Every week dozens of players stand out and perform exemplary. Today I am going to be highlighting the top 5 players or units that stood out.
Honorable Mention: Aaron Jones
During the Packers 31-28 overtime win over the Cowboys, Green Bay leaned on the running game to continually gash the defense. Aaron Jones, specifically, had himself a huge day he ran for 138 yards and a touchdown on a very efficient 5.8 yards an attempt and caught two passes for 18 yards. The Packers run game being so effective, helped limit the Cowboys vaunted pass rush to 2 sacks.
Honorable Mention: Christian Watson
Rookie Christian Watson had a breakout game catching four passes for 107 yards and three touchdowns. He became the second rookie wide receiver to score three touchdowns against the Cowboys, with the first being Randy Moss on Thanksgiving in 1998. The Packers have been missing a deep threat all year, and Watson came through big time against the Cowboys. We’ll see if the rookie with 4.28 40 yard dash speed can keep it up.
Honorable Mention: Saquon Barkley
The Giants knew the Texans had a bad run defense, they also knew they had Saquon Barkley. So they kept the game plan simple, just give the ball to Barkley and get out of the way. Barkley was an absolute horse against the Texans, carrying the ball 35 times for 152 yards and a touchdown. This was tied for the most rushing attempts in a game by any one player for the last five years! The Giants picked up the win 24-16 with only throwing the ball 17 times, less than half the number of times they handed it to Saquon.
Honorable Mention: CeeDee Lamb
While the Cowboys lost to the Packers 31-28, CeeDee Lamb did everything he could to power his team to the win. He caught 11 passes for 150 yards and 2 touchdowns. He became just the seventh player to have 150 yards and 2 touchdowns in a game this year, and if you include the 11 catches, he is just the third player to put up that statline.
#5 Aaron Rodgers
Aaron Rodgers helped orchestrate a 14 point fourth quarter comeback to beat the Cowboys 31-28 in overtime. It was the first time in Cowboys’ history that they were up by 14 or more points entering the 4th quarter and lost, previously they were 195-0. Rodgers threw for 2 of his 3 touchdowns in the 4th quarter, including a 39 yard touchdown pass on 4th down and 7, to cut the lead to 7 points. On the day, Aaron Rodgers was 14-20 for 224 yards and 3 touchdowns, with a nearly perfect passer rating of 146.7. While he had plenty of help from rookie Christian Watson, 3 touchdowns, and running back Aaron Jones, 156 total yards, Rodgers played a nearly perfect 4th quarter and overtime to lead the Packers to the comeback win.
#4 Justin Fields
The Bears lost to the Lions 30-31 but that is not an indictment of Justin Field’s play. The Bears ask him to do everything, and the entire offense is designed around his unique athletic ability. Not only are some of their most effective offensive plays QB design runs or read options, but of course they expect him to play in the pocket and if their bad offensive line lets people through again, they expect him to scramble and make something happen. In this game Fields came to play, through the air, he was 12-20 for 167 yards and 2 touchdowns. On the ground, he ran 13 times for 147 yards and 2 more touchdowns, including an electric 67 yard touchdown run. While he did have a pick six, which ultimately might have made the difference, he also absolutely carried the offense accounting for 314 yards and 4 touchdowns.
#3 Dolphins O-Line
I am lumping the entire offensive line together because it is a team unit where everyone has to play well to make them look good. Against the Bears, who granted it was not super tough competition, they did whatever they wanted. Let’s start with the run game, the Dolphins used Jeff Wilson and Raheem Mostert to nearly equally great effect, they were running for 7 and 8.1 yards a carry respectively, with a total of 25 carries for 184 yards. Both running backs were getting large holes making it easy to get to the second level consistently. When they decided to pass it, Tua Tagovailoa had more than enough time to throw the ball. Hardly under pressure, Tua took no sacks the entire game on 32 dropbacks, and the defense was not even able to land any QB hits on him. With the offensive line dominating the line of scrimmage, the offense soared to 39 points, scoring on 7 out of 8 possessions before running out the rest of the clock on the final drive of the game.
#2 Patrick Mahomes
The Patrick Mahomes MVP case is getting stronger and stronger by the week. Mahomes led the Chiefs to cruise by the Jaguars 27-17, but the score was hardly ever in doubt as the Chiefs jumped up 20-0 and was always up by at least double digits. Mahomes was again spectacular, as he went 26-35 for 331 yards and four touchdowns, his only misstep was a single interception midway through the fourth quarter when his team was up 27-10 and had minimal effect on the game. Mahomes now leads the league in passing yards and passing touchdowns, while having 5 more touchdowns than the second nearest player, Josh Allen with 20. This is the sixth time this year Mahomes has thrown for more than 300 yards and the third time he has thrown for 4+ touchdowns. With the Chiefs currently as the number one seed in the AFC, right now it looks as if Mahomes is the man to beat for MVP.
#1 Justin Jefferson
Justin Jefferson had a legendary performance, he had 10 catches for 193 yards and a touchdown. The Vikings looked his way constantly throughout the game, in total, he had a career high 16 targets. Jefferson consistently made chunk plays throughout the game, he had catches of 46, 22, 19, 32, and 24 yards, but the timing of those plays are what made this performance even more special. No bigger than the Vikings staring at a fourth and 18 on their own 27, when Kirk Cousins heaved a prayer to a well covered Jefferson, who was able to make an incredible one handed catch, ripped right out of the hands of the defender. This incredible completion gave the Vikings hope to tie the game. Also, in overtime, on 3rd down and 10 on Buffalo’s 26 yard line, Jefferson made a 24 yard sideline catch to set his team up with a golden opportunity to win the game at the 2 yard line. Jefferson finished the game with a career high 193 yards, the most receiving yards of any player so far this year. With the win, the Vikings now moved to 8-1, in large part because Justin Jefferson is on pace to have 2,002 receiving yards, which would be an NFL record.