BBNFL Week 13: Chris Rodriguez and Ray Davis made Kentucky look like Running Back U
You thought you had a weird week with your family over Thanksgiving? It has nothing on the eight-day span Chris Rodriguez experienced. The Washington Commanders waived C-Rod prior to Week 12 to make roster room for cornerback Marshawn Lattimore, who the Commanders acquired before the trade deadline. To add further insult, Lattimore also took Rodriguez’s No. 23 jersey number.
However, that’s when things went sideways. Austin Eckler suffered an injury in Week 12, forcing the team to place him on injured reserve. Now down a running back, the Commanders re-signed Rodriguez, gave him a different number, and elevated him to the active roster. When given the chance, he made them regret cutting him in the first place.
Now sporting No. 36, Rodriguez had a monster day, rushing 13 times for 94 yards, plus a nail-in-the-coffin touchdown (his first of the season) as the artists formerly known as The Football Team trounced the Titans 42-19.
Will Levis didn’t play poorly in his battle against his former teammate. He finished the day 18 of 37 through the air for 212 yards plus a pair of touchdown passes. However, C-Rod overshadowed his better-than-average afternoon with a career day and a win.
Ray Davis has a big rushing night in the snow
You can’t help but wonder sometimes why Buffalo, New York has a football team. It is a city smaller than Lexington and is known to have such little to do that the NFL players forced to live there have babies out of boredom. Then you watch a game like Sunday Night Football where the stadium looks like it got steamrolled by an avalanche and you realize that snow games are what keep non-Bills fans watching.
Similar to Chris Rodriguez, Ray Davis had a great game despite serving as the backup running back. He rushed the ball 11 times for 63 yards and had a touchdown which the crowd celebrated by launching snowballs in the air.
That means C-Rod and Davis combined for 24 rushes, 157 yards, and two touchdowns. Not too bad for a school that sometimes markets itself as Running Back U.
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Za’Darius Smith gobbles up game-winning sack on Turkey Day
The Chicago Bears, in their endless pursuit to find new and creative ways to lose, gave families across the nation something to laugh about on Thanksgiving. That is, of course, assuming they weren’t Bears fans in which case, it was something to cry over.
Down three, Chicago had the ball in field goal range with just under a minute to go, but former Wildcat, Za’Darius Smith came up with a huge sack with 32 seconds remaining on the clock. For some inexplicable reason, the Bears did not use their final timeout and tried to rush to the line for a snap, which took longer than it should have. Caleb Williams’ errant pass hit the ground as time expired, costing the Bears the game and head coach Matt Eberflus his job.
It turns out Eberflus was so thankful for that final timeout, he took it home with him.
After the game, Big Z jokingly relived his game-clinching sack. “End of the game. Big sack. My whole mindset was to key the ball. That’s what I was doing, key the ball. I got off good, man. As you can see, I bent the corner. Obviously, that [offensive] tackle was late coming off, but that’s a problem for him. Hah!”
Though he (only) recorded 1.5 sacks on the day, Smith led the Lions in quarterback pressures with nine.
Other BBNFL Notes:
- Besides Smith, two other former ‘Cats came away with sacks in Week 13. Trevin Wallace had a sack for the Panthers, the first of his career, while Josh Hines-Allen had one too, the gazillionth of his career. Actually, it was his 51st, but you get the idea.
- Josh Paschal had to leave the game for Detroit after just seven snaps with a knee injury. Thankfully, the MRI revealed it was nothing serious, however, he is still expected to miss some time.
- Dru Phillips continues to have a fabulous rookie season, as he is one of the top-rated cornerbacks (not just rookies) in the entire NFL. He had three tackles and an assist in the Giants’ loss to the Cowboys on Thanksgiving.
BBNFL snap counts and stats for Week 13
(ST): Special Teams snaps; player did not play on offense or defense.
| Player | POS | Snaps | Stats |
| Trevin Wallace (CAR) | LB | 63 | 1 QB pressure, 1 sack, 2 tackles, 3 assists |
| Will Levis (TEN) | QB | 55 | 18/37 passing, 212 yards, 2 TD, 2 rushes, -3 yards |
| Za’Darius Smith (DET) | LB | 55 | 9 QB pressures, 1.5 sacks, 1 tackle |
| Josh Hines-Allen (JAX) | LB | 55 | 2 QB pressures, 1 sack, 3 tackles |
| Dru Phillips (NYG) | DB | 52 | 3 tackles, 1 assist |
| Wan’Dale Robinson (NYG) | WR | 48 | 2 targets, 2 rec, 6 yards |
| Carrington Valentine (GB) | DB | 35 | 2 tackles |
| Chris Rodriguez (WAS) | RB | 23 | 13 rushes, 94 yards, 1 TD |
| Bud Dupree (LAC) | LB | 22 | 1 QB pressure, 1 tackle |
| Ray Davis (BUF) | RB | 19 | 11 rushes, 63 yards, 1 TD, 1 target, 1 rec, 4 yards |
| Landon Young (NO) | OL | 15 | 0 pressures allowed |
| Josh Pascal (DET) | DL | 7 | 1 QB pressure, 1 tackle |
| Brandin Echols (NYJ) | DB | 2 | 0 tackles |
| Bryce Oliver (TEN) | WR | 3 (ST) | 1 assist |
| Luke Fortner (JAX) | C | 3 (ST) | No stats |
| Lonnie Johnson Jr. (CAR) | DB | 29 (ST) | 1 tackle |
| Darian Kinnard (PHI) | OL | Inactive |
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