NFL Team of Week 11 featuring Drew Brees, Saquon Barkley and Justin Reid
Tuesday 20 November 2018 11:19, UK
Who were the top performers from Week 11 in the NFL? We have picked out our Team of the Week...
This week we were treated to a staggering, record-breaking epic between the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams, standout performances from the leading candidates for NFL MVP and Offensive Rookie of the Year, while the Indianapolis Colts' offensive line continued to show they are not to be messed with.
There were many superstar performances in Week 11 of the NFL season, and we have picked out some of our stars from the action…
Quarterback - Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints
The veteran quarterback strengthened his case to win a first NFL MVP award as he led the Saints to a 48-7 thrashing of the Philadelphia Eagles. The 41-point win was the biggest victory over a defending Super Bowl side in NFL history.
Brees threw for 363 yards and four touchdowns and had a quarterback rating of over 150 for the second week in a row (153.2). Austin Carr, Tre'Quan Smith, Michael Thomas and Alvin Kamara all caught touchdowns during the blowout triumph.
The 39-year-old now has a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 25:1 this season, which is the highest in the league by some way. Aaron Rodgers is in second with 19:1, while Matt Ryan is third with 5.5 touchdowns thrown per interception (22-4).
Running Back - Saquon Barkley, New York Giants
The second overall pick in this year's draft had arguably his best performance of the season in the Giants' 38-35 win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
The 21-year-old rushed for 142 yards and two touchdowns, also hauling in two receptions for 10 yards and a touchdown.
Barkley, who is one of the leading candidates for Offensive Rookie of the Year, scored the touchdown that put the Giants 10 points ahead before a late Bucs touchdown gave them a late scare.
The former Penn State running back now leads all rookies in both rushing and receiving yards, and has 10 all-purpose touchdowns as well.
Wide Receiver - Tyreek Hill, Kansas City Chiefs
T.Y. Hilton was the initial Sunday-night pick for his 155 yards and two TDs, but he has been ousted by Hill for the Chiefs for his role in the Monday-night epic in Los Angeles.
Despite the Chiefs losing 54-51 in the highest scoring game in Monday Night football history, Hill was unstoppable - the rapid wideout racked up 10 receptions, 215 receiving yards and two touchdowns, including a monster 73-yard effort.
Hill now has 1,106 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns this season.
Tight End - Antonio Gates, Los Angeles Chargers
Despite the Chargers losing narrowly to the Denver Broncos, 23-22, Gates had his best game of the season. The 38-year-old tight end, who has been with the Chargers since he was drafted in 2003, hauled in five passes for 80 yards and a touchdown.
Before this weekend, Gates only had 13 receptions and had failed to go over 50 yards in a game this season.
Gates' second touchdown catch of the season came on of a six-yard pass from Philip Rivers to put the Chargers up 19-7 before the Broncos won thanks to a late field goal.
Offensive line - Indianapolis Colts
This offensive line continues to improve week after week. Luck has now gone five weeks without getting sacked. In fact, this week during the win over Tennessee, he was not even touched by a Titans player!
Although the offensive line for the Colts is solid as a unit, one player in particular who stood out was guard Quenton Nelson. The sixth overall pick in this year's NFL Draft has shown he is already one of the best in the league at his position due to his pure strength and speed when blocking.
Defensive Line - Pittsburgh Steelers
The Steelers' defense bailed the team out this week during their remarkable 20-16 comeback victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
They sacked Blake Bortles a total of six times for a net loss of 40 yards, and held Leonard Fournette to just 21 yards on 14 carries in the second half.
With Ben Roethlisberger throwing three interceptions, the defense was on the field a lot of the game. They were able to limit the Jags to just one touchdown and three field goals.
Late in the fourth quarter the Jags needed just one first down to run out the clock. The defensive line were able to stop Leonard Fournette short of the first-down marker to set up Roethlisberger's game-winning touchdown with three seconds left.
Linebacker - T.J. Watt, Pittsburgh Steelers
Staying in Pittsburgh - Watt was one of the standout defensive players in the Steelers' victory to keep them atop the AFC North with a 7-2-1 record.
The second-year linebacker was everywhere on the field. He forced two fumbles, with one of them being a strip sack on Bortles, added another sack, and had six tackles in the game.
The younger brother of J.J. Watt was unlucky not to recover Bortles' fumble as Jags lineman Jermey Parnell fell on the ball with Watt waiting to pounce.
Cornerback - Jalen Ramsey, Jacksonville Jaguars
We have already mentioned how Ben Roethlisberger was intercepted three times. Well, Ramsey claimed two of them.
After putting in one of his worst performances of the season last week against the Indianapolis Colts, the 24-year-old came back with a bang against the Steelers.
Ramsey's first interception came in the second quarter when he leapt in front of a pass intended for Antonio Brown and somehow caught the ball. Ramsey made a play nearly identical to this in the game between the two sides last year.
After the former first-rounder picked off Roethlisberger for the second time later on, Ramsey's claims of the Steelers quarterback being "decent at best" looked true.
However, Roethlisberger had the last laugh with his late TD.
Safety - Justin Reid, Houston Texans
The 21-year-old made arguably the defensive play of the week as he intercepted Redskins' quarterback Alex Smith in the end zone before running the ball back 101 yards for a Texans touchdown.
Reid's interception came at a crucial time, as Washington could have gone 14-10 up on the stroke of half-time. Instead, the Texans entered the break 17-7 to the good, before winning 23-21.
That was Reid's third interception of the season, but it was the most important as his play could have arguably won the Texans their seventh game in a row.
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