Nittany Lions In The NFL: Week Six Roundup
An exciting week of NFL football has come to an end, with some former Penn State football players once again leaving their marks. Miles Sanders reached the end zone for the first time in his NFL career, Chris Godwin continued his breakout season, and a few other Nittany Lions had some contributions to their team’s game.
Let’s take a look at how some Nittany Lions performed during week six of the NFL season.
Miles Sanders, Philadelphia Eagles
Miles Sanders found the end zone for the first time in his young NFL career in the Eagles’ loss to the Vikings. Sanders ran a seam route out of the backfield and Carson Wentz found him for what would be a 32-yard touchdown reception.
Welcome to the end zone, Miles Sanders!
— Onward State (@OnwardState) October 13, 2019
The rookie just scored his first NFL touchdown for the @Eagles.pic.twitter.com/Viw3xjRz4x
Sanders finished the game with three catches for 86 yards, including that touchdown reception. On the ground, he had three carries for six yards. Much of that can be due to the fact that the Eagles were trailing for the majority of the game and went to a more pass-first approach.
Sanders has actually been more productive as a receiver this year than as a running back. He has 13 catches for 218 yards and a touchdown, as opposed to 57 rushes for just 199 yards. His 218 yards as a receiver are the third most on the team.
Looking ahead, Sanders and the Eagles have a crucial divisional matchup with the Dallas Cowboys next week on Sunday Night Football.
Chris Godwin, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Chris Godwin built on his already-incredible season with his third-straight game with at least 100 yards receiving in the Buccaneers’ loss to the Panthers. Godwin brought in 10 receptions for 151 yards. It is safe to say that Godwin has taken over as Jameis Winston’s No. 1 target.
Godwin isn’t just emerging as the best receiver on his team, but he is also legitimately emerging as one of the best receivers in all of football. Through six weeks he has caught 43 passes for 662 yards and six touchdowns. His 662 receiving yards and six touchdowns lead the league, while his 43 receptions are good for third-most in the league.
As Auman points out, Godwin is on pace for 1,765 receiving yards. If he were to get to that number, that would be the most receiving yards by a player since Antonio Brown and Julio Jones each put up over 1,800 yards in 2015.
Unfortunately for Godwin, the Bucs have a bye next week so he’ll have to wait another week to continue his hot streak when the Bucs travel to Tennessee to take on the Titans.
Carl Nassib, Tampa Bay Buccaneers
Carl Nassib, like Godwin, had a nice performance in this past week’s loss to the Panthers. Nassib was a force out there, giving the Panthers offensive line all sorts of problems. Nassib accumulated six tackles, four tackles for loss, and a sack, in what was his best game of the year. This game by Nassib was one of the best by a Bucs defensive lineman in quite some time.
Nassib has shown some flashes this year, but the consistency hasn’t been there yet. In the game prior to this week, he had only one tackle. The talent is definitely there for Nassib, but he needs to do it more on a consistent basis. He’ll try to build off of this dominant performance after the team’s bye week.
Mike Gesicki, Miami Dolphins
Mike Gesicki had his best game as a pro, hauling in three catches for 51 yards on a career-high seven targets in the Dolphins’ loss (win) against the Redskins in this week’s tank bowl.
Gesicki hasn’t really been able to get it going thus far in his NFL career. The blame doesn’t completely fall on him, as he’s been a part of an atrocious Dolphins offense that hasn’t had much stability at the quarterback position.
With the lack of weapons in the Dolphins offense, this is a chance for Gesicki to stand out and become one of the top weapons in the offense. Gesicki will try to build off this performance, but he has a tough matchup next week against the Buffalo Bills.
Sam Ficken, New York Jets
Sam Ficken has become the solution at kicker for the Jets. In this week’s win against the Cowboys, Ficken booted a 38-yard field goal and was a perfect 3-for-3 on extra points.
Ficken has provided stability for the Jets at kicker, something they didn’t have beforehand. While he hasn’t had that many field goal opportunities, he’s made all five of his extra-point attempts. He’s 2/3 on field goal attempts, his only miss being from more than 50 yards out and into the wind.
Adrian Amos, Green Bay Packers
Adrian Amos had one of his quieter games of the year, racking up only three tackles in the Packers’ 23-22 win over the Lions. Despite the low tackle total, Amos still made an impact. He was in one-on-one coverage with tight end T.J. Hockenson and he made a terrific play and knocked the ball away to prevent a touchdown.
Amos has been solid all year for the Packers, providing stability at the back-end of the defense.
Other Notable Players
- Sean Lee: Lee had five total tackles for the Dallas Cowboys in Sunday’s loss to the New York Jets.
- Robbie Gould: Gould helped the 49ers in their win over the Rams, making two field goals and two extra points. Gould missed one field goal as well. He is making field goals at a 60% clip this year, not nearly where we wants to be.
- DaeSean Hamilton: Hamilton had two catches for 25 yards for the Broncos in their 16-0 win over the Titans.
- Grant Haley: Haley had six tackles, but continued to struggle in coverage for the Giants in their loss to the Patriots on Thursday Night Football.
- Saquon Barkley: Barkley is nearing a return from a high-ankle sprain that he suffered three weeks ago against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Barkley took part in individual drills at practice on Monday. Barkley tweeted out this on Sunday which certainly adds to the speculation of the star running back’s return
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