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Around The NFL breaks down what you need to know from all of Sunday’s action in Week 16 of the 2023 NFL season. Catch up on each game’s biggest takeaways using the links below:
EARLY WINDOW
LATE WINDOW
SUNDAY NIGHT
FULL BOX SCORE
Eric Edholm’s takeaways:
NFL Research: Falcons TE Kyle Pitts caught his third receiving TD of the 2023 season, which is a career high. He had only three combined in his first two seasons.
Next Gen stat of the game: The Falcons defense allowed the Colts to gain more yards than expected on 4 of 21 designed runs (19.0%), limiting them to 61 yards and a TD on 21 carries. Bud Dupree generated 4 run stops, tied for his highest run stop rate in a game (28.6%) in the NGS era (since 2016).
Kevin Patra’s takeaways:
NFL Research: Jordan Love finished 17-28, 219 pass yards, two pass TD, & 109.1 passer rating. Love has a 100-plus passer rating in five of the last six games. Love earned the 10th season in Packers history of a QB throwing two-plus pass TD and zero INT in seven-plus games (Others: Aaron Rodgers 7 times & Brett Favre 2 times).
Next Gen stat of the day: Jordan Love at CAR against zone 15-22, 206 pass yards, 1 pass touchdown, and 113.1 passer rating.
Nick Shook’s takeaways:
NFL Research: Joe Flacco joined Josh McCown (2015) as the only Browns quarterbacks to have 300-plus yards in three straight games.
Next Gen stat of the game: Amari Cooper had four receptions for 148 yards and two touchdowns on targets with less than a 33% completion probability Sunday, the most such yards in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016). He gained +139 receiving yards over expected, the most RYOE in a game this season, and +4.4 receptions over expected. He also generated an expected points added of +23.2, the most by any player in 2023 and the most by a receiver in a single game in the Next Gen Stats era.
Eric Edholm’s takeaways:
NFL Research: On Sunday, Lions WR Amon-Ra St. Brown became the fourth player in NFL history to have 300-plus receptions in their first three NFL seasons.
Next Gen stat of the game: Jared Goff was effective against the Vikings’ blitz-heavy scheme, completing 22 of 28 attempts for 183 yards and a touchdown (+5.0% CPOE) when blitzed. Goff faced his highest blitz rate of the season against the Vikings in Week 16 (68.3%), though his lone sack on the day came when he was not blitzed, and Goff averaged just 3.7 air yards per attempt against the Vikings blitz, his lowest mark when blitzed this season.
Nick Shook’s takeaways:
NFL Research: Breece Hall is the sixth player in NFL history to have multiple games with 95-plus rushing yards and 95-plus receiving yards in his career, joining Walter Payton, Thurman Thomas, Larry Brown, Priest Holmes and Brian Westbrook.
Next Gen stat of the game: Jacoby Brissett generated more expected points added (+7.2) Sunday than Sam Howell has in any game in 2023.
Kevin Patra’s takeaways:
NFL Research: Geno Smith now has four game-winning drives in 2023 (T-most in the NFL, entering late games). Smith has seven game-winning drives since 2022 (he had 7 GW drives in his career prior to 2022).
Next Gen stat of the day: Derrick Henry generated a 63.2% rushing success rate, his highest in a game over the last three seasons (19 carries, 88 yards, TD, +2 RYOE). Henry gained more rushing yards than expected for just the fifth time this season (10 games with negative RYOE).
Nick Shook’s takeaways:
Next Gen Stat of the game: Baker Mayfield generated a +14 passing expected points added Sunday, his second most in a game this season.
Eric Edholm’s takeaways:
NFL Research: Since 2020, Bears K Cairo Santos is 46 of 50 on field-goal attempts at Soldier Field, and he’s a perfect 13 of 13 there this season.
Next Gen stat of the game: Justin Fields did most of his work as a passer on longer drop backs (142 of his 170 passing yards), with an average time to throw against Arizona of 3.55 seconds, the longest by Fields in a game this season. Fields was sacked only once despite being pressured 14 times (on 42.4% of drop backs).
Kevin Patra’s takeaways:
NFL Research: Tyreek Hill had nine catches for 99 receiving yards in return from an ankle injury (missed Week 15). Hill has 1,641 receiving yards in 2023 and needs 70 receiving yards to break his own MIA record.
Next Gen stat of the day: Every one of Micah Parsons’ 8 pressures against the Dolphins came in under 2.5 seconds (1.95-second average time to pressure). The rest of the Cowboys pass rush combined for five total pressures.
More analysis to come from Around the NFL.
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