What’s Hot and What’s Knott in Football – Week 15

By Rhys Knott

Week 5 provided great football for lovers of potential touchdowns that actually result in touchbacks (there’s a sentence you never think you will have to type). Josh Allen kept doing Josh Allen things. Thursday Night Football served up a very damp squib with a side of disappointment. If the 49ers’ season hadn’t been rough enough, even the weather took against them in Week 15. 

They didn’t have to suffer lake-snow that they saw in Buffalo, but there was plenty of precipitation. As the rain poured in NorCal, nobody could score a touchdown in what ended as a pretty ugly Rams victory. Playing in a stadium that looks like it’s built out of Lego didn’t help the aesthetic. But as Venus Williams once said “Win pretty, win ugly, just win”. 

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The sidelines saw more action and drama than the field did. In a rare reversal of fortunes, a quarterback yelled at a coach and the coach placated him. Sean McVay, no stranger to blowing his top on the sidelines had to tell Matt Stafford to calm down. On the opposite sideline however one of the 9ers’ defenders threw all their toys out of the pram.   

What’s Hot in Football – Week 15

Interceptions became metaphorically hot, that could make the quarterbacks Knott, but let’s celebrate defenders instead.

In Week 15, 29 different players intercepted a football! Derek Stingley Jr. led the way, catching two as the Texans narrowly defeated the Dolphins. 

Virtually everyone in Detroit turned out to be hot enough to melt polar ice caps, not the kickers though. Not content with playing a game involving 902 yards last week the Bills decided there should be 1,080 total offensive yards this week! It’ll be 1,200 yards next week.

If Josh Allen’s 430 total yards seems hot, Jared Goff went nuclear with 507 total yards of his own! Two Lions’ pass catchers racked up more than 100 receiving yards. Amon-Ra St. Brown (who else?) had a very hot 193 yards on 14 catches. Sam LaPorta didn’t get as hot, but his 111 receiving yards from seven catches is a season’s best. LaPorta seems to be emerging from his sophomore slump.

The Bills’ best receiver turned out to be a running back while the Lions only ran for 48 yards in the entire game. Crazy is as crazy does after all. Dan Campbell even called for two onside kicks. So much for once bitten, twice shy.

After their 48-42 Scorigami the Bills have scored 76 points in their last six quarters of football. That’s incredibly impressive. What is even more impressive is how they seem to convince their opponents to join in with their silliness. Allowing 978 yards of offense in two games seems bad, but hey maybe Josh Allen has transformed December football for everyone. The Bills play the Patriots and Jets in the next three weeks. They won’t be able to keep up with their AFC East brethren.

A good old-fashioned thicc six and a defensive tackle stiff-arming an offensive guard will reaffirm your belief in humanity. To have both happen in the same week truly is a Christmas miracle. The Lions needed a tackle-eligible to score their first touchdown on Sunday. You could hear Dan Skipper’s hamstrings screaming at him as he tried to sprint to the endzone. They are still intact though.

If you are unaware of 366-pounder T’Vondre Sweat’s back catalogue you are in for a treat. He won the Outland Trophy last year, becoming the second defensive tackle in three years to win it, the other being Jordan Davis! The 23-year-old is ranked 25th of 212 defensive linemen according to PFF. He also gives great quotes in locker room interviews. The Titans’ rookie can also run and he stiff-armed Alex Cappa into next week! Sweat should lineup at fullback in the redzone.

Technically a linebacker pick-six isn’t a thicc six, but Nik Bonitto is a really big guy. He has excelled this season in Vance Joseph’s Broncos defense too. The former Oklahoma Sooner’s interception (that is actually a fumble recovery because the pass went backwards, got it? Good) on a trick play essentially seals Adonai Mitchell’s fate when it comes to the draft bust stakes. In Mitchell’s defense he’s a speedster, not a scat-back.

On Thursday night Kyren Williams heroically dragged the Rams down the soggy field in Santa Clara. Levis Stadium provided what turned out to be a great advert for domed stadia. Matt Stafford racked up 320 yards when surrounded by home comforts in SoFi in Week 14. But this time both quarterbacks combined for just 302 passing yards! Brock Purdy is from Arizona and Stafford was born in Texas so they’re not used to squally showers. Stafford spent 12 years in the NFC North though. They have inclement weather there all year round.

