Trevor Siemian scores 2 TDs, Dean Lowry logs season-high sacks, and more from the NFL’s Week 18
With more than a dozen former Wildcats active in the NFL, we’re tracking all the Northwestern news from across the league. Below, we break down latest from Week 18.
Quarterback Trevor Siemian scores 2 TDs in New Orleans Saints’ win
After New Orleans Saints quarterback Taysom Hill left Sunday’s game against the Atlanta Falcons with a foot injury, per the team, former Northwestern Wildcat Trevor Siemian stepped in and led the Saints to victory. Siemian threw two touchdown passes and was nine for 15 for 71 yards in New Orleans’ 30-20 win. The Saints’ performance was not enough to secure them a spot in the playoffs, however, given the Los Angeles Rams’ loss to the San Francisco 49ers later that day. The team ended the season with a 9-8 record despite starting four different quarterbacks this year.
Siemian to Smith! #Saints take a 14-6 lead.
— NFL (@NFL) January 9, 2022
📺: #NOvsATL on FOX
📱: NFL app pic.twitter.com/KTWa571vbF
"The season is never straightforward any year, [but] as bad as things were at times or as weird as they felt, the leadership in the locker room and the coaching [staff] kept us on the straight and narrow," Siemian said in Sunday’s postgame press conference. "It stinks right now to be missing out, but to get nine wins, all things considered…it's something to be proud of."
Trevor Siemian with his 2nd TD of the 1st half - 5 yards to Juwan Johnson! #Saints up 24-6 at half#NOvsATL | 📺: FOX pic.twitter.com/0viiOlGTGY
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) January 9, 2022
Green Bay Packers’ defensive linemen Dean Lowry and Tyler Lancaster set season-high stats
Though the Green Bay Packers lost their final contest of the regular season — a 37-30 fall to the Detroit Lions — defensive linemen and former Northwestern Wildcats Dean Lowry and Tyler Lancaster each set personal records in this week’s game. Lowry finished the regular season with 38 combined tackles and five sacks. By logging the Packers’ only sack in their matchup against the Lions, he topped his previous season-high sack count set in Week 16. Lancaster ended the regular season with 26 combined tackles, the most he’s recorded in his four seasons in the league. Both Lowry and Lancaster can expect to take the field in two weeks for the divisional round of the playoffs, when the Packers will host the lowest remaining seed in the NFC.
Dean Lowry is having his best season. That's 5 sacks now, half his total through first 5 seasons of his career. #Packers DL coach Jerry Montgomery said Lowry discovered this season who he is, that he must win with physicality, and he showed it there.
— Ryan Wood (@ByRyanWood) January 9, 2022
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Alyssa Haduck is a reporter for Wildcats Daily on Sports Illustrated's FanNation Network. She has also written for the Washington Football Team, the United States Golf Association, and the University of Maryland athletic department. Haduck is currently a graduate student studying sports journalism at Northwestern's Medill School of Journalism.