Seahawks waive WR/KR Laviska Shenault Jr. after disastrous performance
The tenure of wide receiver/kick returner Laviska Shenault Jr. in Seattle is officially over. On Monday, the Seahawks waived their utility man after a truly disastrous performance against the New York Jets that easily could have cost the team a much-needed win.
We at Seahawks Wire hammered Shenault for his outing in Week 13, but there is no such thing overstating how poor it was. After the other (struggling) return man Dee Williams fumbled the ball on a kick off, Shenault muffed a kick of his own. He was able to recover it, but it set the Seahawks up at their own 12 yard line… much deeper in their own territory than they needed to be. Fortunately for Shenault, Seattle was able to find the end zone that drive.
Immediately after New York scored on a 99-yard kick off, Shenault once again had a chance to redeem himself. Instead, he muffed the return again, and this time the ball was recovered by the Jets at Seattle’s 38 yard line. The Seahawks were down 21-7 at this point and New York had all the momentum. The Jets were in prime position to make it a 28-7 game, effectively putting it out of reach for Seattle this early on. Once again, fortune bailed out Shenault when Leonard Williams intercepted Aaron Rodgers and returned it 92-yards for a touchdown – the longest by a defensive linemen in NFL history.
It seems that was the end of the line for Shenault, as the team won’t allow him to place them in another opportunity where they would need a potentially history-making play to save the day. Shenault ends his Seattle career with 459 return yards and a 97-yard return touchdown. He also had two fumbles as well.
The Seahawks also had to make a roster decision anyways. Top pass rusher Uchenna Nwosu and right tackle Stone Forsythe are back from injured reserve, and head coach Mike Macdonald hinted Nwosu’s return could be “sooner than later.” Should that be the case (especially if “sooner” means Week 14 against the Cardinals) a spot on the active 53-man roster is now open for him.
Seattle’s special teams have been nothing short of a terrible liability all season long, and Shenault has been a key contributor in the mess. As for his running mate, the aforementioned Dee Williams, the writing is on the wall that this staff will no longer tolerate self-inflicted wounds of his nature.
Former New Yorkers-turned-Seahawks thrived in return to MetLife Stadium
Week 13 was a bit of a homecoming for four current Seattle Seahawks. Quarterback Geno Smith, safety Julian Love, and defensive linemen Leonard Williams and Jonathan Hankins all had one thing in common: all were former New York Giants. Three were also former New York Jets.
Of course, the biggest name on the list is Geno Smith, who was selected by the Jets in the second round of the 2013 NFL draft. Smith spent three seasons in the Big Apple before infamously flaming out, causing him to wander the desert of being an NFL journeyman backup. Smith spent a season with the Giants (starting one game on the road), then one with the Chargers before becoming a Seahawk starting in 2019 to present.
Leonard Williams was taken No. 6 overall by the Jets during the 2015 NFL draft and spent the first five years of his career with Gang Green, before being traded to the Giants. The first time he actually had to move in his career was to Seattle, when the Seahawks traded for him last season.
Julian Love became a Giant after being taken in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft and spent his rookie contract with Big Blue. Prior to the 2023 season, the Seahawks signed him to a two-year deal, but quickly outplayed it and earned a well-deserved three-year extension this past offseason.
Jonathan Hankins has moved around the most on this list. He originally was a second rounder for the Giants in 2013 where he played for three years. He then played with the Colts, Raiders and Cowboys before ultimately becoming a Seahawk this year.
In the Week 13 homecoming game, these former New Yorkers thrived. Geno Smith had another solid performance, completing 64% of his passes for 206 yards and a touchdown, as he engineered his 11th game-winning drive since the start of the 2022 season – the most in the league during this span.
Leonard Williams was an absolute terror, and felt right at home back in his original stadium. Williams had two sacks, an interception and a touchdown. His effort on Sunday made history by becoming the first player since 1982 (when sacks became an official stat) to have multiple sacks, a pick-6, and a blocked kick in the same day. He also set the NFL record for longest pick-6 by a defensive lineman.
Julian Love had six total tackles, and forced a fumble from running back Breece Hall. The Seahawks had just been stopped on downs at the goal line in a disappointing sequence, but Love stole momentum right back to Seattle, as the fumble was recovered by rookie Tyrice Knight. The Seahawks were able to score a needed field goal after that turn of events. Love also created a stop on 2nd-and-10 with a tackle, keeping the Jets at 3rd-and-10, setting up Leonard Williams to get his second sack of the afternoon. This was on New York’s final drive of the game.
Jonathan Hankins may not have shown up on the score sheet, but he was still a member of a defense that pitched a shutout over three full quarters of football, fueling the comeback for Seattle. Had the defense shown any cracks after going down 21-7, the Seahawks would be sitting at 6-6 right now.
Justin Herbert had one of his worst games of 2024 and it didn’t matter because he was facing Kirk Cousins.
