What’s Hot and What’s Knott in Football – Week 16

By Rhys Knott

Week 16 of the 2024 football season will be remembered fondly by us football nerds. Chargers’ kicker Cameron Dicker kicked the first successful free kick in the NFL since 1976!  

Away from Dicker’s historic feat (and foot), injuries made the news. Jalen Hurts suffered a concussion allowing Kenny Pickett to demonstrate that he’s no Jayden Daniels.

A George Pickens-less Steelers showed that they haven’t got the firepower to beat the Ravens. In the NFC, no team has ever missed one individual player the way the Buccaneers miss Antoine Winfield Jr. 

Tampa Bay provided the highlight of Week 16 though. Sterling Shepherd’s player introduction with his very cute assistants is a game-changer.

What’s Hot in Football - Week 16

Momentum swings are hot as we approach the end of the season. Everyone knows that it’s better to be hot in December than to be hot in September and cool off.

Even though eight teams have already secured a playoff berth just nine teams are currently on a winning streak. 

The Chargers’ defense was hot on Thursday night, despite conceding 27 points they forced the Broncos to punt five times. Denver only converted 38% of their third downs, they went two for two on fourth down though, so Sean Payton could have been more aggressive. 

Until the avoidable penalty for fair catch interference at the end of the first half, the Broncos defence had only conceded 10 points. The resulting free-kick provided the biggest momentum swing of the game. 

The Broncos could only score six points in the second half, 15 fewer than they managed in the first 30 minutes! Denver didn’t play badly in the second half, but one needless error saw their confidence evaporate. More avoidable penalties followed and the on-field malaise managed to permeate into the coaching and play-calling. 

The loss saw the Broncos’ playoff chances fall to 85% (the Chargers’ rose to 97%). But opponents know that clogging up run lanes really stifles Sean Payton’s offense, they will need to change something before January. 

Obviously, Saquon Barkley is still hot, even without Hurts the 27-year-old running back is still a one-man offense. The MVP candidate ran for 150 yards on 29 carries and scored two of the Eagles’ three touchdowns. 

Three running backs notched up more yards on the ground than Saquon though! Chuba Hubbard managed 152 against the rotting corpse of the Cardinals’ defence.  

Derrick Henry’s 162 yards on the ground against the Steelers gave the human wrecking ball his seventh 100+ yard game of the season. King Henry’s 189 yards from scrimmage is his most since the whopping 209 he made against the Bills. 

But the hottest running back in Week 16 is Jonathan Taylor who ran all over the Colts. The 25-year-old recorded his second 200+ yard game and his first since 2021! Taylor, who demanded a trade from the Colts back in 2023, ended the AFC South divisional matchup with 218 yards against Brian Callahan’s haphazard Tennessee team. 

Elsewhere the NFC North is scorching hot. The hottest two quarterbacks are Jared Goff (yet again) and Caleb Williams (about time). Goff completed 32 passes for 336 yards and three touchdowns. The veteran Lions quarterback didn’t even throw any passes to offensive linemen this week. But he did fake a fumble because Ben Johnson. 

Williams didn’t try any of that nonsense, but he did put up drop one in the bucket for Keenan Allen to scamper in for his 66th career touchdown.

The rookie completed 26 passes for 334 yards with two touchdowns. He also led the team in rushing yards (red flag ahoy) with 34 yards on six runs. 

Logically, the two hottest receivers caught passes from the hottest signal callers. The aforementioned Allen racked up 141 yards from nine catches.

But Jameson Williams eclipsed that with 143 yards on just five catches! The Lions speedster also managed seven yards on the ground on his only carry of the game.

On the defensive side of the ball, 22 different players made interceptions! The Colts Kenny Moore II made two, just to show off. Samuel Womack III also made one for the Colts, so catching Mason Rudolph’s passes was almost easier for defenders than it was for Rudolph’s teammates. Brian Callahan’s team really is a mess. 

Three defenders turned interceptions into pick 6’s, nobody did it with more style than Matt Judon. This was Judon’s first TD in his 129th game!

The Falcons returned two interceptions for touchdowns because the Giants are an even bigger mess than the Titans! 

Week 16 saw more than 30 pass rushers sack quarterbacks too! Three of them had multiple sack games with the Vikings’ Andrew van Ginkel leading the way with two, closely followed by Kris Jenkins Jr. and Ravens veteran Kyle Van Noy who had both had 1.5.

What’s Knott in Football – Week 16

Well, throwing three interceptions in one game is very Knott, even if you’re named after a red-nosed reindeer!  

But it’s those pesky kickers who are really Knott this week (again). Jake Elliott missed his seventh of the season as the Eagles lost to the Commanders by three points! Elliott’s struggles and Jalen Hurts’ concussion are making Christmas very stressful in Philly. 

Jake Bates and Anders Carlson both missed field goal attempts, but that didn’t stop the Lions and Raiders from winning. Bates’ miss was from 65 yards, but the former Michigan Panther hasn’t picked the best time to have a wobble. 

Eight other kickers missed field goals, but none of their games were close, so it’s fine (sort of). Ka’imi Fairbairn, Eddy Piniero and Joshua Karty all missed extra points, but they all finished on the winning team. Who needs extra points anyway?

Anders Carlson doesn’t, The Jets replacement kicker also missed an extra point for the Jets, but luckily for him, the Jets lost comprehensively to the resurgent Rams. A successful extra point would have meant Aaron Rodgers’s travelling circus lost by just nine points instead of 10! 

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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