What’s Hot and What’s Knott in Football – Week 13

By Rhys Knott

The Thanksgiving Turducken might have been hot, but the Thanksgiving football was absolutely Knott. It was lukewarm at best. Thursday’s three games provided us with inexplicable clock management, a ridiculous (in a good way) interception and some frozen Dolphins. 

Only five teams in the NFC are on a hotter streak than the Cowboys. Which begs the question, is Cooper Rush the way forward? Not to mention just how terrible is the NFC?  

And, continuing the theme of the 2024 season, penalty flags were hot too. 50 penalties were accepted on Thanksgiving alone, amounting to 422 penalty yards!

Not calling a timeout is definitely Knott, especially when it results in you losing your job (hi Matt).

Mack Hollins rocking up to Highmark Stadium barefoot when the temperature was -2° Celsius deserves its own section. There’s nothing hot about Lake-effect snow, but a way to psych out the opposition big guy!

Embed from Getty Images

What’s Hot in Football – Week 13

“My Cause My Cleats” is the most important campaign the NFL allows players to participate in every year. Not just because promoting good causes is hot, but because the individual designs on the cleats provide a welcome break for footwear adorned with huge logos designed to separate parents from their hard-earned cash. 

Tua is somehow hot, despite playing on a team who looks all at sea in winter conditions. But Russell Wilson is unseasonably hot in Pittsburgh. And Rico Dowdle finally looked like the running back most people expect him to be. 

The Packers aren’t scorching hot just yet, but they are heating up at the business end of the season. Matt LaFleur in “Mr. December” too, the sixth-year head coach has an 18-2 record as a head coach in December! Green Bay should end the season with at least 13 wins! If they can win on the road in Detroit the Packers could match the Lions’ win total. 

On the other side of Thursday night’s game, Tua racked up 365 yards with two touchdowns. But that really doesn’t tell the story. Tagovailoa went full Captain check-down against a Packers pass defence that ranks 18th for the number of yards conceded. 

212 of passing yards came from passes to tight ends or backs! The Dolphins only managed one pass over 16 yards and that one only went 30-yards. The problem with having an offence predicated on speed is that nobody runs that fast in freezing conditions, especially if they’re wearing a wet suit under their pads. 

The Cowboys strung together two consecutive wins for the first time since Week 5! So, is Cooper Rush better than Dak Prescott? Unequivocally no. The Cowboys relied on the run game to get them across the line against the desperate Giants. 

Rico Dowdle went off for 112 rushing yards and four other players ran the ball too (with minimal success). There are tougher games ahead for Mike McCarthy’s boys, the Giants’ run defence ranks 30th for yards per attempt. But DeMarvion Overshown was the real hero for the Cowboys. 

Anyone can take on a block or bat a pass away from the intended receiver. And most football players can intercept a pass, some can even turn it into a pick 6. But Overshown did all four at once! Seriously, who does this? 

Talking of on-field multi-tasking, Josh Allen decided to throw AND catch the same touchdown pass. Steady on Josh, nobody likes a showoff! 

Russell Wilson is so over the Sean Payton and Denver experience that he put up the second 400+ passing-yard game in the league this season. Dangeruss racked up 414 yards through the air against a Bengals defence that is about to get Lou Anarumo fired. 

The Super Bowl-winning quarterback completed 29 passes to notch up the most passing yards he’s had since 2017! He also threw touchdown passes to three different pass catchers and was only sacked twice on 38 dropbacks. 

There’s a new running back at the top of the tree this week. Even though Saquon recorded another 100 yards game and scored his eleventh rushing touchdown of 2024 he was only equal fourth this week. 

Bucky Irving blew the competition out of the water with his 152 rushing yards in Carolina. The Buccaneers rookie ended his evening by limping into the changing room with ice wrapped on his injured left hip.  

An honourable mention should go Bills running back James Cook. Not only did he record his first 100-yard game of the season, but he also clocked the seventh-fastest speed of the season as he carried the football straight into the endzone unbothered by defenders. “What’s so impressive about that” you ask. Well, it was in a blizzard that made conditions so treacherous that the officials managed to count 12 defenders on the field when there were apparently just 11! 

The hottest pass catcher of the week is Raiders rookie sensation, Brock Bowers. Tight end Bowers ended the game against the Chiefs with, 140 yards. No receiver managed more than 97 yards in Kansas City and Bowers’ total accounted for 41% of Aidan O’Connell’s passing yards! 

Malik Nabers wasn’t in Bowers’ class this week, but he wins the much coveted “Malik of the Week” award. The Giants rookie caught eight passes from 13 targets which is impressive. But he finished the game with just 69 yards, which is less impressive. Brian Daboll’s inability to get the best out of Nabers, Theo Johnson, Jalin Hyatt and Isaiah Hodgins is going to see him jettisoned by the end of January. 

What’s Knott in Football – Week 13

Azeez Al-Shair adding to his list of egregious fouls is definitely at the top of the Week 13 Knott list. Not content with a late hit on Caleb Williams that led to him punching Roschon Johnson’s helmet and tackling Tony Pollard when he was already out of bounds last week Al-Shaair drilled Trevor Lawrence.

It seems like Lawrence is going to miss a few weeks with a concussion. If the NFL disciplinary process is worth anything at all Al-Shaair should be suspended for more than a few weeks.

Matt Eberflus letting time expire as his Bears team drove downfield might win the “Most Knott of the Year” award. Not only did the Bears have a time-out left to take, but a field goal would have tied the game in Detroit and sent it to overtime. Eberflus will have plenty of time to ponder that decision from his sofa now that he’s been fired.

Fumbling the football is very much Knott too. Aidan O’Connell fumbled a snap with 13 seconds on the clock. The Chiefs recovered it and the game ended. The 49ers fumbled three times in snowy Buffalo and lost all three fumbles. Joe Burrow fumbled twice against the Steelers, but that’s a moral victory considering the porosity of his offensive line.

Going for a 68-yard field goal attempt is so desperate that it’s Knott. Joey Slye did his best to spare his head coach’s blushes by slamming the football a full 67 yards downfield. But still lads, you had 12 seconds to move the ball more than the measly 20-yards you managed. That one definitely wasn’t Slye’s fault, but the 51-yarder he missed in the first half is on him. 

16 kickers missed kicks this week, three didn’t even attempt one. Justin Tucker missed two in a game the Ravens lost by five points. That’s a whoopsie.  

Eddy Pinero missed a 38-yarder and another from 45 in a game the Panthers wound up losing in overtime!  

Cam Little missed a tricky 55-yarder in a game the Jaguars lost by three points, but there are bigger problems in Jacksonville than missing long kicks. Chad Ryland missed a 45-yard attempt indoors in Minnesota and his Cardinals team would go on to lose by a single point. 

But Daniel Carlson takes the Thanksgiving cake or candied yams. The Raider missed three of his four attempts! One from 55 yards, one from 56 and one from 58! Although why you would ask a kicker who had already missed from 55 yards to try a 58-yarder is anyone’s guess. Antonio Pierce’s job security is absolutely Knott. 

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