ACROSS THE SHIELD: CHRIS OLAVE TOPS 1,000 YARDS FOR SECOND STRAIGHT YEAR, ZACH HARRISON MAKES TWO SACKS AND EZEKIEL ELLIOTT HURDLES TO A TOUCHDOWN.
In the history of the New Orleans Saints, only three wide receivers have gained more than 1,000 yards in their first two NFL seasons; two of those players were once Ohio State students.
After Marques Colston, Michael Thomas became the second Saints wide receiver to begin his career with two quadruple-digit seasons, having surpassed 1,000 yards in each of his first four seasons on the field. On Thursday night, Chris Olave, a pass-catcher for the Saints, became the third player in franchise history to begin a career with two consecutive 1,000-yard seasons. Olave also recorded his sixth 100-yard game of the year.
Olave tied his career-high with nine receptions in Thursday night’s game, gaining 123 yards on those nine catches. That doesn’t even count his 2-point conversion catch in the fourth quarter that cut the Los Angeles Rams’ lead to eight.
That would be the final time the Saints scored in the game, however, as the Rams won 30-22. Jordan Fuller made a key play in the victory for the Rams, picking off Derek Carr for his second interception of the season, which set up a Rams touchdown drive that gave the home team a 27-7 lead in the third quarter.
Pete Werner had a productive game in defeat for the Saints, recording five total tackles with two tackles for loss.
TWO SACKS FOR ZACH
Zach Harrison recorded two sacks in the Week 16 victory over the Indianapolis Colts for the Atlanta Falcons, one week after recording his first sack in the NFL.
Harrison sacked Gardner Minshew, the quarterback for the Colts, twice during the Falcons’ 29-10 triumph. He also intercepted a pass attempt from Minshew, marking the first pass breakup of his professional career, and stuffed a Jonathan Taylor run for no gain. According to Pro Football Focus, he accomplished all of that in just 25 snaps off the bench, earning four quarterback pressures on just 15 pass-rushing snaps.
In recognition of his best game as a pro to date, the rookie third-round pick earns our Pro Buck of the Week Award as the top NFL performer from Ohio State in Week 16.
Harrison was one of four former Ohio State defensive linemen to record sacks in Week 16. Dre’Mont Jones and Jonathon Cooper recorded one sack each while Chase Young recorded a half-sack in combination with 49ers teammate Randy Gregory.
BOSA MAKES THREE TACKLES FOR LOSS
With three tackles for loss in the San Francisco 49ers’ Monday night loss to the Baltimore Ravens, Nick Bosa set a new season best.
Three run stops were accomplished behind the line of scrimmage by the former Ohio State defensive end. Along with Young, he applied significant pressure to Lamar Jackson in order to elicit an intentional grounding penalty in the end zone, which resulted in a safety. However, the umpire played a crucial role in helping them when he stumbled while backing up and tripped up the Ravens quarterback.
FIELDS LEADS BEARS TO THIRD WIN IN FOUR WEEKS
Justin Fields had a big game as a runner and was good enough as a passer to lead the Chicago Bears to their third win in four weeks on Sunday against the Arizona Cardinals.
Fields completed 15 of 27 passes for 170 yards, one touchdown and one interception in the Bears’ 27-16 victory. His only touchdown pass of the day came on a 1-yard completion to Marcedes Lewis, but most of his yardage through the air came via his connection with Cole Kmet, who caught five passes for 107 yards including a 53-yard deep ball, Fields’ second-longest completion of the season.
Running for 97 yards on only nine tries, Fields averaged a season-high 10.8 yards per carry. Notable runs included a 3-yard score in the first quarter and a 39-yard scramble in the fourth quarter.
Fields is attempting to demonstrate that the Chicago Bears should stick with him as their starting quarterback even though they are currently expected to pick first overall with the first-round selection they acquired from the Carolina Panthers when they traded the top pick in the 2023 NFL draft to Carolina. Fields has now exceeded 260 yards from scrimmage in seven of his 11 starts this season.
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