With the recent rise of the Wisconsin college football program the Badgers in the NFL have had a similar uptick.
More and more guys are beginning to have a splash in the league and the guys over at Pro Football Focus (PFF) have an eagle eye on each one of them. If you’re not familiar with PFF, you’re living in the stone age of modern football analysis. Here at The Sports Bank, we’re big supporters of what they do, so we’ve oriented our weekly check-up around what they’re saying about Badgers in the NFL.
Many Badgers in the NFL made their presence known in Week 11, but it was J.J. Watt who continues to be straight dominant against opposing offensive lines.
1.) Houston Texans DE J.J. Watt
Badgers Tenure: 2009-10
Week 11 Play: “I really wanted to write this ReFocused without mentioning J.J. Watt, or at least avoiding waxing lyrical in one of the ‘Performances of Note’, assuming we can all just take it for granted how dominant he is. Ignoring this performance, though, would have just been silly. He got a pair of sacks, that much was obvious, earning only his second double-sack performance of the season, but he also added a pair of hits and three more hurries on 30 total snaps rushing the passer…” – PFF’s Analysis of the Texans’ 28-23 loss to the Oakland Raiders.
2.) Cleveland Browns OT Joe Thomas
Badgers Tenure: 2003-06
Week 11 Play: “A pair of the leaders at their respective positions, center Alex Mack (+2.3) was back to form this week after falling off schedule in his two previous outings and left tackle Joe Thomas (+3.9) continued his green-graded ways.” – PFF’s Analysis of the Browns’ 41-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals.
3.) Detroit Lions LB DeAndre Levy
Badgers Tenure: 2005-08
Week 11 Play: “It’s a testament to how well Levy played that he still finished at +2.6 despite three missed tackles (though none of them were particularly bad).” – PFF’s Analysis of the Lions’ 37-27 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
4.) Green Bay Packers QB Scott Tolzien
Badgers Tenure: 2009-10
Week 11 Play: “Sometimes at the quarterback position it isn’t how many mistakes you make it’s how badly you’re made to pay for them and Scott Tolzien certainly suffered for those he made in his first career start against the Giants…” PFF’s Analysis of the Packers’ 27-13 loss to the New York Giants
5.) Seattle Seahawks QB Russell Wilson
Badgers Tenure: 2011
Week 11 Play: “Wilson was ruthlessly efficient against the Vikings, taking advantage of the situations he found himself in and making plays when things broke down. His passer rating for the game was 151.4, and it was 149.3 when under pressure. The little flip pass to Lynch harked back to the best of Brett Favre, moving out of pressure’s way and drawing a player to him before splitting a couple of Vikings for the score…” – PFF’s Analysis of the Seahawks 41-20 win over the Minnesota Vikings.
– Atlanta Falcons’ C Peter Konz (2009-11) struggled against Tampa’s Gerald McCoy who recorded a couple of sacks by beating Konz.
– J.J. Watt made PFF’s Team of Week 11 while Russell Wilson received honorable mention.
– Dallas Cowboys C Travis Frederick remains on the Race for Rookie of the Year List: “Will be looking to impose himself on this race when he returns from his bye week.”
For an extensive list on all the Badgers in the NFL, check out the Badgers in the NFL page at UWBadgers.com
Is J.J. Watt a lock for the Defensive Player of the Year Award or will the Texans’ losses prevent that? Let me know by commenting below.
Nick Grays is a senior writer at the Sports Bank where he covers the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers. He also enjoys sharing Fantasy Advice and pretends to be a Golf expert from time-to-time. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here or visit his blog Nick Knows Best. If social media is not your thing, shoot him an email at grays@uwalumni.com.
*Pictures obtained from Texans.com.