Denver wide receiver Jerry Jeudy became the fourth Alabama alumnus with at least three touchdown receptions in an NFL game and the second to do so in a non-overtime game in the Broncos’ 34-28 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday.
Jeudy caught touchdown passes of 18 yards with 1:35 left in the first half, 5 yards with nine seconds left in the first half and 7 yards with 10:49 left in the game.
Don Hutson of the Green Bay Packers had three touchdown receptions in a 28-7 victory over the Cleveland Rams on Oct. 30, 1938, and a 22-17 victory over the Washington Redskins on Nov. 30, 1941, and four in a 57-21 victory over the Detroit Lions on Oct. 7, 1945.
Calvin Ridley had three touchdown receptions in the Atlanta Falcons’ 43-37 overtime loss to the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 23, 2018, and Amari Cooper had three in the Dallas Cowboys’ 29-23 overtime victory against the Philadelphia Eagles on Dec. 9, 2018. Cooper caught a touchdown pass in overtime. Ridley did not.
Jeudy had eight receptions for 73 yards on Sunday.
Jeudy caught three touchdown passes in 2020 as a rookie and entered Sunday’s game with three TD receptions in 10 games in 2022. In 2021, Jeudy did not catch a touchdown pass.
Jeudy was among the 37 former Alabama players who got on the field on the 14th Sunday of the NFL’s 103rd season.
Three other former Alabama players were involved in the Kansas City-Denver game:
· Broncos linebacker Christopher Allen is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
· Kareem Jackson started at strong safety for the Broncos. Jackson tied for the team lead with a season-high 10 tackles, including one behind the line of scrimmage.
· Patrick Surtain II started at left cornerback for the Broncos. Surtain made two tackles, registered a quarterback hit and intercepted a pass. Surtain got his first interception of the season when he picked off Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes at the Denver 40-yard line with 1:06 left in the first half. The pass originally was ruled incomplete, but a video review changed the call to an interception. Denver turned the takeaway into a touchdown with nine seconds left in the first half to reduce the Chiefs’ lead to 27-14.
In the other Sunday games:
Buffalo Bills 20, New York Jets 12
· Jets safety Jared Mayden is a member of the practice squad and not eligible to play.
· C.J. Mosley (Theodore) started at linebacker for the Jets. Mosley led New York with nine tackles and broke up a pass. Mosley broke up a pass and made a third-down tackle to get the football back for the Jets with 46 seconds left, but New York’s offense followed with four straight incompletions.
· Quinnen Williams (Wenonah) started at defensive tackle for the Jets. Williams made three tackles and recorded two sacks in the first quarter before leaving the game because of a calf injury with 8:14 left in the first half. Williams has 11 sacks this season. Three Alabama alumni have had more than 11 sacks in an NFL season, topped by Derrick Thomas’ 20 for the Kansas City Chiefs in 1990. Thomas had four other seasons with at least 12 sacks. Anthony Smith had 12.5 sacks in 1990 and 13 sacks in 1993 for the Los Angeles Raiders, and Mark Anderson had 12 sacks for the Chicago Bears in 2006.
Cincinnati Bengals 23, Cleveland Browns 10
· Amari Cooper started at wide receiver for the Browns. Cooper, who had a hip injury entering the game, caught two passes for 42 yards.
· Browns running back Jerome Ford returned four kickoffs for 87 yards.
· Browns tight end Miller Forristall is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
· Browns safety Ronnie Harrison made two tackles.
· Browns linebacker Reggie Ragland (Bob Jones) was designated as a game-day inactive. Cleveland signed Ragland off the Las Vegas Raiders’ practice squad on Wednesday.
· Jonah Williams started at left offensive tackle for the Bengals.
· Jedrick Wills Jr. started at left offensive tackle for the Browns.
Dallas Cowboys 27, Houston Texans 23
· Trevon Diggs started at cornerback for the Cowboys. Diggs made five tackles and recovered a fumble despite a thumb injury. Diggs also got his hands on the football in the end zone on a Hail Mary on Houston’s final snap, but the interception went to Israel Mukuamu. Diggs returned the first fumble recovery of his career 17 yards to the Houston 28-yard line in the third quarter.
· Christian Harris started at linebacker for the Texans. Harris made five tackles, registered one quarterback hit and broke up one pass. Harris and cornerback Desmond King got credit for the tackle when Houston stacked up Dallas running back Ezekiel Elliott on a fourth-and-goal snap at the Texans 1-yard line with 8:19 left in the third quarter. The stop preserved Houston’s 20-17 lead.
· O.J. Howard (Autauga Academy) started at tight end for the Texans. Howard did not record any stats.
· Texans wide receiver John Metchie III is on reserve/non-football injury and not eligible to play.
Detroit Lions 34, Minnesota Vikings 23
· Isaiah Buggs started at defensive tackle for the Lions. Buggs recorded one sack, registered three quarterback hits and forced a fumble. The sack and the forced fumble were the first of Buggs’ NFL career in his 42nd regular-season game. Buggs produced the fumble on a sack with Minnesota at the Detroit 3-yard line, and the Lions recovered the loose football with 59 seconds left in the first half.
· Lions guard Ross Pierschbacher played but did not record any stats.
· Vikings tight end Irv Smith Jr. is on injured reserve and is not eligible to play.
· Lions cornerback Saivion Smith is on the practice-squad injured reserve and not eligible to play.
· Dalvin Tomlinson started at defensive tackle for the Vikings. Tomlinson tied for the team lead with nine tackles, recorded a tackle for loss and registered a quarterback hit. Tomlinson matched his career high for tackles. He also had nine tackles in the New York Giants’ 34-27 loss to the New York Jets on Nov. 10, 2019.
