Tar Heels in the NFL: Week 10 Recap

Thursday Night Football: Seattle Seahawks 22, Arizona Cardinals 16

Kareem Martin picked up a tackle for the Cardinals defense in a loss, but Nazair Jones helped his team pick up the win in a battle of former defensive standouts for the Heels. Naz had three tackles, including the first solo sack of his career, and was there on a key fumble recovery, even if he wasn’t credited with it.

Sunday: Tennessee Titans 24, Cincinnati Bengals 20

Center Russell Bodine continued his perfect 100% snaps streak for the Bengals, but he and the Bengals offensive line failed to get running back Giovani Bernard going, as he rushed twice for ten years and caught five passes for 38 yards. It seems he’s ceded his feature back role to rookie Joe Mixon. Da’Norris Searcy and Sylvester Williams each played ten snaps for the Titans defense, combining for one tackle.

Sunday: Jacksonville Jaguars 20, Los Angeles Chargers 17 (OT)

The Chargers offense will not be receiving any Christmas cards from Tre Boston this holiday season. To go along with four tackles and two assists, Boston picked off Blake Bortles twice in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter, only to see his offense fumble it away the first time and fail to convert a first down the next time. It’s the only time in NFL history a QB has been picked off twice after the two-minute warning of the fourth quarter and still won.

Sunday: Detroit Lions 38, Cleveland Browns 24

Eric Ebron stayed put at the trade deadline, even though everyone including yours truly thought Detroit was going to move him. The move (or lack thereof) is already paying dividends—Ebron caught a touchdown in the fourth quarter that broke a 24-24 tie. The catch was Ebron’s second of the season and first since Week 2.

Sunday: Pittsburgh Steelers 20, Indianapolis Colts 17

No Heels here.

Sunday: Green Bay Packers 23, Chicago Bears 16

You would hope that Mitch Trubisky would be able to outduel a Rodgers-less Packers squad, but sadly it just wasn’t the case. Although he posted career highs in yards (297), completions (21), attempts (35), and completion percentage (60%), he simply ran out of time. After Connor Barth converted his third of three field goal attempts to cut the margin to 7, after the Packer offense left the field Trubisky was left with one minute and no timeouts. A lateral on the 4th down play wasn’t enough.

Sunday: New Orleans Saints 47, Buffalo Bills 10

Brandon Tate had a lot of kickoffs to return against a truly prolific New Orleans offense, but he only took three out of the endzone. Those three returns totaled 63 yards.

Sunday: Minnesota Vikings 38, Washington Redskins 30

Linebacker Zach Brown leads the Redskins defense with 96 tackles (including assists), and it’s not even close. Ten of those came this past Sunday, and although he didn’t get the win, he’s showing why the Redskins were so interested in him this past offseason.

Sunday: Tampa Bay Buccaneers 15, New York Jets 10

Bruce Carter’s role in New York is still primarily as a special teams ace, as all 18 of his snaps in this game were with various special teams units.

Sunday: Los Angeles Rams 33, Houston Texans 7

No Heels here.

Sunday: Atlanta Falcons 27, Dallas Cowboys 7

Jonathan Cooper hasn’t missed a snap for the Cowboys since taking over at left guard for Week 4. But against a surprisingly stout Falcons defense, the offense just couldn’t get going. Although Ryan Switzer had a few plays with the offense, the only times he got to touch the ball were on a few kick returns.

Sunday: San Francisco 49ers 31, New York Giants 21

No Heels here.

Sunday Night Football: New England Patriots 41, Denver Broncos 16

No Heels here, either.

Monday Night Football: Carolina Panthers 45, Miami Dolphins 21

While the Carolina defense and Julius Peppers are usually the ones who steal the show, it was the Carolina offense that made a statement on national television. Peppers finished with only one tackle, although he did return to action after an early visit to the locker room.