NFL Week 17 Crew of the Week: Drake Maye and Derrick Henry Dominate In Wins

[ad_1] Every week, we provide up the perfect of the NFL on a given Sunday, sort of just like the fantasy soccer crew you wished you had.

All 12 months, we’ve picked one quarterback, two operating backs, two receivers and a decent finish — OK, this sounds quite a bit like a super-hindsight fantasy soccer crew. We’re additionally recognizing a whole offensive line, just a few choose defensive stars and even a special-teams standout of the week.

So, let's dive into Week 17:

This was a reasonably straightforward one as weekly quarterback picks go. Maye was near-perfect within the Patriots' rout of the Jets, going 19-for-21 for 256 yards, 5 touchdowns and nil interceptions. By passer score, it is the second-best sport of 2025, solely behind a Jalen Hurts win over the Vikings, and that is simply the idiocy of passer score. Maye wanted 7 extra yards to get the "excellent" passer score of 158.3 that Hurts had and as an alternative settled for 157.0.

Talking of passer score, this vaulted Maye forward of Matthew Stafford for finest season score within the league, although MVP will probably nonetheless go to Stafford as a result of he has 10 extra landing passes and three fewer interceptions – and he nonetheless performs on Monday.

It was all smiles for Drake Maye after his flawless efficiency in opposition to the Jets. (Evan Bernstein/Getty Photographs)

RB: Derrick Henry, Ravens This was one other very easy name after what was a monster sport Saturday night time for Henry. He had 36 carries for 216 yards and 4 touchdowns in a sport Baltimore completely needed to win to arrange a Week 18 showdown with the Steelers. That Henry is having the season he is had – 1,469 dashing yards and 16 touchdowns – makes it a troublesome name for which two backs will earn All-Professional honors this season. This week? No such issue.

RB: Christian McCaffrey, 49ers With San Francisco battling for positioning amongst three NFC West groups within the playoffs, McCaffrey was his do-it-all self Sunday night time, dashing 23 occasions for 140 yards and a landing and catching one other 4 passes for 41 yards in opposition to the Bears.

McCaffrey is over 1,000 yards dashing on the season and wishes 110 within the finale to succeed in 1,000 receiving for a uncommon 1,000-yard double. All this got here in opposition to a Bears protection that held the Eagles and Packers underneath 20 factors up to now month. San Francisco was in a position to rack up 42 in a playoff-preview kind showdown.

WR: Ja'Marr Chase, Bengals Who would assume Chase could be on right here so not often in 2025? We'll be tallying up which gamers had been honored essentially the most this season this week, nevertheless it's a uncommon honor for Chase, who had seven catches for 60 yards and two touchdowns within the Bengals' rout of the Cardinals.

It took a down week for receivers and a horrible Arizona protection to get Chase on right here since that stat line normally would not make the reduce.

Joe Burrow connects with Ja'Marr Chase for 13-yard TD, giving Bengals early lead over Cardinals | NFL Highlights Who had the Saints profitable 4 in a row, or going from 1-8 to 6-10? A lot of the eye is on rookie quarterback Tyler Shough, however he is linked with Olave in an enormous approach – Sunday was eight catches for 119 and a landing, and over the past three wins, Olave has 24 for 352 and 4 touchdowns.

Olave is displaying how good he may be when he stays wholesome, rating within the NFL prime 10 for catches (100), receiving yards (1,163) and landing catches (9). All three at the moment are profession highs in his four-year profession.

The knock on McBride is that he is piled up loopy numbers as a result of Arizona is consistently behind and throwing one million passes. That is true, however he set an NFL report Sunday for essentially the most catches ever in a season by a decent finish – he is now at 119 with a sport nonetheless left, additionally finest within the NFL at any place this season, and good for 1,174 yards and 11 touchdowns. He is the uncommon tight finish who's his crew's No. 1 passing possibility, and win or lose, that is commendable.

We already praised Henry, but when a crew rushes 53 occasions for 307 yards, it is arduous to not spotlight their offensive line, which additionally protected backup Tyler Huntley and solely allowed two sacks in opposition to the Packers. The Ravens have had an up-and-down season, however one outstanding consistency has been their offensive line, the place 5 starters have missed only one begin between them – from left, it is Ronnie Stanley, Andrew Vorhees, Tyler Linderbaum, Daniel Faalele and Roger Rosengarten.

Younger has quietly reset his profession excessive with 8.5 sacks this season, together with an enormous sport in Sunday's win over the Titans. New Orleans was down 13-3 when he sacked rookie Cam Ward and pulled the ball away, rumbling 44 yards for his first landing since his rookie 12 months in 2020. He had 1.5 sacks on the day – he is now one sack behind Cam Jordan for the crew lead with one sport left to play. Brandon Staley has put collectively a top-10 protection and will draw head-coaching curiosity for groups searching for a defensive-minded man who's been a head coach earlier than.

Chase Younger discovered the tip zone because the Saints received their fourth straight sport. (Johnnie Izquierdo/Getty Photographs)

DL: Andrew Van Ginkel, Vikings Talking of coveted defensive coordinators, Minnesota's Brian Flores is one, and Van Ginkel made him look good on Christmas, with 1.5 sacks and two fumble recoveries of their win over Detroit. If the QB loses the snap and the protection recovers, it is not a sack however somewhat an "aborted snap," and Van Ginkel had two of them amongst Jared Goff's many turnovers. He is as much as seven sacks on the 12 months and 4 within the final 5 video games.

LB: T.J. Edwards, Bears Chicago has been the perfect takeaway protection within the NFL this 12 months, and Edwards continued that Sunday night time with a pick-six off the 49ers' Brock Purdy on the primary offensive play of the sport. It is the primary profession landing for Edwards, now in his seventh NFL season. He is missed half of this 12 months with accidents however made his presence identified early in a high-scoring sport Sunday night time.

Robust name right here this week – you are all the time selecting between guys who quietly shut down a prime receiver vs. guys who piled up a bunch of splash performs. Smith is 36, the lively chief in profession interceptions, and added one other in Minnesota's Christmas win over Detroit, in addition to a sack of Jared Goff. Solely two gamers in NFL historical past have each extra sacks and extra interceptions, they usually're Ronde Barber and Brian Dawkins, each within the Professional Soccer Corridor of Fame.

Solely six kickoff returns have been returned for touchdowns this 12 months, however Banks had one Sunday, going 95 yards late within the third quarter to assist the Giants beat the Raiders – and knock themselves down within the 2026 NFL Draft. The 2023 first-round decide simply began doing returns in his third season, however he is had a strong common, even earlier than Sunday's landing.

Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports activities. He beforehand spent a decade protecting the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Instances and The Athletic. You'll be able to observe him on Twitter at @gregauman.

Need nice tales delivered proper to your inbox? Create or log in to your FOX Sports activities account, and observe leagues, groups and gamers to obtain a personalised publication day by day!