Penn State Players in the NFL: Week 13

Story posted December 4, 2018 in CommRadio, Sports by Francesco de Falco

With only a month left in the NFL regular season, former Penn Staters continue to be dominant in the league, and a few others have just started to make noise. Here’s how a few of them performed this past week as the season winds down.

Saquon Barkley and Grant Haley:

It’s no surprise that Barkley has dominated nearly every game he’s played in, but now both college and pro teammate Grant Haley is also making a name for himself on the New York Giants. Both players were crucial in a 30-27 overtime win over the Chicago Bears last Sunday.

Barkley tallied 125 yards rushing on 24 carries along with 21 yards receiving on three receptions. Barkley recorded his 11th game with 100 or more scrimmage yards and claimed the Giants rookie rushing record. He also had a run reminiscent of some of his greater ones in Happy Valley on third and long to ultimately help the Giants secure the win.

Barkley also did a fair share of blocking against the Bears defensive line, which is perhaps one of the most dominant in the NFL. He held his own against former defensive player of the year Khalil Mack on two blocks.

On the other side of the ball, Haley shined in a depleted secondary. He recorded eight solo tackles with one tackle for loss with the loss being off of a nice chase down behind the line of scrimmage. The Giants defensive unit together took the ball away from Chicago three times, with two of them being interceptions.

Haley has struggled with locating the ball, which suppresses his stat line and makes what really is an impressive performance from him look worse, but the undrafted free-agent has been proven to be a good late addition with a lot of upside for New York.

Adrian Amos and Allen Robinson:

Despite the loss, two former Nittany Lions on the Bears had great performances that helped Chicago hang on until the very last play of overtime against the Giants.

Safety Adrian Amos finished the game with four total tackles with three of them solo and a tackle for loss. The Bears secondary, which led the league in turnover differential going into that game, picked off a Giants pass and kept quarterback Eli Manning to a 46.6 quarterback rating.

Wide receiver Allen Robinson also impressed by bringing down balls from the Bears backup quarterback Chase Daniel. Robinson tallied 79 yards receiving off of five completions with one of those completions being a clutch play to help the Bears go to overtime. He led all receivers in yards receiving and catches, being topped only by running back Tarik Cohen.

Despite the loss to an underachieving team, the Bears will still most likely be a playoff team and Super Bowl contender next month, giving these two more chances to make plays.

Chris Godwin:

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers offense is about as streaky as it gets in the league. It would go from hot to stagnant nearly every other week, but this week it stayed strong with wide receiver Chris Godwin leading it. Godwin had 101 yards receiving and a touchdown on five receptions with an impressive average of 20.2 yards per catch in a 24-17 win against the Carolina Panthers.

Trace McSorley’s former target saw a good number of looks from Bucs quarterback Jameis Winston as he was targeted in a fifth of Winston’s attempts and brought down a quarter of Winston’s completions.

Being in a group of receivers with star players like Mike Evans and Desean Jackson, it’s not often that Godwin gets the number of targets he did against the Panthers. This is Godwin’s second game this season with a 100 or more receiving yards, and it looks like he is making a name for himself in an already stacked receiver group.

 

 

Francesco de Falco is a freshman majoring in journalism. To contact him, email fpd5052@psu.edu.