Week 16 in the NFL put on quite a show for us over the holiday weekend. Offenses returned to the league in spades, and the NFL Player of the Week was quickly given to the top player in two of the three categories. The third pick was made complicated by playing time. However, one thing is certain — it was nice to have offenses back this week.
NFL Player of the Week | Week 16
As always, the honorable mentions show up here. There was a legitimate threat to the throne at quarterback, even after the ridiculous day the Bengals quarterback had. Dak Prescott played the first half against Washington like any competent human plays the computer on Madden when it’s on rookie difficulty. He was 27-of-35 for 322 yards and 4 TDs in the first half, and the Cowboys put up a disrespectful 42 points on Washington.
But at least their butts were warm on their benches they flew in… to a domed stadium.
Tee Higgins had a bigger day than A.J. Brown, but Brown’s second half willed a beaten and battered Titans to a victory over the Cardinals. Rex Burkhead nearly topped his career-high single-season rushing record in a single game, but the Titans don’t win without Brown. The defensive side of the ball was an easy decision.
Time for the NFL Player of the Week awards.
NFL Quarterback of the Week | Joe Burrow
The Baltimore Ravens are far from healthy. I cover this league for a living, and I covered the NFL Draft for four years before that, and I cannot remember ever hearing the name Kevon Seymour.
That’s who Higgins, Ja’Marr Chase, and Tyler Boyd got to play against yesterday. They could have yelled, “STOP THE COUNT,” before the game even started. Daryl Worley was Baltimore’s other outside cornerback in the game. Without knowing anything about Seymour, Cowboys fans would say Worley isn’t a step up from the unknown cornerback.
So, Burrow plugged in his PS5 controller and grinned at the 8-year-old nephew he was about to embarrass, and he went to work securing NFL Player of the Week honors.
He threw for 525 yards on 46 attempts, posting 4 TDs along the way to a thrashing of the Ravens. However, it wasn’t just Burrow’s raw statistics that were impressive. His completion percentage over expectation (CPOE) of 15.4% was the highest of the week, and his expected points added (EPA) per play of 0.637 also led the league for Week 16.
NFL Offensive Player of the Week | A.J. Brown
Ryan Tannehill had 40 passing yards on 13 attempts in the first half of Tennessee’s Thursday night game against San Francisco. Brown had 24 of those 40 yards in the half. He added 6 catches for 121 yards and a touchdown in the second half. So, he finished with 145 receiving yards — Tannehill passed for 209 total. Brown accounted for 69.3% of Tannehill’s passing yards, earning himself NFL Player of the Week honors in the process.
In other words, Brown is the entire offense right now. The Titans needed him to will them to offensive success on Thursday, and he did just that. Sure, that should have been expected against an over-the-hill Josh Norman, K’Waun Williams, and rookie cornerback Ambry Thomas, but Brown still had to go perform.
NFL Defensive Player of the Week | Rasul Douglas
Rasul Douglas has had quite a run of games here during this four-game stretch. He scored 2 defensive touchdowns and notched 4 interceptions in that time. This week, he was the recipient of the game-winning interception from Baker Mayfield, who notched 4 INTs in Week 16 alone.
We can quibble all we want about whether it was pass interference; it doesn’t change the outcome now. Personally, it looked like the receiver was trying to run through the DB’s chest, and Douglas simply didn’t give up the ground. It looked to me like the quintessential “you push, I pull” situation.
With the game on the line, Douglas made a play, and he played well in Week 16, earning him Player of the Week honors for Week 16.