Kirk Cousins threw four interceptions and tossed the Atlanta Falcons’ playoff plans into disarray. Brock Purdy couldn’t handle the snow or the Buffalo Bills’ defense on Sunday night. Justin Herbert funneled nearly 80 percent of his passing offense through a single player.
Those were all bad performances. Were any bad enough to make them the most disappointing quarterback of Week 13?
Fortunately, we’ve got a metric that can help figure that out.
Using the advanced stat expected points added (EPA) can gauge how much a quarterback brings to the table compared to a typical player. By comparing each passer’s Week 13 EPA against their 2024 average to date we get a better picture of just how frustrating their performances were. And we can find both of those thanks to The Athletic’s Ben Baldwin and his incredibly useful stats sites RBSDM.com and HabitatRing.com.
This is a metric that gauges disappointment based on what we’d typically expect. Drew Lock was a disaster on Thanksgiving, but he was filling in for Tommy DeVito and, let’s be honest, who really expected much from a guy who couldn’t beat Tommy Cutlets for a starting job?
So who was actually the worst? There were several candidates but only one man can truly call himself the grossest quarterback of Week 13.
Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past few weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.
6. Trevor Lawrence, Jacksonville Jaguars
[Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union]
2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -1.8
Week 13 EPA: -4.5
Difference: 2.7 points worse
Lawrence gets a special dispensation to the gross quarterback list thanks to his ability to be very, very bad in a limited amount of time. A late, post-scramble hit from Azeez Al-Shaiir took him out of Sunday’s loss to the Houston Texans in the second quarter. That was still enough time to account for nearly a touchdown’s worth of negative value.
That may still be gilding the lily. Lawrence had an open Brian Thomas Jr. for what could have been a walk-in Jacksonville touchdown. Instead, it gifted the Texans the field position that would turn into three points in a 23-20 win.
Lawrence lobbed five deep balls in 10 attempts and completed as many to his wideouts as he did to Houston defenders. He completed just four of 10 passes for 41 yards and was soundly outplayed by Mac Jones Sunday, which is a very sad statement to write.
5. Justin Herbert, Los Angeles Chargers
Dale Zanine-Imagn Images
2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 1.3
Week 13 EPA: -4.4
Difference: 5.7 points worse
EPA hasn’t been kind to Herbert, greatly underselling his prowess in the pocket for an undermanned Chargers team. He’s spent the bulk of 2024 elevating a Ladd McConkey/Quentin Johnston/Joshua Palmer offense into an 8-4 record and the inside track to a playoff berth.
In Week 13, however, he was mostly forgettable. His victory over the Atlanta Falcons was more a product of the No. 3 quarterback on this list failing more than anything Herbert did in particular. Between passes, sacks and scrambles Herbert dropped back with the ball 33 times and gained 129 yards — fewer than four yards per play.
Somehow, McConkey was responsible for 117 of Herbert’s 147 passing yards (almost 80 percent) and it still wasn’t enough for the Falcons to earn a home victory because of this guy:
4. Kirk Cousins, Atlanta Falcons
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 1.7
Week 13 EPA: -7
Difference: 8.7 points worse
The bloom has slowly been receding from Cousins’s onion as his tenure in Atlanta has worn . Week 13 may have lacked the embarrassment of getting swapped out for Michael Penix in a blowout loss, but it likely felt just as bad for the Falcons.
The onus is on Cousins to make something happen here, but he’s only down four points with more than nine minutes to play. There’s no great shame in settling for a field goal. Instead, Cousins steps up and lobs the ball to a space where three different Chargers defenders can get to it. They fail to Three Stooges their way to a drop, and Atlanta remains stuck in its hole.
In deference to Cousins, two of his four interceptions came in fourth down situations that would have been a turnover on downs anyway. That doesn’t excuse this Tarheeb Still pick-six that generated 47 percent of Los Angeles’s total points, however.
Cousins has zero touchdown passes and six interceptions in his last three games. All three were Falcons losses.
3. Aaron Rodgers, New York Jets
Mark Smith-Imagn Images
2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: -2.4
Week 13 EPA: -11.8
Difference: 9.4 points worse
Rodgers’s awful Week 11 can be summed up in back to back plays. First, this brutal miss of a wide open Garrett Wilson on what should have been a touchdown to make the score 28-7.
There were several Jets chasing down Leonard Williams on that play. Rodgers was not one of them. There was little chance he’d be able to get to the absolutely motoring defensive tackle in the first place, but as a metaphor the whole play feels a bit too on the nose for the Jets’ 2024 season.
2. Baker Mayfield, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
2024 expected points added (EPA) per game: 4.0
Week 13 EPA: -7.3
Difference: 11.3 points worse
Mayfield did the work when it mattered most. With the game on the line, he marched each of the Bucs’ final five offensive drives into scoring position. This turned a 16-10 Carolina Panthers fourth quarter lead into a 23-20 Tampa Bay victory.
