Week 13’s NFL All-Star Team
By Rhys Knott
The undoubted All-Star across Week 13 of the 2023 NFL season was the weather. But for the purposes of this blog we’re just picking players. It was a great week for passing offenses but surprisingly given the weather the run game lagged behind.
Week 13's All-Star quarterback
It’s Brock Purdy again, Geno Smith might have thrown for more yards, but he also threw an interception and lost to the Cowboys. Geno ended with a passer rating of 97 compared to Purdy’s 148.8. A perfect passer rating is 158.3 remember!
The 49ers got off to a bumpy start in Philly. They were 6-0 down at the end of the first quarter, but they scored 14 points in each of the next three quarters. That’s a good way to beat anyone. Especially your main rivals for home field advantage.
Week 13's All-Star Running Back
Isiah Pacheco, 110 yards on the ground at 6.1 yards per carry and 13 yards through the air is decent day’s work. Especially in Lambeau, even if the zebras did miss Marquez Valdes-Scantling being mugged on the 7-yard line.
Pacheco only ran the ball 18 times. The Chiefs didn’t take the lead at all in their game with Green Bay, but it seems they could have used Pacheco more often. He did have four targets alongside his 18 carries but James Conner (who had the second highest number of rushing yards) had 25 carries and 2 targets in the passing game. Purely anecdotally Kansas City’s offensive line seems more comfortable pass blocking than they are when Mahomes is scrambling around trying to perform his magic tricks. Matt Nagy should probably stick with it a little bit more.
Pacheco back in the Angry Runs lineup. This week with two different runs. 👀
— Kylie Winfrey (@thekyliewinfrey) December 5, 2023
🎥: @gmfb pic.twitter.com/Ce0THBp87W
Week 13's Wide Receivers
This route by Nico Collins 😮💨
— PFF (@PFF) December 3, 2023
pic.twitter.com/rf6tkIAnKi
Nico Collins, the Texans offense is just tearing defenses to bits. And Collins is an important part of that. With Tank Dell breaking his leg he’s about to become the focal point of the passing game. It’d be nice if Dalton Schultz was a more consistent weapon in the passing game too.
Collins had an absolutely monstrous day on Sunday. He caught 9 passes, which is good but hardly record breaking. The monstrous part is the 191 receiving yards he racked up! The Patriots haven’t had 191 receiving yards in a single game since the 5th of November! Collins caught a touchdown pass too. The Patriots haven’t had one of those since Bonfire night either.
Mike Evans is a bona fide NFL legend now. Only Jerry Rice has more back-to-back 1,000-yard seasons. So, Evans is quite good! He might not be the picture of consistency, but when he has a good game, he has a very good game. Evans only caught 7 passes on Sunday, but those catches went for 162 yards! Evans also caught a touchdown pass, his 10th of the season. That’s the same number of touchdowns catches as the Patriots offense has in 2023.
Tyreek Hill. He’s just unstoppable. Even his quiet games involve going over the 100-yard mark. Hill notched up another 157 receiving yards in Week 13. He leads the league with 1,481 receiving yards in 2023. He’s still on pace to break the 2,000-yard mark. Hill caught a touchdown pass too; he’s got 12 this
Week 13's All-Star Tight End
Sam LaPorta, he went to the same college as George Kittle and he’s definitely the heir to Kittle’s throne. LaPorta looked like the best tight end in the 2023 rookie class to discerning analysts (me amongst them). But some people were positively foaming at the mouth about Dalton Kincaid, Luke Musgrave and even Luke Schoonmaker. LaPorta has 205 more receiving yards than Kincaid so far this season!
LaPorta feasted on the Saints defense in Week 13. He caught all 9 of his targets on his way to recording 140 yards! That’s 56 more than he’d previously recorded in a single game. Obviously caught a touchdown too. The Saints defense obviously forgot to cover him so he could probably have scored more.
Week 13's All-Star D/ST
The Chargers did shut out their opponents, but those opponents were the Patriots who may not score another point all season. The Texans defense did win them their divisional game against the Broncos though.
Houston’s defense turned the ball over 3 times with 3 interceptions in the fourth quarter. Will Anderson Jr. Was a total menace with 4 QB hits and 2 sacks. And Derek Stingley Jr. tidying up the rubbish Russell Wilson was throwing into the Texan defensive backfield. Stingley Jr. Had brutal luck with injuries last season, but he’s gobbled up 4 interceptions in his last 3 games. And he’s defended 8 passes in those 3 games!
Matt Ammendola nailed all his kicks too, none of this doinking 59 yarders off the crossbar like last week.
Feature Image Credit: SB Nation
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