Williams ran for 108 yards against a 49ers defense that looked great with Fred Warner and Dre Greenlaw in tandem. Having not played since the Super Bowl Greenlaw tired as the game (and rain) continued though. That shouldn’t have become an issue. They had De’Vondre Campbell on the sidelines. But the former Packer had other ideas. 

Week 15’s “Malik of the Week” award goes to Malik Nabers (yes, again), virtually cementing his place as the Malik of the season. It’s almost as if this whole thing is confected solely as a reason to talk about one of the most exciting receivers since Odell Beckham Jr. (although the 2024 draft has proved to be loaded with exceptional pass catchers). Another former Tiger, Brian Thomas Jr. is fantastic.

Nabers hauled in another 10 catches against the Ravens. He has four 10-reception game in his rookie season. That equals his fellow LSU Tiger Beckham Jr’s Giants rookie record.

Nabers has caught passes from four different quarterbacks this year though and none of them are as good as Eli Manning! 

But Nabers didn’t even get close to the hottest receiver this week. Davante Adams (against a god-awful Jaguars defense) led the pack, even if he’s a Jet now. Gang Green only completed three passes in the first half. The Jaguars untimely collapse should end some careers.

Not only did Aaron Rodgers’ BFF catch his 100th touchdown reception, the 31-year-old racked up 198 yards on just nine catches with two touchdowns in total. Eight other receivers crossed the 10-yard mark too, and so did Sam LaPorta and Ty Johnson in that wild game in Detroit. Some would say the Bills don’t need Amari Cooper after all.

What’s Knott in Football – Week 15

There is so much Knott to get through this week. Fumbling the ball through the endzone instead of scoring a touchdown is so cringe that you can only laugh. That happening twice in the same week is anxiety-inducing, but still sort of funny. Jordan Battle picked off Will Levis and then somehow lost his grip on the ball (and reality). He’ll never do that again.

Not to be outdone, Jonathan Taylor then dropped the ball for no apparent reason. Luckily the Colts didn’t get close enough to the Broncos for this one to matter.

We have to talk about the Knott quarterbacks this week. Eight threw multiple picks! Four signal-callers threw an interception and fumbled the football. Some of them won’t be playing next week.

Two different quarterbacks threw picks for the Seahawks, Titans, and the Browns! They must have held their team Christmas parties on Saturday!

Heading to the locker room in the fourth quarter when your team needs you might be the most Knott thing to happen in 2024. That’s what De’Vondre Campbell decided to do instead of taking Dre Greenlaw’s place at the heart of the 49ers’ defense. 

Campbell is ranked 115th out of 171 linebackers by PFF, so his loss shouldn’t be a significant one. Campbell announced via social media that he isn’t being used correctly in San Francisco anyway. He expected to be cut, but the 49ers instead suspended him. Campbell will miss the rest of the season and lose money. It’s detrimental to him and less problematic for the team.

Finally, the kicker sh*t list returns. Seven kickers missed field goal attempts in Week 15, including the usually impeccable Jake Bates and Tyler Bass. Yes, that’s right both teams managed to leave points on the field in Detroit. Cade York and Jason Sanders went one worse and missed extra points! 

Brandon Aubrey is excused from missing one of his attempts though because Mike McCarthy is a very unserious human. Aubrey’s 61-year-old analytics-driven (yeah, right) head coach decided to try a 70-yarder as time expired in the first half. Great idea Mike.

Newly acquired Commanders kicker, Greg Joseph missed a field goal in the only one-score game of the weekend, fortunately, it didn’t matter. The Commanders beat the Saints after they managed to turn Jake Haener’s interception into a 10-play drive that ended in a touchdown.  

The most Knott kicker of the week has to be Joey Slye though. In a matchup with the Patriots’ former kicker Chad Ryland (who they waived in August), he missed one and kicked one.

After kicking a lowly 79.2% of his attempts last season the 28-year-old has only hit 76.7% in 2024. The Patriots’ former kicker, Chad Ryland nailed all six of his kicks and has succeeded on 22 of his 26 attempts in 2024.  He also drilled a fan with a football at Wembley in October. One of his practice kicks at halftime missed the net completely and hit someone 15 yards away.

Joey’s time in New England is about to come to an unceremonious end.

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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