For a large chunk between the end of the first quarter and the beginning of the fourth, however, he looked a lot like the quarterback who’d been the NFL’s least efficient passer in 2022.
Mayfield spent 41 touchdown-less minutes letting his former team build a lead before snapping back to life late. In that stretch he threw two interceptions and had one drive (out of seven) that lasted more than five offensive plays. He was 0-for-5 with a sack and a pick in third down situations while the Panthers rallied.
When he came back online, he thrashed the intermediate range (six completions on eight throws between 10 and 19 yards downfield for 118 yards) and led Tampa Bay into a tie with the Atlanta Falcons atop the NFC South at 6-6. But for a while it looked like he might blow it in Charlotte. That was enough for him to nearly top Week 13’s disappointment ranks.
Josh Allen found a way to throw a touchdown pass to himself and the Niners’ quarterback couldn’t even hold on to the ball. Ah well, it was a snow game where pretty much everyone on the San Francisco roster stunk. He’s got five games left to rally the 49ers and try to make good on what could be a rapidly closing championship window.
Mike Williams continues to struggle for playing time and production with the Steelers, raising questions about the trade’s value.
Another week of Black and Gold football, another week of disappointment for fans hoping to see the not-so-newly acquired WR Mike Williams make an impact for the Pittsburgh Steelers. Critics of the Steelers’ use of Williams appear to be beating a dead horse, as he continues to see minimal involvement despite being in Pittsburgh for almost a month now.
Even with WR Calvin Austin III sidelined due to an injury in Week 13—and the NFL commentary team suggesting that Williams should be able to contribute with a better understanding of the playbook—the wide receiver finished with an unimpressive stat line of zero targets, zero catches, zero total yards, and just 17 total snaps on offense against the Cincinnati Bengals.
Since being acquired by Pittsburgh, Williams has played only seven, 15, and 11 snaps in Weeks 10–12, respectively. To make matters worse, Austin and WR Van Jefferson have been steadily outperforming him.
Once again, Williams finds himself buried in a crowded wide receiver room, and at this point, it seems Steelers GM Omar Khan traded a 2025 fifth-round pick to the New York Jets, and took on Williams’ remaining salary, for practically nothing.
Also, Leonard Williams is an onion and Aaron Rodgers reigns over a kingdom of emptiness.
Week 13 was a weird one for young quarterbacks.
Bryce Young and Drake Maye each shined in heartbreaking losses. C.J. Stroud struggled in defeat. Trevor Lawrence entered the concussion protocol thanks to a late hit at the tail end of a scramble. Aidan O’Connell gave the Kansas City Chiefs all they could handle despite throwing 25 of his 34 passes to the Las Vegas Raiders’ two trustworthy targets.
On the other side of the spectrum, Aaron Rodgers shambled one step closer to the worst season of his illustrious NFL career. What else did we learn in Week 13? Let’s talk about it.
[Please bear with me for any Twitter embed issues. Our editing software has become a whole problem on that front the past couple weeks. Rest assured, if there’s a play alluded to in the text it’s worth clicking through to see if it didn’t make it into the article itself.]
1. Drake Maye is so much better than Mac Jones ever was (already)
Bob DeChiara-Imagn Images
Mac Jones was a Pro Bowler as a rookie for a playoff-bound New England Patriots team. Drake Maye will not make the playoffs in 2024. Barring a litany of no-shows, he probably won’t be winging passes at drones in the Pro Bowl Games.
But he’s been meaningfully better than Jones in more than one way.
Maye presented the best possible outcome for a Patriots squad with no realistic shot of a playoff berth coming into Week 13 (and zero actual shot following it). He looked like a franchise quarterback finally worthy of succeeding Tom Brady in Foxborough. And he lost in the process, pushing New England another step closer to a premium draft pick it can then use or trade to rebuild a talent-deficient roster.
How’d Maye look like “the guy” instead of just “a guy?” Look at the factors behind his first half touchdown throw to Austin Hooper. The play itself is questionable, dragging two targets and three defenders into the same cramped corner of a compressed field. But Maye rises above this. He’s confident enough to take the throw and skilled enough to pull it off.
More importantly, he shined despite the lack of blocking help around him. New England gave up four sacks in 34 dropbacks Sunday. On top of that, Maye’s linemen were called for holding five times before halftime. Still, the Patriots moved the ball despite these “and long” situations. Per The Athletic’s Jim Ayello, New England’s 279 yards in the first half were the most Indianapolis has given up before halftime since 2022.
While Maye did throw an interception, it was one for which he can be absolved. It’s another tight window throw to Hunter Henry for a quick pickup to set up first and goal. But it’s slightly off target and Henry can’t corral a catchable ball. It bounces off his hands/knee and then chest before settling into Julian Blackmon’s hands to erase a scoring opportunity late in a tight game.
