Week 16’s NFL All-Star Team

By Rhys Knott

Week 16’s NFL All-Star team features some old stagers, some returning superstars and one young receiver who might be getting his act together. Oh and the return of the Raiders.

Week 16’s All-Star Quarterback

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Well, it could have been Nick Mullens, he did throw for 411 yards after all. But he also threw 4 interceptions and ended lass to the Lions with a passer rating of 79.5! So, it’s definitely not him. It could also have been Matt Stafford, he ended the week with an impressive 120.7 passer rating (it’s not Week 15 Baker Mayfield good, but still). Stafford threw 34 passes, completed 24 of them and threw two touchdown passes, all without any interceptions. But his Rams were only playing the lowly Saints 

Instead, it’s Lamar Jackson. Jackson played the best defense in the league (or the second best after his own team’s). And he took them to the cleaners. He ended the game with a passer rating of 105.9 (incidentally the highest rating this week belongs to Mason Rudolph, he ended the Steelers thrashing of the Bengals at 124.0!). Jackson threw 35 passes, completing 23 of them for 252 yards. He also threw 2 touchdown passes despite being sacked twice. Jackson also ran 7 times for 45 yards, picking up 2 important first downs with his legs. 

Week 16’s All-Star Running Back

Zamir White is proving a more than capable Josh Jacobs replacement for the Raiders. Their offensive line is helping too, anyone could have run through the holes they were opening late in that game. The Raiders traveled to the graveyard that is Arrowhead where they had only won once in 10 attempts! And on the back of the run game, they turned over the reigning Super Bowl champions. 

White carried 22 times and recorded 145 of the Raiders’ 157 rushing yards. But the most remarkable part of that game was the Raiders’ offense didn’t score a single touchdown. Instead, Bilal Nichols scored his first TD in his 92nd game in the league and Jack Jones scored his second pick 6 in 2 games!  

Week 16’s All-Star Wide Receivers

Amari Cooper was having a pretty standard season by his own high standards. He had recorded four 100+ yard games, catching 61 passes and hauling in just 3 touchdowns. But against the dinged-up Texans he went off!  

Cooper caught 11 of his 15 targets (he’d only caught 14 in his last 3 games) for an absolutely jaw dropping 265 yards! 2 of his 11 catches ended in scores too. 

In a normal week George Pickens would have been the star receiver in this team by a wide margin. Pickens only caught 4 passes in Week 16, but he made them count. He ended the Steelers win over the Bengals with a whopping 195 yards! Pickens also caught 2 touchdowns this week. One of them was an 86 yarder! 

Puka Nacua is having some season for a rookie. Well, not just some season for a rookie. He’s just having some season. Only Tyreek, CeeDee and A.J Brown have more receiving yards than the youngster.  

This week Nacua 9 balls for 164 yards. That’s his sixth 100+ yard game of the season  

Week 16’s All-Star Tight End

It’s George Kittle again. He’s had a couple of weeks off, but he was the leading tight end again. Only six receivers managed more yards than the Iowa alum. He caught 7 passes for 126 yards as the 49ers managed to find some wide-open space in the middle of the Ravens defense. That might be important in the playoffs. Tight ends or slot receivers running slants through the heart of the defense might become problematic. 

Week 16’s Defense/Special Team

Well, it has to be the Raiders, doesn’t it? Their defense scored both their touchdowns. And Malcom Koonce made 3 sacks on his own. Adam Butler joined in with one of his own too. And in a game that the Raiders won by 6 points, Daniel Carlson scored an all-important 6 points. 

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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