NFL Week 15 best bits: Carolina Panthers kicker tryouts, Detroit Lions delight and going global
Sky Sports' Cameron Hogwood returns with a weekly look at the big storylines, star performers, top statistics and injury news from Sunday's NFL action. Week 15's Monday Night Football sees the Minnesota Vikings visit the Chicago Bears.
Monday 20 December 2021 11:40, UK
The Detroit Lions deliver an upset, the Carolina Panthers hold last-minute kicker tryouts, Christian Wilkins does the worm, Efe Obada gets some revenge and the NFL goes global.
We reflect on Sunday's Week 15 action around the NFL...
WEEK 15 RESULTS
Tennessee Titans 13-19 Pittsburgh Steelers
Carolina Panthers 14-31 Buffalo Bills
Houston Texans 30-16 Jacksonville Jaguars
Dallas Cowboys 21-6 New York Giants
Arizona Cardinals 12-30 Detroit Lions
New York Jets 24-31 Miami Dolphins
Cincinnati Bengals 15-10 Denver Broncos
Atlanta Falcons 13-31 San Francisco 49ers
Green Bay Packers 31-30 Baltimore Ravens
New Orleans Saints 9-0 Tampa Bay Buccaneers
New England Patriots 17-27 Indianapolis Colts - Saturday
Kansas City Chiefs 34-28 Los Angeles Chargers (OT) - Thursday
DETROIT DELIGHT, DRAFT DEJA VU
When it comes to pure cinematic showreel value, you'd struggle to find a more satisfying interception this season than the glorious diving snag Amani Oruwariye produced to undercut AJ Green and pick off Kyler Murray for a 50-yard return in the third quarter of Detroit's upset win over the Cardinals.
His six interceptions are now tied for third-most by a Lions player in a campaign over the last 20 seasons behind only Darius Slay and Glover Quinn. Detroit might have found something in the 2019 fifth-round pick.
'Upset win of the year' seems a brave claim to make in a season that chews up any prediction and spits it out in 'you know this is the NFL, right?' disdain.
The Lions have been bad, and this was good. No 1 pick, face of the franchise Jared Goff looked as good as he has in honolulu blue, finishing 21 of 26 passing for 216 yards and three touchdowns; 2019 undrafted running back Craig Reynolds, who received zero D1 college offers and has been cut seven times from NFL practice squads, rushed for 112 yards; rookie wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown continued his emergence with eight catches for 90 yards and a score, and outside linebacker Charles Harris moved to a career-best 7.5 sacks on the year with 1.5 against Arizona.
Sometimes the 'plays hard' narrative becomes tiresome disguise for poor execution; this was a reminder that there is talent to work with for Dan Campbell. A win against the Minnesota Vikings, a win against the Cardinals; hey, this winning thing feels good, right?
For the Cardinals, it was a second straight defeat on the back of starting the year 10-2 as they squandered the opportunity to lock in their playoff berth. A previously-rampant offense was off-colour, not helped by the absence of the injured DeAndre Hopkins, and Vance Joseph's defense failed to offer respite.
A second Lions win of the season could meanwhile cost them the No 1 pick at the 2022 NFL Draft, which now belongs to the Jaguars after they used last year's opening selection to snap up quarterback of the future Trevor Lawrence.
The likes of Aidan Hutchinson, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Evan Neal potentially await.
STAR PERFORMERS
Running the ball has been a chore for the Dolphins at times this season, so Duke Johnson rushing for 107 yards and two touchdowns from 22 carries will have been a welcome change of pace in Miami's victory over the Jets. Linebacker Jerome Baker also continued his fine season as an edge disruptor with two sacks on Zach Wilson.
Brandin Cooks bolstered his resume as one of the NFL's most underappreciated wide receivers with seven catches for 107 yards and two touchdowns in the Texans' victory over the Jaguars.
We wouldn't be true British fans without jumping at the chance to mention Efe Obada, who got one over on his former employers as he sacked Cam Newton twice in three plays to derails Carolina's penultimate drive in their loss to the Bills, for whom Gabriel Davis had five catches for 85 yards and two touchdowns.
Aaron Rodgers continued to draw power from that painful pinky toe as he went 23 of 31 for 268 yards and three touchdowns in Green Bay's thrilling win over the Ravens, tying Packers legend Brett Favre for most career touchdown passes in franchise history with 442. Opposite him Tyler Huntley performed admirably in the absence of Lamar Jackson, throwing for 215 yards and two touchdowns as well as rushing for 73 yards and two scores to move the Ravens within one point late in the fourth quarter.
Not for the first time, Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers had their defense to thank as they denied the Titans the opportunity to see out the weekend as the AFC's No. 1 seed. TJ Watt moved to a league-leading 17.5 sacks on the season, Cam Heyward was ferocious yet again on the inside and Joe Haden came up clutch with a diving catch to recover Racey McMath's looping fumble before tackling Nick Westbrook-Ikhine short of the marker on fourth down to seal the game.