Maye’s defense couldn’t protect that seven-point lead. It gave up a fourth-and-goal Anthony Richardson touchdown pass before allowing the beefy quarterback to run for a game-winning two-point conversion with 12 seconds to play. Even so, the rookie finished his day with just under 300 total yards while completing 80 percent of his passes. Granted, that’s at least partially because he didn’t attempt a single throw that traveled more than 16 yards downfield:
via nextgenstats.nfl.com
but given the Pats’ limitations, that’s a pretty reasonable gameplan! Maye threw 16 passes that traveled between five and 15 yards downfield. He completed all but four, and one of those misses was the Henry drop above.
It’s difficult to quantify how different this is compared to the Jones era. Jones wasn’t just failing to complete deep balls due to a lack of personnel; he was failing because he lacked the arm strength to zip throws into tight windows, instead thriving on lofted passes to schemed-open wideouts. On Sunday, Maye made those passes happen not because he saw a receiver without a defender nearby but because he knew right where to put the ball where a defender couldn’t get it.
Maye’s completion percentage over expected (CPOE) vs. Indianapolis was a robust 8.9 percent; Jones’s average as a Patriot was 0.0. Jones was an average quarterback making the plays you’d expect from someone at his level. Maye is creating plays with his arm, legs and confidence and looks like a future star in the process.
That’s the bright side of another lost season in New England. The Patriots are a bad team. They’re low on exciting talent and are not particularly well coached (though Jerod Mayo is learning on the job). But Drake Maye looks better than any quarterback the franchise has employed since 2019. If he can keep looking great and losing games, the Pats’ rebuild won’t take nearly as long as it seems.
2. Aaron Jones is having a weird, uncharacteristic winter
Jeffrey Becker-Imagn Images
Jones remains a valuable RB1 in his eighth year as a pro. From 2016 to Week 10 of the 2024 season, he’d touched the ball 1,619 times with just 16 total fumbles — a fumble rate under one percent.
Since Week 11’s win over the Tennessee Titans, the Minnesota Vikings’ top running back has handled the ball 48 times. He’s put the ball on the turf four times in that stretch (8.3 percent), including this fumble that briefly moved Cam Akers into top tailback duty.
Jones has been a spark for Minnesota in his first season away from Green Bay. But his inability to be trusted in Week 13 was a detriment to the Vikings’ offense. Jones had only four carries against the league’s 24th-ranked rushing defense.
This was in part because his team trailed most of the afternoon, but also because of ball security issues. Sam Darnold tied for the team lead when it came to rushing and the Vikes’ 68 rushing yards stands as their second-lowest output of 2024.
These issues weren’t limited to handoffs. A Darnold pass caromed off the hands of a diving Jones late in a 19-13 game, forcing the Vikings to settle for a field goal rather than take the lead. Fortunately, redemption lay ahead.
His next target was a considerably easier one, hauled in for a game-winning touchdown. Jones’s 28 total yards are his lowest output as a Viking. But he found his place when Minnesota needed it most which, in the end, is pretty true to Aaron Jones.
3. George Pickens had an extremely characteristic day
This has made Pickens the NFL’s random event generator. On Sunday, with a chance to effectively scuttle the Cincinnati Bengals’ postseason hopes, he fired up that engine and had one of the most George Pickens games of all time.
First, Pickens stumbled coming out of his break. This allowed Cam Taylor-Britt to dispatch him to the turf with minimal effort before taking an interception back the other way for six points.
On the next drive, Pickens showcased his RAC again with a slow-motion spin move to pick up an extra five yards and move the Steelers into Bengals territory. Then, he marched them right back with a 15-yard taunting penalty.
George Pickens nearly drops the ball, picks up the first, adds 5 extra yards with the world's slowest spin move on a 1-on-3 situation, then gets a 15-yard penalty for taunting the Bengals bench
That wound up not mattering as Wilson led Pittsburgh on a 70-yard touchdown drive anyway. Halftime came and went and Pickens continued his wildly characteristic game.
4. Cam Heyward is 35 years old and still feasting against the Cincinnati Bengals
Philip G. Pavely-USA TODAY Sports
Cam Heyward is Pittsburgh royalty. In 14 seasons as a Steeler, he’s been a leader on the field and in the locker room. He’s a six-time Pro Bowler and four-time All-Pro destined for the franchise’s Hall of Honor.
At 35 years old, he’s nearing the end of his career. When it comes to playing AFC North rival Cincinnati, however, he’s capable of throwing it back to 2017 to thoroughly destroy the Bengals in every facet of the game.
When Chase Brown tries to run at the goal line? Cam Heyward.
Heyward finished his day two tackles for loss, two quarterback hits, one sack and one pass defensed. He helped one drive end in a field goal rather than a touchdown and ended another by tipping Burrow’s third quarter throw. After an injury-marred 2023, he’s playing at a Pro Bowl level once more — and he’s a big reason why the Steelers defense is so scary, even on a day where they allowed 31 Bengals offensive points.
