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Former Wisconsin Badgers including Russell Wilson, Jonathan Taylor, T.J. Watt and Ryan Ramczyk are in action this weekend in the NFL playoff
The NFL Playoffs are upon us as 10 former Wisconsin Badgers look to lead their team on a postseason run.
Related: Badgers in the NFL: Top 10 plays of the year
Only one of the names mentioned has a bye this weekend, Green Bay Packer offensive lineman Rick Wagner. So this weekend will be full of watching Wisconsin products make their presence felt on one of the biggest stages in sports.
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With the NFL 2020 regular season over I went through the seasons of Jonathan Taylor, Russell Wilson and other former Wisconsin Badgers
With the NFL regular season over I decided to have a little fun and comb through the highlight archives of Wisconsin products this season.
What ended up surprising me was how familiar all of these plays looked, as we’ve seen guys like Jonathan Taylor, T.J. Watt, Russell Wilson, J.J. Watt and Joe Schobert do it for years it Madison (some were still severely underrated entering the draft and to this day I still do not understand it).
Related: Full-season statistics for every former Wisconsin Badger in the NFL
There are still playoff games left to watch guys including Wilson, T.J. Watt and Taylor.
But for now, here are the top 10 plays of the year from former Wisconsin Badgers in the NFL:
Wisconsin football products were all over NFL stat sheets on Sunday, with Jonathan Taylor and Melvin Gordon scoring touchdowns, T.J. Watt…
For the first time in a month NFL Sunday didn’t act as an escape from a Wisconsin Badger loss on Saturday.
With the team’s 20-17 overtime victory against rival Minnesota they finished the regular season 3-3 and righted the ship after what was a rough month-long stretch.
Related: Film room: Five things that stood out from the Badgers’ victory over Minnesota
Even though the Badgers won on Saturday, there are still performances by Wisconsin products in the NFL to highlight.
Here is how every former Badger performed in NFL Week 15:
Pro Football Focus on Buffalo Bills’ Daryl Williams vs. Pittsburgh Steelers’ TJ Watt in Week 14.
The MVP for the Buffalo Bills during their 26-15 win against the Pittsburgh Steelers, to many, was wide receiver Stefon Diggs. But was offensive lineman Daryl Williams overlooked?
In his own right, Diggs did have a massive game. He hauled in 10 catches for 130 yards and a touchdown. Diggs’ efforts also sparked the team’s turnaround following their poor start.
However, in terms of a consistent, overall outing? Williams is the guy. He faced off against one of the NFL’s premier pass rushers in TJ Watt and left the edge defender uncommonly quiet in the game.
Still, for offensive lineman we have no hard stats to reflect upon like we can for a playmaker. No catches or touchdowns.
Enter Pro Football Focus.
The football analytics outlet took the deep dive on Williams’ game vs. Watt and it looks as impressive as the eye test. Per PFF, Williams only allowed one QB pressure in the game vs. Watt. In terms of these fancy stats, Watt entered the game as PFF’s top-graded edge defender in the NFL.
Since facing Williams, Watt dropped to the second spot. That’s because PFF gave Watt his second-lowest, single-game grade of 2020 against the Bills, a 64.3. That caused Watt’s overall mark on the season to dip to 92.0. Clearly Watt is usually much better, and Williams was a big reason why he struggled.
Along with the analytics, Watt’s usual stats are very impressive as well and that situation also helps put Williams’ big game into context. Watt brought his 12 total sacks and league-leading 19 tackles for loss to Bills Stadium last weekend, but failed to add to either total.
A very good game for Williams, indeed.
For his efforts, Williams’ overall PFF grade on the year jumped from 75.7 to 76.5 following the Bills’ win.
Another former Panther-turned-Bill, Williams has proven to be a consistent performer for Buffalo this year. After signing a one-year deal with the Bills this past offseason, some are starting to wonder if the 28-year-old has earned a long-term extension in Buffalo.
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Things to watch in Week 14 Buffalo Bills vs. Pittsburgh Steelers.
A big AFC playoff contest in en route in the NFL this weekend and the Buffalo Bills are involved in it.
The Bills (9-3) will host the AFC North leaders, the Pittsburgh Steelers (11-1), in Week 14. These two teams are not directly battling for playoff spots. However, seeding importance is huge here.
