Week 8 didn’t treat a lot of former USC Trojans kindly, but Monday night belonged to Caleb Williams. He didn’t just get the better of Sam Darnold - he looked like the quarterback everyone is starting to talk about in the league’s top tier. With the Bears behind him, Williams is giving USC plenty to point to right now.
Williams was the headliner, but the rest of the Trojan pipeline had a mixed bag of results across the NFL slate. Some players barely made a dent.
Others found a little rhythm. And a few kept flashing despite the chaos around them.
Jordan Addison was one of the brighter spots in a rough Vikings outing. Minnesota’s offense came up short in its first loss, unable to match Detroit score for score, but Addison still made plays. He finished with 3 catches for 66 yards and led the Vikings in receiving, even though he was targeted 8 times.
Amon-Ra St. Brown also found production in a tough matchup, posting 7 catches for 46 yards and adding 1 carry for 10 yards against the Minnesota Vikings’ defense.
Makai Lemon kept his recent momentum going for the Philadelphia Eagles. For a second straight week, he led the team in receiving, and his role appears to be growing even with the offense in flux. With Joe Milton now at quarterback, Lemon had 6 catches for 57 yards, good for a 9.5-yard-per-catch average.
On the other side of the ball, Leonard Williams still made his presence felt even though the Bears’ offensive line did a solid job keeping him contained. Chicago’s protection held up well enough to let Caleb Williams operate, and the run game got going too, but Leonard Williams still finished with 3 tackles.
Tuli Tuipulotu put together one of the more encouraging individual performances of the week for a former Trojan. The Chargers’ season has been a mess, but Tuipulotu recorded 4 tackles and a sack against the Rams. It’s been a down year for him personally, but Week 8 gave him something to build on.
Chris Roland-Wallace also came through with a steady showing in an AFC West game against Denver. He logged important snaps and made them count with 4 tackles and a pass deflection.
Not everyone got much going. Marshawn Lloyd’s role shrank again, as he finished with 3 carries for 7 yards and 1 catch for 9 yards. With Josh Jacobs getting fully into the swing of things, Lloyd looks like he’s getting pushed further out of the picture.
Ja’Kobi Lane had another quiet outing, too. The pattern has been hard to miss: when Lamar isn’t out there, Lane hasn’t been much of a factor.
That held in Week 8, when he managed just 1 catch for 13 yards. The hope is that Jacoby Brissett’s arrival opens the door for more production.
Drake London ran into a weather problem as much as anything else. The Falcons-Buccaneers game was played in a literal monsoon, and the passing attack never really got off the ground. London ended up with 6 targets but only 1 catch for 8 yards.
Then there was Caleb Williams, who looked every bit like the most advanced version of himself yet. Against what has been the NFL’s best defense, he kept answering whatever Seattle threw at him.
The game looked easier for him than it should have, and his confidence showed throughout. Williams finished with 247 passing yards, the most Seattle had allowed all season by a wide margin, plus a passing touchdown.
The numbers tell part of the story; the way he controlled the night told the rest.
Sam Darnold was on the other sideline trying to keep pace, and he wasn’t awful. But he wasn’t on Williams’ level, either.
Seattle’s pass rush kept him under pressure, and the Seahawks never found much rhythm. Darnold threw for 188 yards and 2 touchdowns, and he was later revealed to have suffered a rib injury on the second play of the game.
Coach Mike Macdonald didn’t learn about it until after the game. Even with that pain, Darnold kept fighting.
It just wasn’t enough against Caleb and the in-form Bears.
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