Week 15’s NFL All-Star Team

By Rhys Knott

There are some newbies in the Week 15’s NFL All-Star team. You love to see it!

Week 15’s All-Star Quarterback

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Baker Mayfield became the 81st quarterback, since 1948, to post a perfect passer rating. Mayfield lit the Packers up for 381 yards and 4 touchdowns. He completed 22 of 28 passes despite being sacked 5 times and fumbling the ball. The Buccaneers won 34-20 in Lambeau and rose to the top of the NFC South with a crucial game against the Saints coming up on New Years Eve. 

Week 15’s All-Star Running Back

James Cook compensated for Josh Allen’s 7/15 for 94 yards. And exposed how fragile the Cowboys run defense is in the process. That’s less than ideal when you could play the 49ers or Eagles in the playoffs. 

Cook had 17 rushing yards in his previous 3 games. He racked up 179 on the ground against the Cowboys! His 221 total yards from scrimmage was 62 more than his previous single game record. The Bills are currently outside the playoffs, but with the Patriots and Chargers on their schedule they’ll probably be in the postseason. 

Week 15’s All-Star Wide Receivers

Chris Godwin, where there’s an All-Star QB there’s a receiver who put up big numbers too. Godwin caught 10 of Mayfield’s 10 completions. And he ended the game with 155 receiving yards. That was his most since Week 12 in 2019! 

No Tyreek, no problem for the Dolphins when they have Jaylen Waddle. Waddle went for a whopping 142 yards and a touchdown as he caught 8 of his 9 targets. 

Terry McLaurlin is still scary, even in a team that isn’t really very scary at all. McLaurin only caught 6 passes. But he still racked up 141 yards and he scored a touchdown. It was a new single game best for McLaurin who hadn’t previously recorded more than 130 yards.  

Week 15’s All-Star Tight End

It was a good week for tight ends named David Njoku and Trey McBride. Last week no tight end crossed the 100 yard barrier, this week two did. Njoku’s 104 yards and a touchdown see him squeeze past his Cardinal counterpart though. 

Njoku is helping to make Joe Flacco look like a Pro Bowl quarterback again. And, against all odds, the Browns are looking favourites for an AFC Wildcard spot. Why, oh why did they decided they needed to pay DeShaun Watson $230 million when they could have just signed Flacco from the Jets? 

Week 15's Defense/Special Teams

 There were some very noteworthy defensive performances this week. Bradley Chubb recorded 3 sacks for the first time 2018. But it doesn’t count against the Jets since they seem to be trying to get all of their quarterbacks injured this season.  

Tanoh Kpassagnon also got 3 sacks, something he’d never managed before. But that was against the Giants, so the same principle applies.  

3 players hauled in 2 interceptions too. Julian Love got away with some major pass interference on his first one but his second one was Superman-esque! Brandon Jones’ 2 picks came against the Jets, seriously they’re just awful! And Charvaius Ward snatched 2 against the Cardinals, he also took one to the house. 

But none of that matters because it’s about the teams not the individuals. The Raiders recovered 4 fumbles and made a pick 6 but the Texans made 7 sacks to go with forcing a fumble and making an interception plus Kaime Fairbairn drilled the game winning FG in OT 

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

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