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          NFL Nation

          Caleb Williams, Drake Maye among the stars for Week 15

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          Rich Eisen: The Rams are the best team in football (1:46)

          Rich Eisen explains why the Rams are the best NFL team after their win over the Lions. (1:46)

          • DJ Bien-AimeDec 16, 2025, 02:01 PM
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              DJ Bien-Aime covers the Houston Texans for ESPN. He joined ESPN in July of 2022 after covering the New York Jets for the New York Daily News. He's a former athlete who finished his college career at Louisville. You can catch DJ on ESPN Radio on his show "Talkin' Texans."
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          Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams rolled right and was inches away from the sideline when he made a throw that may not have seemed wise at the moment.

          Bears coach Ben Johnson has said he isn't a fan of 50-50 balls in the passing game, but this was nowhere near a 50-50 ball. This had a 16.1% completion probability.

          But Williams had the confidence in his arm to fire a dart into the end zone to wideout D.J. Moore, who had Cleveland Browns safety Grant Delpit draped over him. Moore rose up and caught the heater 2 yards from the back of the end zone.

          It took Williams 4.72 seconds before he threw the 22-yard touchdown, and it was the most improbable completion by a Bears QB over the past five seasons.

          Asked whether it was an ill-advised throw, Williams said: "No, I can make any throw."

          Williams has proved he knows how to avoid interceptions. He now holds the record for the fewest interceptions (12) in a QB's first 1,000 pass attempts.

          "If he beats the defender the way he did, you throw it up -- not throw it up, but you throw it and give him a chance, and that's what he did," Williams said. "And all I had to do was throw a high back five is what we call it, back of the end zone, and he went up and made a great play for us in that moment, and it was needed."

          It was one of the top performances of Week 15 as defined by NFL Next Gen Stats, which tracks stats behind the box score that are aided through sensors in their uniforms and on the field.

          Here are similar plays, as well as a look at three games from Week 15 through the Next Gen lens, and key intel on leaders for several individual awards.

          Buffalo Bills 35, New England Patriots 31

          The Bills' win probability was as low as 8.9% in their comeback, but the flip was switched in the second half.

          In the first half, Bills QB Josh Allen averaged just 2.4 air yards per attempt, failing to complete a pass over 10 yards, but he was more aggressive in the second half, averaging 9.8 air yards per attempt. He went 4-of-7 on those throws for 91 yards and a touchdown. Allen also contributed on the ground with 11 carries for 48 yards, including 32 yards on three designed runs.

          Patriots running back TreVeyon Henderson rushed for a career-high 148 yards and two touchdowns (105 rushing yards over expectation). Henderson rushed for 122 yards with two touchdowns on eight carries in jumbo formations with six offensive linemen, the second-most rushing yards by a running back out of jumbo since 2016.

          Coming into the game, Patriots quarterback Drake Maye completed 75.7% of his pass attempts against split-safety coverage this season, the second-highest rate among qualified quarterbacks while successfully pushing the ball downfield for 7.2 air yards per completion (second most). The Bills utilized split-safety coverage at the third-highest rate in the NFL this season (49.5%). When in split-safety coverage, Buffalo has allowed just a 61% completion percentage (fourth lowest) and 6.2 yards per attempt (seventh fewest).

          But in Week 15, Maye went 9-of-16 for 66 yards with an interception and a minus-8.1% completion percentage over expected.

          Denver Broncos 34, Green Bay Packers 26

          Packers quarterback Jordan Love faced pressure on 52.2% of his dropbacks against the Broncos, the highest pressure rate of his career as a starter. In the first half he completed 8 of 11 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown while not taking a single sack. But in the second half, he went just 2-of-8 for 28 yards with an interception, while taking three sacks on 12 pressured dropbacks. He did throw for a career-high 147 passing yards when facing pressure.

          Broncos quarterback Bo Nix went 23-of-34 for 302 yards and four touchdowns against the Packers, who played zone coverage on 89.2% of his dropbacks. It's the third consecutive game he has faced zone at a rate above 89%. But the zone gave him zero issues as he went 21-of-30 for 267 yards. The coverage he threw the most yards against (120) was Cover 3, which he saw 37% of the time.

          Los Angeles Rams 41, Detroit Lions 34

          The Lions blitzed Matthew Stafford on 51.2% of his dropbacks, the second-highest rate in a game this season. When facing five or more pass rushers, Stafford went 14-of-19 for 202 yards with two touchdowns, his most passing yards against the blitz in a game this season. Stafford has now recorded 27 passing touchdowns against the blitz in 2025, three more than any other quarterback in a season since at least 2018.

          Rams wideout Puka Nacua caught 9 of 11 targets for a career-high 181 yards, including four catches on all of his vertical routes for 134 yards. This marks back-to-back games with over 100 yards on vertical routes for Nacua, who recorded five receptions for 139 yards and two touchdowns on vertical routes last week against the Cardinals.

          Lions wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown had 13 receptions for 163 yards with two touchdowns and did most of his damage against zone, against which he caught 12 passes for 155 yards with a touchdown.

          MVP favorite

          Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles Rams, QB

          According to Draft Kings, Stafford (-300) separated himself some in the MVP race. In the Rams' win, Stafford went 11-of-15 for 167 yards and a touchdown off play-action.

          On the year, Stafford leads the NFL in passing yards off play-action (1,470).

          Defensive Player of the Year favorite

          Myles Garrett, Cleveland Browns, DL

          Garrett (a -10,000 favorite) had 1.5 sacks and five pressures against the Bears.

          Garrett is now up to 21.5 sacks -- one away from the record -- while receiving the second-highest chip-block rate in the NFL (26.3%, with a minimum of 200 pass rushes). He saw a chip block on 33.3% of his rushes.

          Garrett also leads the league in pressure to sack rate (34.1% with a minimum of 200 pass rushes).

          Defensive Rookie of the Year race

          Carson Schwesinger, Browns LB

          Schwesinger (-210) had a team-high 14 tackles and a run stuff and allowed only one catch for 9 yards in coverage in a loss to the Bears.

          Nick Emmanwori, Seattle Seahawks, S

          Emmanwori (+175) stuffed the stat sheet with seven tackles, a sack and three stuffs. He allowed only three catches in coverage for 15 yards.

          For the season, when he rushes, he has a 26% pressure rate.

          Best of the rest