in the Steelers Matt Canada-less Pittsburgh offense. Freiermuth ended the win over the Bengals with 120 receiving yards. 

Week 12’s D/ST

You have to discount the Giants effort to keep the Patriots down to 7 points because a good defense would have shut out that painful Patriots offense completely. 

The Ravens hit Justin Herbert 9 times and sacked him 3. And they created 5 turnovers as they recovered 4 fumbles and made an interception. 

If Justin Tucker hadn’t missed a field goal (yes, that really did happen, it would have been a near perfect game for the Ravens. 

Feature Image Credit: AP Sport

RHYS KNOTT

NFL/FANTASY FOOTBALL ANALYST

Rhys has been watching the NFL for 30 something years and still hasn’t managed to pick a team to support. When he’s not fixatED on pass rushers you can find him blithering on about most sports on Twitter @wrhys_writes

5/5