THE NFL IS BACK. The NFL is much less awesome than college football, as we all already know, except for the fact that the NFL offers us the ability to get angry about players sitting plays out and getting injured thanks to fantasy football. But the NFL is still football and football is great (unless you’re a Bears fan like me, football is awful). Something cool about the NFL is that after Hawkeyes are done playing college football, they have the option to play in the NFL and get paid money for it. Well, here are some of those Hawkeyes and how they fared in Week 1 of the NFL regular season.
- The Atlanta Falcons have two players who used to play for Iowa in Jonathan Babineaux and Adrian Clayborn. Babineaux recorded two tackles, but was a major factor in the deciding touchdown, as made an attempt to strip the receiver and did not wrap up the tackle on the play to allow Sims to score. Clayborn also recorded two tackles for the Falcons in their 31-24 loss to the Buccaneers.
- BUT HEY, ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THINGS, Brandon Myers scored a 4-yard TD in his only target of the game! That’s pretty great. Youtube sucks and won’t let me put the video on here, so you’re going to have to check out the touchdown here.
- Green Bay Packers defensive lineman Mike Daniels only recorded one tackle in his team’s 27-23 victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars, but he was a key part of his team’s ability to stop the run - the Packers allowed only 48 yards on the ground to a team that averaged over 90 per game last season. Micah Hyde also recorded one tackle for the Packers.
- C.J. Fiedorowicz caught the first Brock Osweiler completion of the season, a pass for six yards, in the Houston Texans’ 23-14 victory over the Chicago Bears. He would not contribute much more to the passing game after that.
- Oddly enough, Chad Greenway did not have any tackles in his start for the Minnesota VIkings, who beat the Titans 25-16. He didn’t have any visible stats, period. He did this though, which is kinda funny if you’re into Harambe jokes (if you’re not, scroll fast).
spoons out RT @JayDSarkar: SPOONS. OUT. FOR HARAMBE! SPOONS OUT FOR HARAMBE! AGAIN! @chadgreenway52 https://t.co/Z0d9tGehv9
— Anthony Barr (@AnthonyBarr) September 11, 2016
- In the same game, Karl Klug had a couple tackles against his favorite childhood team for the Titans.
- Anthony Hitchens had six tackles for the Dallas Cowboys in their loss to the New York Giants. He also had this absolutely egregious attempt at coverage. I don’t think Parker taught him to do it like this. 84 looks (just about) as open as Wadley looked against ISU. Yikes.
Anthony Hitchens channeling his inner JJ Wilcox with this horrendous angle. https://t.co/qjz5zS45nf
— Jonah Tuls (@JonahTulsNFL) September 12, 2016
- HAPPIER NEWS. Linebacker Christian Kirksey had a really good game for the Cleveland Browns, despite their loss. He recorded six tackles (four solo), had a tackle for loss, a sack, and recorded two QB hits on Carson Wentz. Pro Football Focus had him as the top graded Browns defender in Week 1, which is pretty good.
There are also many linemen who played for the Hawkeyes and are now in the NFL. Like a lot of them. I’m sure you knew this, but I’m telling you again. It is not as easy to find linemen stats because most people don’t care about linemen. As Iowa writers, we are not those people. As far as I’m aware, however, none of the former Hawkeyes who do the dirty work did anything ultra spectacular that merits extra discussion. I have been wrong before, however, and if you saw something or want to mention it, put it in the comments and prove me wrong. Linemen rule.