5. Aaron Rodgers failed the New York Jets once more
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
It’s official. For the ninth straight season, the Jets will finish with a losing record.
This wasn’t supposed to be how things turned out. New York opened the 2024 season with the top odds to win the AFC East. The four-time MVP they’d traded for in 2023 was ready to rewrite his legacy and chase down the second Super Bowl he believes could validate his place among the greats. But Aaron Rodgers hasn’t looked like anything resembling the league’s most valuable player. He looks like a guy who turns 41 on Monday.
The Jets led 21-7 when Rodgers overthrew a wide-open Garrett Wilson in the end zone. The next play, he blanked Leonard Williams dropping into coverage and managed to throw a 91-yard pick-six to a defensive lineman. This sounds impossible, but through Aaron Rodgers all things are possible.
Everything gets worse if you unwind from there. Rodgers had an early 80-yard touchdown drive to start Sunday’s scoring, but was only bailed out of a drive-killing third down sack by a Leonard Williams facemask. New York’s other two touchdowns came on a Kene Nwangwu kickoff return and after a short field created by a Seahawks fumble on another kickoff.
Rodgers, facing what’s been a fairly average Seattle defense, managed zero points once the first quarter ended. Williams flattened him on a key third down late in Seattle territory, then the veteran’s all-or-nothing fourth-and-15 heave with the game on the line was another overthrow to Wilson, this time covered, in the end zone.
On its face, 185 yards and two touchdowns isn’t a bad passing line. Dig deeper and you see a quarterback losing an ongoing battle against the hands of time. Rodgers averaged just 4.7 yards per pass attempt. Factor in sacks and his average dropback was good for just four net yards. He attempted 14 passes that traveled more than 10 yards downfield.
He completed *two* of them.
via nextgenstats.nfl.com
Rodgers’s beauty was his ability to escape pressure, extend plays and whip darts downfield in a way no other quarterback could. He still believes he can do all these things, even as his body begins to decay like spent uranium. After years of staving off his half life, it’s clear he no longer has the potency he once did.
The Jets would have been fine knowing he was no longer great — that’s the risk of trading for a quarterback approaching his 40s. This version of Rodgers, however, isn’t good or even average. This was a terrible performance from a disjointed offense that was gifted early points and failed to capitalize.
Fortunately for the Jets, Rodgers took the blame for Sunday’s loss. Kind of.
Aaron Rodgers on why his stats didn't go up despite his health getting better
Yes, this man is exhausting. That’s also the entire vibe of New York Jets football. It’s a wonderful fit because it is a terrible fit. That is the Jets’ way.
6. C.J. Stroud and Trevor Lawrence staged a battle of what could be
Corey Perrine/Florida Times-Union
In early 2023, Stroud and Lawrence looked like worthy rivals who’d compete over the next decade to stake their claim as the rising playoff team no one wants to face out of the AFC South. In 2024, they’re… rivals. Sort of.
Stroud is leading the presumptive South champion Houston Texans but failing to inspire confidence after winning last year’s rookie of the year honors. Lawrence is struggling once again for a Jacksonville Jaguars team about to fire its head coach. In Week 13, Houston escaped Florida with a win — but it wasn’t anything about which either team should feel good.
Stroud played a tidy and ultimately unimpressive game, continuing a concerning trend that’s lingered through his sophomore campaign.
Tank Dell WIDE open… he had to wait for it. Broken up by Darby. He got there a tad early but too close for the refs to call. pic.twitter.com/KfSDuiRTCQ
Stroud was… fine. He completed nearly 65 percent of his passes and threw one touchdown without an interception. He connected on three of five deep balls. But his 0.0 CPOE continues a trend where he’s less of a franchise quarterback and more of “a guy.” He’s had twice as many games where he’s failed to find the end zone (six) than games where he’s scored multiple touchdowns.
Lawrence faced similar struggles. He completed just four of 10 passes for 41 yards. He traded a touchdown for an interception on what could have been a walk-in bomb for rookie wideout Brian Thomas Jr.. Instead, it cleared the way for a Texans field goal.
Lawrence did his damnedest to make the Jacksonville offense explosive. His average pass traveled 17 yards downfield. But he completed as many deep balls to his own wideouts as Texans’ defenders. A late hit from linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair ensured he wouldn’t have the chance to adjust after halftime.
Mac Jones arrived in relief and played better than expected, winging a pair of touchdown passes but going 0-for-4 on deep throws in his own right. The fact Jones, a quarterback discarded by a needy Patriots team, came in and was Sunday’s most valuable passer in a game between a former No. 1 overall pick and the reigning rookie of the year is a brutal statement on the fortunes of both Stroud and Lawrence in 2024.
vis habitatring.com
Stroud has the playoffs to look forward to. Lawrence will have a new coach in 2025. Both players have a path back to prosperity. But Week 13 was an example of how each continued to fall below expectations this season, even before a late hit knocked the Jaguars’ QB1 out of the game.