Jeff Wilson rushed for 110 yards and a touchdown off 21 carries for the 49ers in their win over the Falcons, while Tom Brady was far from the star of the show on Sunday Night Football, with that accolade instead going to his chief tormentor from the New Orleans defensive line - Cameron Jordan had two of the Saints' four sacks in the game, including knocking the ball out of Brady's hands when scrambling on a 3rd-and-7 in the second half as the seven-time Super Bowl winner was held scoreless for the first time in 15 years!
KICKER TRYOUTS
The "next man up" mantra may be a little corny, but there is a lot of truth to it.
As the Panthers evidenced on Sunday when they held open auditions around 90 minutes before their clash with the Bills after kicker Zane Gonzalez suffered a quad injury during warmups that would rule him out of the game.
Wide receiver Brandon Zylstra, backup quarterback P.J. Walker and punter Lachlan Edwards were all seen attempting field goals, before the former eventually got the nod for kickoffs.
Not great, but still not as bad as Brucie from The Longest Yard.
GOING GLOBAL
Prior to kickoff, Sky Sports NFL presenter Neil Reynolds was joined by NFL Head of Europe and UK Brett Gosper to discuss an exciting week for the league's international expansion.
It was announced on Wednesday that 18 teams had been awarded access to 26 territories across eight separate countries as part of the International Home Marketing Areas (IHMA) initiative, with clubs having previously been limited to a 75 mile radius in which to commercialise.
The Bears, Jaguars, Dolphins, Vikings, Jets and 49ers mark the six teams that have been granted access to the UK, while Germany, Spain, Mexico, China, Australia, Canada and Brazil are among the other international territories.
"It's a great sign of the ambition of the owners to grant these rights to these 18 clubs, some clubs taking up more markets than just the one, but it is a real show of ambition from the owners and a show of ambition from the clubs to grow their brands," said Gosper.
"It's great news for fans because fans are going to have greater connection with these clubs, there will be lots of different events that will be created by these clubs, in-person, digital marketing, cooperate sponsorships, some youth football activities are being planned by a lot of these clubs, all sorts of events and activations."
THE WILKINS WORM
It's impossible not to love Christian Wilkins. To celebrate hauling in a one-yard touchdown pass from Tua Tagovailoa in Miami's victory over the Jets, the six-foot-four, 310-pound defensive lineman broke out the worm. A classic.
SATURDAY NIGHT...
In case you missed it, the NFL's rushing leader Jonathan Taylor was at it again on Saturday night as he put up 170 yards on the ground, including a decisive 67-yard touchdown run, to lead the Colts to a 27-17 victory over the Patriots.
Nyheim Hines ran in a touchdown and E.J. Speed returned a blocked punt to earn Indianapolis a 20-0 cushion heading into the fourth quarter, before the Patriots reduced the deficit to three points only to see Taylor call game with his 19th touchdown of the year.
STAT ATTACK
Deebo Samuel's seven rushing touchdowns are most by a wide receiver in the Super Bowl era, while his five straight games with a rushing touchdown is the longest streak by a wide receiver in the Super Bowl era
Mark Andrews is the first tight end in Ravens history with 1,000 receiving yards in a single season
Christian Wilkins is the first defensive player to score a receiving touchdown since Elandon Roberts in Week 17 of the 2019 season against the Dolphins
Miami's Duke Johnson recorded 100-plus rushing yards for the first time in his career
The Cowboys are the first team to have a player with 10 or more interceptions (Trevon Diggs) and a player with 10 or more sacks (Micah Parsons) since the 2007 Chargers
Detroit's 17-0 lead at the break against the Cardinals was their largest half-time advantage since Week 17 of the 2018 season
INJURY REPORT
Broncos quarterback Teddy Bridgewater was loaded onto a stretcher and carted off after falling awkwardly on his head and neck during Denver's matchup with the Broncos.
Titans wide receiver Julio Jones left early against Pittsburgh due to a hamstring injury, while the Steelers lost tight end Pat Freiermuth to a concussion in the second half.
Giants wide receiver Sterling Shepard suffered a season-ending torn Achilles in New York's loss to the Cowboys, while Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams exited with a shoulder issue against the Dolphins.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson was ruled inactive against Green Bay prior to kickoff, with Tyler Huntley starting under center.
The Seahawks placed cornerback D.J. Reed, right tackle Brandon Shell, running back Travis Homer, defensive end Kerry Hyder, guard Pier-Olivier Lestage and cornerback Mike Jackson on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Eagles interior offensive lineman Landon Dickerson was also placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
Panthers kicked Gonzalez was ruled out of Sunday's eventual loss to the Bills after injuring his quad before kickoff, and Jaguars offensive tackle Cam Robinson sustained a neck injury.
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