With four games left, if the Bills plan to move up in the conference, they have to beat the Steelers on Sunday Night Football.
With that, here are eight things to watch for and a prediction ahead of Week 14’s Bills-Steelers meeting:
Although it was an abysmal weekend of sports for Wisconsin athletics, once the page turned to Sunday there were former Badgers having…
Although it was an abysmal weekend of sports for Wisconsin athletics, once the page turned to Sunday there were former Badgers having eye-popping performances.
Long runs, deep touchdown catches, sacks, pick-sixes and more.
Related: Highlights from former Badgers in the NFL this weekend
Here is how every former Badger performed in NFL Week 13:
The former Badger is making the case for his younger brother to be NFL DPOY
Wisconsin football’s first family has a top candidate for NFL defensive player of the year, and it isn’t even the three-time winner of the award. J.J. Watt, a three-time defensive player of the year with the Houston Texans, is making the case for his younger brother T.J. to take home the hardware this year. The numbers for the star OLB speak for themselves:
The man LEADS the NFL in…
– Sacks
– TFLs
– Pressures
– QB Hits
– Pass Rush Win RateNot 2nd, not 3rd, not 4th…
1st place.
DPOY.
Plain and Simple.@_TJWatt
— JJ Watt (@JJWatt) December 8, 2020
T.J. Watt, a two-time Pro Bowler in his own right, not only leads the NFL in every statistical category shown in his older brother’s tweet, but also plays for the leagues best team. His Pittsburgh Steelers squad is sitting at 11-0, and has the only undefeated record left in the NFL. It feels like time for one Watt to pass off the hardware to another.
Another week of the NFL season is in the books with key contributions being made by former Wisconsin Badgers…
Another week of the NFL season is in the books with key contributions being made by former Wisconsin Badgers.
There was Andrew Van Ginkel’s strip of Melvin Gordon near the goal line, Russell Wilson leading his team to victory on Thursday Night Football, Jonathan Taylor having a big game against the Green Bay Packers and more.
Related: Minnesota cancels Tuesday’s practice, status of Saturday’s game is in doubt
Here is how every former Badger performed in NFL Week 11:
Week 9 of the NFL season is now in the books as quarterback Russell Wilson continues his MVP push and outside linebacker T.J. Watt…
Week 9 of the NFL season is now in the books as quarterback Russell Wilson continues his MVP push and outside linebacker T.J. Watt continues to cement himself as the best edge defender in the league.
It was a week of headlines around the league, with the Pittsburgh Steelers edging the now-2-7 Dallas Cowboys and improving to 8-0, the New York Jets finding a way to lose on Monday Night Football and move to 0-9, Tua Tagovailoa winning his second start and moving the Miami Dolphins to 5-3, the New Orleans Saints dominating Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and more.
Related: Can Graham Mertz play this Saturday?
The Wisconsin Badgers are set to return to the field this Saturday against the Michigan Wolverines, so much of the focus of Badger nation may shift back to the college field.
Nevertheless, here is how every former Badger in the NFL performed in Week 9:
Related:
Former Wisconsin Badger and current Pittsburgh Steeler T.J. Watt has had a remarkable first 3.5 years in the NFL. Already with two…
Former Wisconsin Badger and current Pittsburgh Steeler T.J. Watt has had a remarkable first 3.5 years in the NFL.
Already with two Pro Bowls and one first-team All-Pro honor, Watt has risen to the top of the league at his position. And given the way things are trending now, he is only getting better.
Related: Where each Badger assistant stands in the Big Ten recruiter rankings
His 2020 season thus far includes 20 solo tackles, 25 total tackles, 6.5 sacks, 1 interception, 3 passes defended, 8 run stuffs, a league-leading 39 pressures and the highest ProFootballFocus grade at his position.
T.J. Watt: game-wrecker
pic.twitter.com/VKacMBvtAt
— PFF (@PFF) November 6, 2020
The former Badger has followed in the footsteps of his older brother J.J., a guy who has been an absolute game wrecker since he entered the league in 2011. And, as I noted earlier, T.J. is only getting better. It doesn’t seem like it will be long until he takes home Defensive Player of the Year honors in the AFC.