7. Leonard Williams contains multitudes
Vincent Carchietta-Imagn Images
Look, I know we talked about this earlier. But let’s appreciate this one more time. Leonard Williams’s beautiful pick six wasn’t just about a massive human being running a very long way. It was about a 300-pound man athletic enough that his coach trusted him to drop back into coverage on a pivotal third down:
This wasn’t your typical tip-drill lineman INT. This was Williams putting himself in position to swat down a slant even before his teammate made it easier to pluck out of the sky.
This was his biggest highlight of the game, but far from his only one. How about that time he effectively squashed New York’s late comeback hopes by squashing Rodgers.
Leonard Williams feasting against his former team 😤
Williams is 30 years old. He hasn’t been a Pro Bowler since 2016 or an All-Pro ever. But this winter he’s leveled up from good to great as an absolute headache for opposing offenses in every phase of the game. He’s got seven sacks and 20 quarterback hits in 12 games. He’s also got 10 tackles for loss. His 16 percent pass rush win rate is third-best among interior linemen despite getting double-teamed on nearly two-thirds of his snaps.
Head coach Mike Macdonald is treating him like a special attraction and it’s maximizing Williams’s peak. His 66 percent snap share is his lowest ever over a full(ish) season. Despite this, he’s still on pace for career highs in QB hits and tackles for loss. A little bit of rest has gone a long way in saving his best for the field — and giving him the energy for the biggest big man touchdown of the millennium in the process.
Leonard Williams's 91-yard touchdown is the longest return touchdown by a player 300+ pounds since at least 2000.
8. The Philadelphia Eagles defense is the NFC’s biggest concern
Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images
The Eagles rolled south for a game with the NFL’s top offense by yardage and second-best scoring offense. They left with a 24-19 victory that was a garbage time touchdown away from limiting the Baltimore Ravens to their lowest scoring output of 2024.
Granted, some of this was thanks to Justin Tucker aging like someone found and destroyed a haggard copy of his game tape preserved in his attic. Tucker came into the 2024 season as the most accurate kicker in NFL but has aged all at once at 35 years old. He missed three kicks — two field goals and an extra point — to give him 10 total misses on the season. That’s three more than his previous career worst and Baltimore still has four games left to play.
The bigger culprit, however, was Philly’s defense. Sunday’s game wasn’t as cut and dry as the final score made it out to seem. The Ravens out-gained the Eagles by 120 total yards. But the Eagles clamped shut when it counted, and that made all the difference.
Philadelphia held the Ravens to only two touchdowns on six red zone drives — it was one of five before Baltimore scored with three seconds left to cut the lead to five points. The Ravens converted just three of eight third downs between taking a 9-0 lead in the first quarter and driving for points that didn’t affect the final outcome of the game in the final minute. Two of those stops forced long Tucker field goal attempts that split wide of the goal posts.
This was a familiar sight for the Eagles. Since their Week 5 bye only the Detroit Lions have fielded a better offense.
via habitatring.com and the author
Lamar Jackson still played well, but Philadelphia went on the road and hounded the MVP favorite into a merely “above average” game. Jackson came into Week 13 averaging a sublime 9.6 expected points added (EPA). The Eagles held him to 3.6 EPA Sunday afternoon, turning him from one of the league’s most valuable players to the rough equivalent of Derek Carr.
If this defense can turn Jackson into a mobile version of Carr, it can do it to anyone in the NFC. Last year’s Eagles team was falling apart by this point in the season. This year’s version is playing better than ever, riding an eight-game winning streak and grinding opponents into dust on both sides of the ball.
The secondary that plagued last season’s spiral has been fixed. Quinyon Mitchell has allowed a single touchdown in 50-plus targets this season. Fellow rookie cornerback Cooper DeJean is out here doing stuff like this to Derrick Henry:
We’re still a ways away from a potential Lions-Eagles playoff showdown. But if we get it, it could be a rock fight instead of a shootout thanks to how these two defenses are playing.
9. Bryce Young isn’t fixed but is fixable
Bob Donnan-Imagn Images
Before November, Young had never known an NFL winning streak. As December kicks off, he’s one Kansas City Chiefs buzzer-beating field goal and one Chuba Hubbard fumble away from winning four straight games.
Young was granted the opportunity to re-enter the Carolina Panthers’ starting lineup after Andy Dalton injured his thumb in a car accident. In that stretch, he’d engineered two game-winning drives and what looked like a third Sunday night thanks to this touchdown heave to Adam Thielen with 30 seconds left on the clock.
That 23-20 lead didn’t hold up over the final 30 seconds, but that’s OK. This talent-deficient Panthers team has far more problems than just wins and losses this fall. But getting Young back on track to be a franchise quarterback would be the biggest and best possible answer to the questions they face.
