It was a disappointing weekend for Alabama football with SMU’s close loss to Clemson on Saturday night leading to the Crimson Tide being left out of the College Football Playoff and instead in the ReliaQuest Bowl against Michigan.
That didn’t stop the former Alabama players from doing what they do best and lighting it up in Week 14 of the NFL season. For the 98th week in a row, a former Tide player reached the endzone in what continues to be an incredible streak.
Every week there are tough omissions. This week, it was three wide receivers – Amari Cooper, Jaylen Waddle, and Jameson Williams – who just missed inclusion on this list.
Top 5 performances for former Alabama football players in the NFL:
5. A’Shawn Robinson
A’Shawn Robinson is enjoying the best season of his career as a pass rusher in his first year with the Carolina Panthers.
On Sunday in Carolina’s narrow loss against the Philadelphia Eagles, Robinson registered 1.5 sacks with a tackle-for-loss and five tackles. He’s up to 4.5 sacks on the season, which is a career-high.
Hearing one of his teammates talk about him after the game was pretty funny:
4. Jerry Jeudy
Jerry Jeudy is enjoying a career year in his first year with the Cleveland Browns. Coming off a 235-yard performance a week ago against his former team the Denver Broncos, Jeudy had another good game in a Browns loss.
He caught five passes for 64 yards and a touchdown. He’s now third in the NFL in receiving yards and just 29 yards shy of setting a new career high in receiving yards. He’s just 56 yards away from the first 1000-yard season of his career.
Jeudy is finally looking like the elite NFL WR that Alabama fans expected him to be after a spectacular career in Tuscaloosa.
3. Jalen Hurts
When he wasn’t getting sacked by A’Shawn Robinson, Jalen Hurts was leading the Eagles to another win. Philadelphia has now won nine consecutive games to run their record to 11-2 and remain in contention for the No. 1 seed in the NFC.
Hurts managed only 108 passing yards, but he added 61 rushing yards and scored three total touchdowns as Philly held off Bryce Young and the Panthers. Hurts threw two touchdown passes, one of which was to DeVonta Smith:
2. Josh Jacobs
Josh Jacobs continues to have a big season in his first year with the Green Bay Packers. Jacobs and the Packers came up just short on Thursday night in a three-point loss to the Lions.
It wasn’t the most prolific rushing day of the season for Jacobs as he managed just 66 yards on 18 carries. But Jacobs found the endzone three times, moving him into the Top-5 in the NFL in rushing touchdowns this season. He’s also Top-5 in rushing yards and his 66 yards pushed him over 1000 yards for the season.
1. Tua Tagovailoa
Tua Tagovailoa has arguably been the best quarterback in the NFL since returning from his concussion. In seven games since returning, Tagovailoa has completed 76% of his passes with 15 touchdowns and just one interception.
After Sunday’s overtime win over the Jets, the Dolphins have now won four of their last five games to get to 6-7 on the season and remain alive in the AFC playoff race. It’s still a longshot as Miami sits two games behind the Broncos for the last playoff spot, but after a 2-6 start it’s incredible that they are even in the position they are in.
In Sunday’s overtime win over the Jets, Tagovailoa threw for 331 yards and two touchdowns on 33/47 passing. He led the Dolphins down the field and threw a touchdown pass to Jonnu Smith in the overtime period to win the game.