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Player of the Week: Danny Lansanah, Tampa Bay Buccaneers: 2 tackles, 2 solo, 1 PD, 1 INT
He did it again. Lansanah recorded his 3rd interception of the season, which now leads all NFL linebackers, in a 27-7 thumping over Washington. Naturally, since the New York Jets are awful, they had to make Lansanah's heroics a little about them, asking fans, "Which ex-Jets player leads all NFL Linebackers in interceptions this season?" Lansanah then called himself "one of the best linebackers on defense" in his postgame interview after the win WHICH IS AWESOME. The 2-8 Bucs look to get two wins a row as they play the Chicago Bears next week.
Sio Moore, Oakland Raiders: 9 tackles, 6 solo
Moore continues his impressive play on defense, recording the second most tackles for the Raiders behind Charles Woodson's 14. Unfortunately, the Raiders lost yet again, this time 13-6 to the San Diego Chargers, dropping them to 0-10 on the season. Before their week 11 loss, Moore sat down with Steve Corkan to discuss Spongebob Square Pants, Ebola, and what he is like on and off the field. The Raiders take on one of the hottest teams in the league on Thursday night, the Kansas City Chiefs, who is led by the best fullback in the NFL, Anthony Sherman.
Robert McClain, Atlanta Falcons: 4 tackles, 4 solo, 1 TFL
4 tackles!!! Robert McClain 4 TACKLES!!! After having multiple weeks of not recording a single stat, McClain found himself in the thick of a 19-17 victory over the Carolina Panthers, which put the Falcons atop the NFC South. Starting cornerback Robert Alford is set to miss 2-4 weeks, forcing head coach Mike Smith to start McClain opposite of Desmond Trufant. McClain played 57 of 66 defensive snaps in Sunday's victory, but did get beat deep on a 47 yard touchdown from Cam Newton to Philly Brown. Smith is confident that the former Husky can get the job done saying, "He's an experienced guy who studies the game extremely hard and we anticipate he will go out there and get the job done." The Falcons take on the Browns next week.
Blidi Wreh-Wilson, Tennessee Titans: 3 tackles, 2 pass deflections
Despite exiting the second half early by tweaking his back, Blidi Wreh-Wilson continued to improve as a solid NFL starting cornerback. While in the game, he kept the NFL's leading receiver, Antonio Brown, relatively in check before leaving the game only for Brown to score the go-ahead touchdown on Monday night football. He also had two pass touchdown-saving pass break-ups.
Anthony Sherman, Kansas City Chiefs: 2 tackles, 1 reception for 13 yards
The Chiefs rode the ground game behind the Sherminator to the tune of 190 yards and three touchdowns, averaging over six yards per carry in a win over the Seahawks. Sherman has been lining up as a blocking tight end as well as a fullback, and is one of the best pass blockers in the league, not to mention his frequent contribution catching the football in almost half of Kansas City's games this season. The 7-3 Chiefs are tied atop the AFC West and it looks like we will see Anthony Sherman, week 10's special teams player of the week, punishing defenders in playoff football. Check him out this week on Thursday night football against Sio Moore and the Oakland Raiders.
Darius Butler, Indianapolis Colts: 2 tackles
The Colts got punished in the run game against New England on Sunday night, where their secondary combined for 30 tackles due to the front 7's inability to stop Jonas Gray. Darius Butler did all he could do; keeping Patriots slot receivers to just 63 yards on 7 receptions on a night that Tom Brady played game-manager.
Kendall Reyes, San Diego Chargers: 1 tackle
Reyes played less than usual in San Diego's 13-6 win over Oakland, but was still second among Charger's linemen with 35 snaps. Along with his tackle, Reyes was able to get his hands on Raider's quarterback Derek Carr once, and the Chargers defense had a much-needed solid performance.
RB Donald Brown, San Diego Chargers: 1 carry for 0 yards, 1 reception for 4 yards
Donald Brown figures to be strictly a special teams player and change-of-pace back for the rest of the Chargers' season. With Ryan Matthews back assuming every-down duties, an increased role for Brown going forward is dependent on injuries ahead of him.
Marcus Easley, Buffalo Bills: No Stats
Easley returned from injury last Thursday night playing 13 snaps on special teams during the Bills 22-9 loss to Miami. Buffalo fans are happy to have their special teams ace back, and will take all the help they can get as their playoff chances rapidly dwindle away for a 15th consecutive season. The 5-5 Bills take on the 2-8 Jets on Sunday at 1:00.
Shamar Stephen, Minnesota Vikings: 1 tackle
Stephen had a quiet game while playing 18 snaps in the Viking's 21-13 loss in Chicago. It doesn't get any easier for Minnesota as they look for their 5th win of the year taking on the phenomenal Green Bay offense.
Will Beatty, New York Giants:
This was another tough week for the Giants and their offensive line as they lost 16-10 to the San Fransisco 49ers, dropping them to 3-7 on the season. The Giants only managed to get 65 yards on the ground and allowed two sacks to go along with 15 hurries (!) of Eli Manning, which helped lead to his five interceptions. Beatty is very much part of an offensive line that needs to be fixed. The Giants take on the Cowboys next week.
Dan Orlovsky, Detroit Lions: DNP
The 7-3 Lions lost to former Lion's quarterback Drew Stanton and the Arizona Cardinals 14-6 on Sunday. How is our favorite Lion's backup quarterback doing? Apparently he's doing great. He said in a podcast that he's having the most fun he's ever had in his career (with the potential to be on the first winning team he's been on since his UConn days), and has been thinking about and preparing for his future after football. Shockingly, this was met with a much different response than Derrick Rose's comments of a similar nature last week.
Ryan Griffin, Houston Texans: No stats
Griffin is still buried in the depth chart as the 3rd string tight end in Houston, but is yet to be waived or cut since being signed before last season. A Houston tight end scored a touchdown this weekend for the first time all season.
Dwayne Gratz, Jacksonville Jaguars: BYE
Yikes. Gratz made national headlines on Monday morning for being arrested for disorderly intoxication and trespassing at 5:53 am at the on-site grocery store at Ocean Reef Suits in Miami Beach, Florida after trying to pay for his items with bubble gum because he was out of cash. I really don't know what else you can say about this.
Jordan Todman, Jacksonville Jaguars: BYE
Despite not winning the starting running back job this year, Todman has carved out a niche as a solid kick returner and still leads the NFL with 710 yards on 27 attempts (26.3 average). The former all-Big East running back spent part of his bye working with kids at an NFL Play 60 event. The 1-9 Jaguars has a tough matchup next week at Indianapolis.
Tyvon Branch, Oakland Raiders: IR