Each week, we’re seeing Young’s confidence grow after being eclipsed by bad plays and self doubt. The back-foot throws haven’t entirely dissipated, but he’s shown more comfort stepping up into the pocket and throwing downfield in the face of traffic. Head coach Dave Canales has challenged him to freestyle when his pocket breaks down. On Sunday that worked wonders through the air:
Young completed two of five deep throws Sunday evening, which isn’t incredible but significant for a player who’d only completed 23 percent of such throws as a rookie and had only attempted 17 deep balls in eight games this fall. He’s becoming more comfortable in Canales’s offense. That’s not manifesting in the tough throws over the middle that remain the missing link in his game, but it’s still an important development!
via habitatring.com
Young isn’t fixed, but he’s playing more confidently and willing to open himself up to reasonable risks in the pocket as a result. He couldn’t connect with Xavier Legette on third-and-10 late in the fourth quarter trailing 17-16, but he stood in the pocket and took a wallop from a free rusher to deliver an accurate pass to a covered target. It was far from perfect, but it wasn’t a case of happy feet or an interceptable throw. It gave Carolina the best chance to win with what he had.
There’s a long way to go before the Panthers can be satisfied with their young quarterback. Still, the growth he’s shown in the last month should be enough to keep Carolina from drafting a first round passer this spring. That’s faint praise, but given where this franchise was in October, it feels like monumental progress.
10. Fantasy team you absolutely didn’t want to field in Week 13
Brett Davis-Imagn Images
QB: Justin Herbert, Chargers (147 passing yards, one rushing yard, five sacks, one two-point conversion, 8.68 fantasy points)
RB: Chuba Hubbard, Panthers (43 rushing yards, one fumble lost, 2.3 fantasy points)
RB: Gus Edwards, Chargers (32 rushing yards, one catch, one receiving yard, 4.3 fantasy points)
WR: Cooper Kupp, Rams (three catches, 17 yards, 4.7 fantasy points)
Smith didn’t need words to roast his former team, just a perfect meme.
Geno Smith only thrived as an NFL quarterback after he escaped the swirling vortex of garbage known as the New York Jets. Smith went 12-18 as a starter after being New York’s second round pick in 2013. It was a tenure better known for the former West Virginia star getting his jaw broken by a teammate than any on-field success.
Smith was forced to take the long route back to relevancy, only thriving once he arrived in Seattle as Russell Wilson’s backup, then successor for the Seahawks. He’s been an above average starter in the years since, going 25-22 in three-plus seasons atop the team’s depth chart.
The 25th win on his resume came in Week 13 over the Jets. Like seeing the obituary for one of his biggest haters in the newspaper, Smith knew he had to show up.
That’s Smith, embracing the “RIPBOZO” meme on Twitter to tell the world he had to attend his hater’s funeral just to ensure he was dead. Seattle’s win Sunday ensured a ninth-straight losing season for the Jets — a streak that began, coincidentally, in Smith’s final season with the franchise. New York is once more on its way to the cemetery of playoff aspirations. Smith was there, dressed in black, to make sure it was true.
Leonard Williams makes history in Seahawks victory over Jets
Going into the Seattle Seahawks’ Week 13 showdown against the New York Jets, one of the biggest talking points was quarterback Geno Smith’s “homecoming” against the team that drafted him back in 2013. But a lesser talked about storyline was another “homecoming” for star defensive lineman Leonard Williams.
Of course, we at Seahawks Wire were well aware of the significance of Williams returning to face the team that picked him No. 6 overall during the 2015 NFL draft.
Big Cat reminded the Jets faithful why their team spent such precious draft capital on him, and why they should have found a way to keep him a lot longer than they did. Williams was an absolute terror in Week 13, sacking Aaron Rodgers twice, snagging an interception and returning it for a touchdown. In fact, his dominance was quite literally historic!
For the record, 1982 was the first year the NFL started to tack sacks as an official statistic. So as far as the official league record books are concerned, this could very likely be the only time this has ever happened.
Seahawks escape from New York with a 26-21 win over the Jets
The Seattle Seahawks just escaped from New York in one of the most bizarre, sloppy, and confusing games we’ve seen in quite some time. But as I’ve always said, style points don’t matter in the NFL… only wins do.
The Seahawks are now 7-0 when playing at MetLife Stadium, which has become a home away from home.
It certainly was not easy for Seattle to get this win. The Jets may have been only a three-win team, but they put up a fight, especially in the first half. Thanks to special teams miscues by the Hawks, New York capitalized for 21 points. But the Seahawks defense clamped down after intermission and suffocated the life out of the Jets. New York only had four possessions, and they went as follows:
Punt
Fumble
Punt
Turnover on downs
Part of the limited opportunities for the Jets in the second half was the fact the Seahawks controlled the clock to close out the game. They had drives of 12, 10 and 9 plays. Their first drive of the second half ended in frustrating disaster. After eight tries at the goal line, Geno Smith’s sack on 4th and goal turned the ball over on downs and Seattle came away with nothing. Thankfully, the Hawks forced a fumble which was recovered by rookie Tyrice Knight.