· Lions wide receiver Jameson Williams caught a 41-yard touchdown pass. In his second NFL game, Williams made his first NFL reception and scored the game’s first points with 10:27 left in the first quarter.
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Philadelphia Eagles 48, New York Giants 22
· Giants safety Landon Collins is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
· Landon Dickerson started at left guard for the Eagles, who clinched a playoff berth with the victory.
· Jalen Hurts started at quarterback for the Eagles. Hurts completed 21-of-31 passes for 217 yards with two touchdowns and no interceptions and ran for 77 yards and one touchdown on seven carries. Hurts’ 10-yard touchdown run with 1:41 left in the third quarter made him the first quarterback in NFL history with at least 10 rushing TDs in consecutive seasons. Hurts threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver DeVonta Smith with 12:05 left in the first half and a 33-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver A.J. Brown with 8:16 left in the second quarter.
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· Eagles cornerback Josh Jobe played for the first time since Nov. 3 but did not record any stats.
· Giants safety Xavier McKinney is on reserve/non-football injury and not eligible to play.
· Evan Neal started at right offensive tackle for the Giants.
· Giants cornerback Aaron Robinson is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
· DeVonta Smith started at wide receiver for the Eagles. Smith had five receptions for 64 yards and one touchdown. Smith caught a fourth-down throw for a 41-yard touchdown as Philadelphia took a 14-0 lead with 12:05 left in the first half.
Baltimore Ravens 16, Pittsburgh Steelers 14
· Ravens cornerback Jalyn Armour-Davis (St. Paul’s Episcopal) is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
· Ravens running back Kenyan Drake had a 1-yard run and caught two passes for 1 yard in his 100th NFL regular-season game.
· Minkah Fitzpatrick started at free safety for the Steelers. Fitzpatrick led Pittsburgh with 11 tackles.
· Najee Harris started at running back for the Steelers. Harris ran for 33 yards and one touchdown on 12 carries and caught two passes for 17 yards. Harris scored on a 1-yard plunge as Pittsburgh cut Baltimore’s lead to 10-7 with 13 seconds left in the first half.
· Steelers center J.C. Hassenauer played but did not record any stats.
· Marlon Humphrey (Hoover) started at cornerback for the Ravens. Humphrey tied for the team lead with six tackles.
· Steelers cornerback Levi Wallace made three tackles.
Jacksonville Jaguars 36, Tennessee Titans 22
· Titans defensive end Da’Shawn Hand is on injured reserve and not eligible to play.
· Derrick Henry started at running back for the Titans. Henry ran for 121 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries and three receptions for 34 yards. Henry opened the scoring on a 3-yard run with 9:09 left in the first quarter. Henry ran for 100 yards for the fifth time in his past seven games against Jacksonville. Tennessee beat the Jaguars in Henry’s previous 100-yard games but lost on Sunday even though Henry had 96 rushing yards in the first quarter. In the second half, Henry ran three times for 2 yards. Henry also lost a fumble in the game.
· Jaguars wide receiver Calvin Ridley is suspended by the commissioner and not eligible to play.
· Cam Robinson started at left offensive tackle for the Jaguars.
· Jaguars safety Deionte Thompson is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
Carolina Panthers 30, Seattle Seahawks 24
· Bradley Bozeman (Handley) started at center for the Panthers, who ran for 223 yards.
· Panthers guard Deonte Brown (Austin) is on the practice squad and not eligible to play.
· Seahawks long snapper Carson Tinker handled the snaps on four punts, three extra points and one field goal. Tinker also made a tackle on special teams.
San Francisco 49ers 35, Tampa Bay Buccaneers 7
· Buccaneers wide receiver Julio Jones (Foley) caught five passes for 38 yards.
Los Angeles Chargers 23, Miami Dolphins 17
· Raekwon Davis started at nose tackle for the Dolphins. Davis made one tackle.
· Chargers punter JK Scott averaged 44.0 yards on four punts with no return yards. Scott had a 55-yard punt for a fair catch at the Miami 24 (with a holding penalty moving the football back to the Miami 14), a 34-yarder for a fair catch at the Miami 35, a 35-yarder for a fair catch at the Miami 24 and 52-yarder for a fair catch at the Miami 26.
· Tua Tagovailoa started at quarterback for the Dolphins. Tagovailoa completed 10-of-28 passes for 145 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. Tagovailoa connected with wide receiver Tyreek Hill for a 60-yard touchdown as Miami trimmed Los Angeles’ lead to 17-14 with 6:23 left in the third quarter. At .357, Tagovailoa had the worst completion percentage of his career for any game in which he threw more than four passes. The previous worst had been .474 (18-of-38) in a 34-3 loss to the Tennessee Titans on Jan. 2, 2022. Tagovailoa also ran three times for 28 yards.
· Jaylen Waddle started at wide receiver for the Dolphins. Waddle caught two passes for 31 yards to surpass 1,000 yards for the 2022 season. Waddle became the 13th player in NFL history with 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons as he reached 1,003 yards on 59 receptions in 2022.
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Week 14 started on Thursday night, when the Los Angeles Rams defeated the Las Vegas Raiders 17-16. Josh Jacobs ran for 99 yards and one touchdown on 26 carries for the Raiders.
Week 14 concludes on Monday, when the New England Patriots and Arizona Cardinals square off at 7:15 p.m. CST at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz. ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPN Deportes will televise the game.
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Mark Inabinett is a sports reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter at @AMarkG1.