Smith then marched the team 39 yards to connect with another successful Jason Myers field goal to cut the lead 21-19.
However, the true miracles took place on the next possession. Trailing by two points, it was happy hour at the Last Chance Saloon for Seattle. It likely should have been lights out for the Seahawks, but the Jets continued to give Seattle more and more opportunities. New York was flagged four times on the Seahawks’ game winning drive – three of which were on 4th downs where Gang Green actually had Seattle stopped. The Jets were flagged 12 total times – 10 of which were in the second half alone.
The Hawks took advantage of those continued opportunities and capped it off with a go-ahead touchdown run by Zach Charbonnet. After Aaron Rodgers’ pass on 4th-and-15 fell incomplete, Seattle officially completed the comeback and Geno Smith earned his 11th game-winning drive since the start of 2022.
Aaron Rodgers was held in check, completing 21-of-39 passes for only 185 yards, two touchdowns and an interception. Meanwhile his counterpart on the other sideline, Geno Smith, was his usual efficient self, completing 64% of his passes for 206 yards and a touchdown.
The Seahawks are now 7-5 and extended their lead in the NFC West thanks to Arizona losing to Minnesota 23-22 earlier in the afternoon. Seattle will once again take on the Cardinals next week, but will do so in the Valley of the Sun.
First half highlights and analysis: Seahawks trail Jets 21-16
The Seattle Seahawks have literally never played in a normal game, and this adage continues into Week 13 against the New York Jets. It has been a bizarre, sloppy, and explosive affair between these two teams. What started to look like another defensive battle quickly devolved.
New York found the end zone first, but Leonard Williams blocked the PAT. Little would we know, it was only the start of horrendous special teams play.
On the ensuing kick off, Seattle’s return man Dee Williams fumbled the ball. Williams has been a liability in the return game all season long, and it reared its ugly head once more, as his muffed return was recovered by New York at Seattle’s 27-yard line. The Jets quickly found the end zone for the second time today four plays later to extend their lead to 14-0 thanks to a successful two-point conversion.
The Seahawks were finally able to answer, as they engineered a 10-play, 83 yard touchdown drive. Seattle was backed up further than they should, as Laviska Shenault fumbled the kick off, but was able to recover it. Geno Smith found rookie AJ Barner for the touchdown.
Well, Seattle’s momentum was quickly robbed as Jets running back Kene Nwangwu returned the ball 99-yards for a touchdown to go up 21-7. Unfortunately, the special teams disasterclass would continue…. as after the touchdown, Laviska Shenault fumbled again. Only this time, New York would recover at Seattle’s 38-yard line.
Just to quickly recap, here is what the Seahawks special teams situation has been in the first half alone.
Seahawks special teams disasterclass
-Dee Williams kick off fumble, Jets recover
-Laviska Shenault kick off fumble, Hawks recover but backed up deep in their own territory
-Jets 99 yard kick off return touchdown
-Laviska Shenault kick off fumble, Jets recover
However, I wonder if the Jets social media admin might regret tweeting out “Football is fun!” because six plays later, quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ pass was picked off by defensive lineman Leonard Williams, who promptly returned the ball 91-yards.
Leonard Williams scores the first touchdown of his career… and he does so against the team that selected him No. 6 overall in the 2015 NFL draft pic.twitter.com/fHQyEnsGrl
The Seahawks’ special teams woes continued, as the PAT attempt was blocked, keeping the score 21-13. However, Jason Myers did have redemption as he nailed a 54-yard field goal to cut the lead to 21-16, which is where it lasted into halftime. Myers’ field goal was his seventh from 50+ yards in a single season, breaking his own Seahawks franchise record he set last year.
New York will get the ball to start the second half. Be sure to follow @TheSeahawksWire and @KoleMusgrove23 on Twitter for more live updates, analysis and highlights!
Watch: Seahawks DE Leonard Williams intercepts Aaron Rodgers for a TD
It has been a wild and wacky Week 13 game between the Seattle Seahawks and New York Jets, filled with plenty of explosive plays and bafflingly awful special teams.
Seattle’s kick off and kick off return teams have been absurdly awful in the first half, fumbling three times (losing two of them) and allowing a 99-yard touchdown return. After the second fumble, New York had the ball at Seattle’s 38-yard line and made it all the way to the nine. But that is where it ended, courtesy of Leonard “Big Cat” Williams.
Leonard Williams scores the first touchdown of his career… and he does so against the team that selected him No. 6 overall in the 2015 NFL draft pic.twitter.com/fHQyEnsGrl
Unfortunately, the Seahawks could not take full advantage of the “thicc-six” as they had yet another PAT attempt blocked. The touchdown cut the Jets lead to 21-13 midway through the second quarter.
Be sure to follow @TheSeahawksWire and @KoleMusgrove23 for more highlights, analysis and updates during the game.
